Washington delegate discussion

[Rusty John]

Yes, yes- this was listed on another thread but I want to explain what the other poster meant.

A lot of those uncommitted delegates are Ron Paul supporters. The reason why is we were told by RP state headquarters NOT to identify ourselves as Ron Paul supporters when we first caucused.

However, the way the state GOP ran this thing is when everyone first signed in at their precinct they asked us to list out name, address, contact info and to put our presidential preference on the sign in sheet. I put Ron Paul- but was hesitant to. I spoke to other people in my precinct who were Ron Paul delegates who put down uncommitted as they were told by state headquarters.

In my precinct we had 7 people show up. Two were Ron Paul supporters, two were Huckabee supporters, two were McCain supporters and one was a Romney supporter. We elected delegates- a Huckabee supporter was one and I was another.

In other precincts several Ron Paul supporters were nominated as delegates. They thought that after the delegates were chosen they would ask us who we supported. Instead, after we picked delegates, the PCOs wrote down our presidential preference from the sign-in sheet.

As a result, there are a significant amount of the 10 or 11% showing "undecided" who are Paul supporters. The thought process on this by the campaign was we'd sneak more delegates under the radar, but right now, in my opinion, we don't need more delegates under the radar, we need to win a friggn' state so we get press coverage.

 

[Rusty John]

I'm bumping me because I think it is important that people here know just how this caucus in WA worked- those vote tallys that we are seeing are from the friggin' sign in sheets at the caucuses.

 

[LizF]

Yes, yes- this was listed on another thread but I want to explain what the other poster meant.

A lot of those uncommitted delegates are Ron Paul supporters. The reason why is we were told by RP state headquarters NOT to identify ourselves as Ron Paul supporters when we first caucused.

However, the way the state GOP ran this thing is when everyone first signed in at their precinct they asked us to list out name, address, contact info and to put our presidential preference on the sign in sheet. I put Ron Paul- but was hesitant to. I spoke to other people in my precinct who were Ron Paul delegates who put down uncommitted as they were told by state headquarters.

In my precinct we had 7 people show up. Two were Ron Paul supporters, two were Huckabee supporters, two were McCain supporters and one was a Romney supporter. We elected delegates- a Huckabee supporter was one and I was another.

In other precincts several Ron Paul supporters were nominated as delegates. They thought that after the delegates were chosen they would ask us who we supported. Instead, after we picked delegates, the PCOs wrote down our presidential preference from the sign-in sheet.

As a result, there are a significant amount of the 10 or 11% showing "undecided" who are Paul supporters. The thought process on this by the campaign was we'd sneak more delegates under the radar, but right now, in my opinion, we don't need more delegates under the radar, we need to win a friggn' state so we get press coverage.

Grrrr.....

 

[Chester Copperpot]

Thanks.. NOW I understand what happened.

 

[jrich4rpaul]

So we got... 31%?

 

[Rusty John]

Further, some legislative districts conducted a straw poll before voting for delegates and the straw poll results are being report. Still other districts, like mine, did not take a straw poll. They instead used the sign in sheets.

 

[Avalon]

It doesn't matter. If we "won" this it would be ignored and dismissed. Even if we won in an absolute landslide (>50%) it wouldn't convince others we still have a chance at winning when they think we have 14 delegates and McCain has already been coronated. What we need to do is make sure ALL RON PAUL SUPPORTERS know that we won WA and to get off their butts and win their state's caucuses/conventions. And we can do that pretty well without the media.

 

[Soccrmastr]

I hope media realizes this and still picks up on it.

 

[Rusty John]

We do not know- this is a very bizarre process (yet simple at the same time once you've been through it). This was my first time caucusing- in Washington state we elect half the delegates in the caucuses and half in the primaries scheduled in 10 days. The primary delegates are committed to whoever wins the primary. The caucus delegates are not committed.

This is how it works...

Today, we selected delegates from our precincts (in essence, our neighborhoods). These delegates go to the county caucus in a few weeks to select delegates to the state convention. From there, the state convention chooses the national delegates.

I will use my precinct as an example of what happened today...

The room we were caucusing in was divided up by precinct. I live in a very heavily Dem precinct so only 7 people showed up from my neighborhood. We each sign in on the sign in sheet listing our name, contact info and presidential preference. In my precinct we had 2 Paul supporters, 2 McCain supporters, 2 Huckabee supporters and one Romney supporter. My precinct was to elect 1 delegate and 1 alternate to the county caucus.

When they asked for delegate nominees, only three people nominated themselves- two Huckabee people and myself. The four other people said they could not make it to the county caucus or didn't want to be delegates.

The second Huckabee person told the first one that they weren't interested in being a delegate if there was a Hucakbee person going so that just left me and thisother guy for the delegate spot. All 7 of us voted. Four voted for Huckabee guy, three voted for me. So, for our precinct, it shows Huckabee winning a delegate and Paul winning an alternate.

In other precincts however, there were many people who signed in as Uncommitted who were actually Paul supporters. When their precincts are reported it shows the delegate listed as uncommitted. We all thought that after the voting we would be listing our nominee but that did not happen- they just went by the sign in sheet.

 

[Avalon]

I hope media realizes this and still picks up on it.

Have you been paying attention at all? They have distorted everything possible against us (except our two days in the sun, november 5th-7th), ignored everything good (fundraising, straw polls which are normally part of primary coverage, rally turnouts, etc) and highlighted whatever negatives they could dig up. Every time RP was mentioned, someone made sure to mention that he was longshot libertarian (ie, not a republican).

 

[tpreitzel]

We do not know- this is a very bizarre process (yet simple at the same time once you've been through it). This was my first time caucusing- in Washington state we elect half the delegates in the caucuses and half in the primaries scheduled in 10 days. The primary delegates are committed to whoever wins the primary. The caucus delegates are not committed.

This is how it works...

Today, we selected delegates from our precincts (in essence, our neighborhoods). These delegates go to the county caucus in a few weeks to select delegates to the state convention. From there, the state convention chooses the national delegates.

I will use my precinct as an example of what happened today...

The room we were caucusing in was divided up by precinct. I live in a very heavily Dem precinct so only 7 people showed up from my neighborhood. We each sign in on the sign in sheet listing our name, contact info and presidential preference. In my precinct we had 2 Paul supporters, 2 McCain supporters, 2 Huckabee supporters and one Romney supporter. My precinct was to elect 1 delegate and 1 alternate to the county caucus.

When they asked for delegate nominees, only three people nominated themselves- two Huckabee people and myself. The four other people said they could not make it to the county caucus or didn't want to be delegates.

The second Huckabee person told the first one that they weren't interested in being a delegate if there was a Hucakbee person going so that just left me and thisother guy for the delegate spot. All 7 of us voted. Four voted for Huckabee guy, three voted for me. So, for our precinct, it shows Huckabee winning a delegate and Paul winning an alternate.

In other precincts however, there were many people who signed in as Uncommitted who were actually Paul supporters. When their precincts are reported it shows the delegate listed as uncommitted. We all thought that after the voting we would be listing our nominee but that did not happen- they just went by the sign in sheet.

I was going to bed .... I still am, but thanks for clearing up some misunderstanding on my part. I thought that Washington's GOP was holding county caucuses today. I wish all of you well at the county caucuses and all the way to Minneapolis. Go Ron Paul!

 

[Rusty John]

Also, it should be noted that many of the people there who had been through the process before said the turn out for this year's caucus was greater than they had ever seen. We ran out of chairs. This was largely due to Ron Paul supporters.

Before every one starts in on the fraud and conspiracy crap....I should also note that every one there was very nice and civil- eventhe old timers who weren't Paul supporters were glad to see some many showup at a GOP caucus. We have a governor out here who is loathed by 60% of the population and we have a very strong GOP candidate named Dino Rossi running against the governor- they were glad to welcome us and hopeful we'd vote for Dino. My PCO (the Romney guy) works a couple of blocks down the street from me and invited me to lunch and wanted us Paul supporters to be more active in the county GOP.

Finally- I can't say enough about how much everyone hates McCain. A lot of the people voting for Huckabee did so because they think he is the only one who can mathematically beat McCain.

 

[coboman]

The reason why is we were told by RP state headquarters NOT to identify ourselves as Ron Paul supporters when we first caucused.

So, this has to do with incompetence from the official campaign?
What a shock! I can't believe the official campaign has made a mistake. /end sarcasm

 

[kirkblitz]

thats not incompetance, it got us extra delegates. WHICH will the state convention comes around will help us actually win the STATE and not some silly poll

 

[literatim]

So, this has to do with incompetence from the official campaign?
What a shock! I can't believe the official campaign has made a mistake. /end sarcasm

It was not incompetence from the official campaign, don't be an ass. This was a played moved to make sure we get as many delegates to the county convention as possible.

 

[coboman]

It was not incompetence from the official campaign, don't be an ass. This was a played moved to make sure we get as many delegates to the county convention as possible.

Perfect! Now we have like 10 more delegates, instead of having the huge momentum that a win could have brought.

I hope those delegates can get us the airtime that a first place could have given, including to revert the idea that Ron Paul can't win. Or that has dropped out.

Great strategy! I can see it working now /end sarcasm

 

[Rusty John]

I can see it both ways- yes we want delegates and there were experiences in other states (Alaska I am told) that got them to do this. However, having a win reported would be huge and I am not one who believes it wouldn't be reported in the press- the press are sheep, once one of them reports on a story the rest parrot it. Right now nearly 2/3rds of the party is voting for someone other than McCain and we have just under 1/2 of the delegates left to nominate. Look at how much press Huckabee got in Kansas tonight.

 

[tomaO2]

Who cares about an extra 2 delegates? We won't get enough to make any real difference anyway. We needed a WIN! We need to be shown to be alive. At the very least, if they ignored a win completely, then that would be an ultimate testimate to the MSM ignoring us. We needed a win not an extra 4 delegates so we get around 50 or so as opposed to 48 or 46 or whatever.

A WIN, a WIN, A WIN! We NEED A DAMN WIN!!!

This 'ploy' if it really was a ploy (I recall people saying that we had lots of RP supporters from the people that went to the Alaska caucuses and that didn't turn out so well either) was just wrong. It's disheartening and it didn't help. Just one frikken state damnit. I just want to know if we can be acknoledged if we win one. Is that so much to ask?

 

[Avalon]

Perfect! Now we have like 10 more delegates, instead of having the huge momentum that a win could have brought.

I hope those delegates can get us the airtime that a first place could have given, including to revert the idea that Ron Paul can't win. Or that has dropped out.

Great strategy! I can see it working now /end sarcasm

You gotta be kidding me. The coverage would have been:
"Hey, you know that guy who was running for president of the moon?"
"Oh, you must mean that kook Ron Paul <giggle>"
"Yeah, well, we just found out where his moon base is. Get this, since everyone already knew McCain would be the nominee, no one showed up to the WA caucus and the RP moonbats all came out from their holes and won by 5%"
"So he hasn't dropped out already?"
"I thought so and he has as far as the polls and republicans are concerned but apparently there are a lot of libertarians in WA"
"So what's his current delegate count?"
"32"
"VS John McCain's 730!?!? Talk about a Phyrric victory!"

 

[kyleAF]

Perfect! Now we have like 10 more delegates, instead of having the huge momentum that a win could have brought.

I hope those delegates can get us the airtime that a first place could have given, including to revert the idea that Ron Paul can't win. Or that has dropped out.

Great strategy! I can see it working now /end sarcasm

Yes, I like hindsight too.

Now please apply your powers of hindsight to the future and tell me what the best strategy for winning Texas is