Trump Made A Mistake By Overlooking Colorado

[CPUd]

Actually that is it. I guess March 1st or w/e is exactly when no votes took place. He goes for 20 minutes describing how under handed the voting was.

Let's assume you are right and there was some voting by general public. It was still done badly with Cruz defending a bad system. A system where you can bribe and elect people with backroom deals. A system where most voters have no clue that it even exists. So yeah if you trying to split hairs I guess you accomplished that. With this type of vote I have to agree with Drudge 100% there was no vote by the public.

Caucuses are generally not open to the public. Registered party members only, though rules are different per state on when you can register.

 

[MarcusI]

With this type of vote I have to agree with Drudge 100% there was no vote by the public.

Of course there was no vote by the public, it was a vote by committed, registered Republicans.

 

[silverhandorder]

Caucuses are generally not open to the public. Registered party members only, though rules are different per state on when you can register.

W/e registered republicans. point being they made backroom deals, messed up ballots, kicked people off and claiming that is fair. To me this was no vote.

 

[CPUd]

W/e registered republicans. point being they made backroom deals, messed up ballots, kicked people off and claiming that is fair. To me this was no vote.

Misprinted ballots are something that could have been addressed and rectified while the vote was taking place, this is if a campaign has an interest in winning delegates from that state or CD. We know Trump's campaign did not care about winning CO, and are only now trying to blame the state party to cover their own indifference and/or incompetence, now that it is apparent these delegates are going to matter in the RNC balloting.

This was a mistake that could possibly cost Trump the nomination, and will be repeated again this weekend in WY.

 

[CaptUSA]

For some reason, many people are under the misconception that a political party must allow the public to decide who they nominate as their candidate. They do not. It's their party and they can do as they wish.

So, if you want to be the candidate for their party, you have to become their party. That was the whole point of the political side of the Ron Paul movement.

So for Trump to be bitching about losing the state is incredibly stupid. It's basically an admission that he wasn't an organized part of the party. Well, then, how can you really expect to be selected as their nominee?!

 

[silverhandorder]

For some reason, many people are under the misconception that a political party must allow the public to decide who they nominate as their candidate. They do not. It's their party and they can do as they wish.

So, if you want to be the candidate for their party, you have to become their party. That was the whole point of the political side of the Ron Paul movement.

So for Trump to be bitching about losing the state is incredibly stupid. It's basically an admission that he wasn't an organized part of the party. Well, then, how can you really expect to be selected as their nominee?!

He is bitching to get his people involved and to start shit with establishment. The party decides who to pick and Trump represents anywhere from 30 to 51% of the party base right now. So the party is him.

 

[LibertyEagle]

[MENTION=660]LibertyEagle[/MENTION] is on a kick today trying to say that the criticisms we have of Trump apply to Ron Paul too. (mod edit)

It's called a double-standard.

 

[CaptUSA]

He is bitching to get his people involved and to start $#@! with establishment. The party decides who to pick and Trump represents anywhere from 30 to 51% of the party base right now. So the party is him.

#1 - he IS the establishment.
#2 - he ISN'T the party in Colorado - otherwise, he would have won.
#3 - he's not bitching to get his people involved; he's bitching to get them mad. Same manipulation he's always used on people. Authoritarians always use emotions to control the masses. Fear and anger are powerful tools. Right up there with encouraging fantasies.

 

[Mordan]

For some reason, many people are under the misconception that a political party must allow the public to decide who they nominate as their candidate. They do not. It's their party and they can do as they wish.

I agree. But why is it so hard to run 3rd party? The system is rigged. Trump and Sanders are doing Liberty a service.

 

[Jan2017]

Of course there was no vote by the public, it was a vote by committed, registered Republicans.

You had to be a registered voter as a republican about one month before the March 1 caucus . . . and you also had to pre-register for the caucus specifically - online which was very easy.

You signed next to your name on the precinct list when seated.

One participant did come in - either was not pre-registered or registered as a voter - and could participate other than the voting on any of about 15 platform items.

No presidential straw poll - but elect a delegate and an alternate with known preference to the next level.

 

[Jamesiv1]

It's their party and they can do as they wish.

Can they cry if they want to?

 

[bunklocoempire]

In the past Ron Paul won delegates in states where he lost the popular vote by wide margins kind of like Ted Cruz has done. That is the analogy to the past. Ron Paul had a ground game. Ted Cruz has a ground game. Donald J. Trump is just now getting a ground game.

RE: Bolded last sentance makes me think more and more that this was a Trump, PUSA poker-game distraction that just got out of hand.

I thought as much the first time I heard MSMs: "We don't want to talk about Trump and his PUSA campaign, but here he is again in the news- (insert any Rand distracting story here) "

 

[jllundqu]

For some reason, many people are under the misconception that a political party must allow the public to decide who they nominate as their candidate. They do not. It's their party and they can do as they wish.

So, if you want to be the candidate for their party, you have to become their party. That was the whole point of the political side of the Ron Paul movement.

So for Trump to be bitching about losing the state is incredibly stupid. It's basically an admission that he wasn't an organized part of the party. Well, then, how can you really expect to be selected as their nominee?!

Because Trump is just a populist... thinking his large vocabulary and charm will carry him to the nomination of the party which he hates.

 

[Jamesiv1]

It's their party and they can do as they wish.

Can they do what they want?
say what they want?
love who they want?
kiss who they want?

 

[erowe1]

Yep. I noticed the similarity to Ayn Rand novels too. People are against Trump for all the wrong reasons.

Being against him because we support freedom and smaller government, and he opposes those things are the wrong reasons?

What would be the right reasons to oppose him?

 

[erowe1]

It's called a double-standard.

It's only a double standard if the criticisms we're making of Trump apply to Ron Paul too. Is that what you're saying?

(I know you've already said it at least half a dozen times today. I just want your trolling to be perfectly clear.)

 

[nobody's_hero]

#1 - he IS the establishment.
#2 - he ISN'T the party in Colorado - otherwise, he would have won.
#3 - he's not bitching to get his people involved; he's bitching to get them mad. Same manipulation he's always used on people. Authoritarians always use emotions to control the masses. Fear and anger are powerful tools. Right up there with encouraging fantasies.

I'm not convinced of #1. If Trump were the establishment, then it would behoove the GOPe to tell either Cruz or Trump to drop out, since you're implying that they control both candidates at the moment. This level of disunity is NOT what the GOPe wants, and fueling both sides of the flame would not benefit the GOPe. They want everyone to line up behind their choice of candidate, no questions asked, and they are irritated that people are not lining up behind Cruz.

I'm starting to think that Trump is not the establishment, but rather, a wild card that the GOPe did not plan for, or at least, was not prepared for.

Study the man. Trump is driven primarily by his own ego. It's a huge character flaw, yes, but it is not the same as being supported by the establishment. He won't negotiate so long as he is winning outright. However, I do think if he begins losing, he would not be above dealing with the establishment to get the nomination. That does concern me. Therefore I think it is important that he crushes them outright so that he doesn't owe them anything for them rolling over.

 

[TheTexan]

Trump Made A Mistake By Overlooking Colorado

Trump doesn't make mistakes. He makes choices that don't always work out.

 

[CPUd]

Remember this when Trump cries about being "cheated":

Donald Trump's Colorado Supporters 'Feeling Demoralized' as He Battles Ted Cruz

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — It's not easy being a Donald Trump supporter in Colorado.
Apr 9 2016, 7:48 pm ET

Becky Mizel, a prominent Trump volunteer and former county party chairwoman in the state, was standing at the entrance to the Colorado GOP Convention, waving a slate of delegates the Trump campaign has endorsed to send to the national convention.

With her arm still in the air, she needled a volunteer tasked with setting up Trump signs outside of the arena where the convention is being held, and was upset because the placards went missing.

"Somebody stole them," Mizel said under her breath, sounding irritated but unsurprised. The state party convention, she readily admitted, is not really Trump's crowd — and that's part of the reason she doesn't expect much to come from the slate Saturday.

"We know we're not going to take anything out of (the slate), but it was mostly an emotional shot in the arm for the Trump people who are here because they were feeling demoralized because nothing is here," she told NBC News.

"Just having a table and signs made them go, 'Oh, we're not alone, there's other Trump people.' It's more of a psychological edge," she said.

Mizel admitted that she would be happy if they take one or two delegates. So far, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has swept all 21 of the state's delegates already elected at the congressional district level.

On Saturday, an estimated 4,000 party activists will elect the state's remaining 13 delegates, and Cruz, Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich have produced slates of their preferred candidates.

The campaigns are all whipping votes for their slates at the convention — but not all organizations are equal.

Mizel has been asking the Trump campaign for "a long time" to have a presence in the state, she said, but until this week, they chose to focus their resources elsewhere.

"We could have had some things going, but the campaign decided to not put resources here," she said.

Trump was originally expected to speak at the Saturday convention, but canceled all of his West Coast events to focus on the New York primary.

On Wednesday, they hired a local operative to take the helm, but he told NBC News on Friday that it has been like "drinking from a fire hose" to try to organize Trump supporters since he came on board.

Mizel put a cheery spin on the Trump campaign's absence from the state — "I understand finances, and understand they don't have a huge operation," she said — but it's all but ensured the slate Mizel is waving will amount to little more than a piece of paper when the convention votes Saturday.

To really organize for a convention like this one, she said, it takes "a bit of money and a full-time person."

Cruz's campaign hasn't spent any money on staff in the state, but they have been organizing for months, their delegate effort led by a prominent local Tea Party leader with wide and deep connections in the state.

A team of volunteers gathered early Saturday morning to start organizing for the convention; volunteers wearing fluorescent orange T-shirts emblazoned with Cruz's preferred slate dotted the walk outside the arena, passing out paper copies.

The Cruz campaign has organized a team of at least a dozen volunteers tasked with convincing shaky delegates to stick firm with the Texas senator, each one assigned to a key issue that might most resonate with the delegate in question: pro-life, gun rights, Common Core and more.

And they have more than 30 volunteers wrangling votes from the state's counties to make sure Cruz's expected numeric advantage in the 4,000 delegates gathered for the convention will produce an advantage in the slate.

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...rs-feeling-demoralized-he-battles-ted-n553466

 

[CPUd]

follow-up:

Cruz Sweeps Colorado as Trump Campaign Issues Error-Filled Ballots

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado — Sen. Ted Cruz finished Colorado's delegate fight the way he started it: With overwhelming victory.

Donald Trump finished it the way he started as well: With a disorganized and frustrated campaign plagued by mistakes.

Cruz took all 13 of the delegates up for grabs on Saturday to complete a clean sweep of the state. Delegates endorsed by his campaign swept all seven congressional district conventions held over the last week as well, which added another 21 delegates. Another three slots are reserved for state party officials.

"Today was another resounding victory for conservatives, Republicans, and Americans who care about the future of our country," the Cruz campaign said in a statement Saturday night.

Trump's aides set expectations at rock bottom heading into Saturday's contest, citing the state's unfavorable demographics and a complicated process that empowers local party activists to vote on delegates.

Supporters in Colorado nonetheless said they were frustrated with the campaign's chaotic and uncommunicative campaign, which failed to reach basic levels of competence.

"We could have had some things going, but the campaign decided to not put resources here," Becky Mizel, a former Pueblo County GOP chair and Trump delegate candidate, told NBC News.

On Saturday, Trump backers passed out flyers at the convention site with official campaign slate of 13 delegates and 13 alternates accompanied by their three-digit number position on the 600-plus person ballot. Seven of the names, however, directed people to the wrong number and one delegate's name was misspelled. Other candidates did not have errors on their slates.

In one case, an erroneous number corresponded with a Cruz supporter. A second flyer handed out by the Trump campaign contained four mismatched names and numbers.

Among the names listed incorrectly on both flyers: Becky Mizel.

It was the second major error concerning campaign materials this week. On Thursday, a Trump slate of three names in the 7th Congressional District convention contained two that weren't listed on the ballot. The campaign's state director, Patrick Davis, said they failed to pay the necessary fees to qualify.

Trump's campaign wasn't the only one who made mistakes, though. Colorado Republican chairman Steve House announced several corrections to the ballot from the stage, including multiple names that were on the ballot twice, none of which affected any candidate's official slate. One Trump alternate, Jerome Parks, was not on the numbers-only ballot at #379 — instead the ballot listed #378 twice.

"They're not in there!" Trump supporter Karen Kasel said to herself in frustration as she tried to find #379 on her ballot in the hallway.

Related: Cruz Swipes Delegates in Trump-Backed Virginia District

There were also discrepancies between delegate guides posted to the state party's website and printed materials distributed by the state GOP. Mizel, for example, was listed on a delegate list on the party website as number #610, but a brochure from the state GOP listing delegates alphabetically cut off at #588.

Trump campaign aide Alan Cobb accused the Colorado GOP of altering its delegate lists at different points, leaving them in the lurch as it changed, and threatened to dispute the results over its ballot inconsistencies.

"We'll do whatever it takes to protect the legitimacy of our support in Colorado," Cobb told NBC News. "Clearly there are some serious issues with the ballot and balloting.

A spokesman for the Colorado GOP said they were looking into the matter.

In another mix-up, the party's Twitter account appeared to be hacked in the aftermath of the results, tweeting "We did it. #NeverTrump." A spokesman for the party said that their account had been taken over and the tweet was not authorized.

...

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/201...-campaign-issues-error-filled-ballots-n553586