The rules that were used were basically the old 2006 rules where a nominating committee was to determine eligable delegates to the national convention, and the delegates would be allowed to vote for slates of delegates so approved. This is the way the party has done it for years, but this year was our first caucus, so people felt like they were being robbed of the final step of the process.
We declined to approve the rules unless we had an ammendment allowing delegates to be nominated from the floor. Debate went on and on, and we finally took a vote right before lunch. The amendment was approved by a 700 some to 400 some vote. Voted for by many delegates who were not necessarily just Ron Paul supporters, but interested in a fair process.
After lunch they decided to try another tactic to save time, having every delegate vote for 5 of the 31 delegates, and having the top 31 votegetters be the delegates, and the next the alternates, dividing out the congressional district delegates from the body of those elected. (9 of Nevada's delegates must be selected from their 3 congressional districts per party rules).
We voted this down and divided into congressional districts, took the names of all of those interested in being delegates, and started the vote. In CD 1, they completed the counting, and the other two were halted in mid count. The Ron Paul delegates were ahead by a pretty good margin per reports of some of those watching the count.
It was then when the chairman announced that the meeting needed to recess because we had used our alotted time in the room. This was a tactic to gain some time. Granted, it was late, but who books a political convention without a contingency for going over? When we asked the hotel after the McCain people had left, they would have had no problem letting us stay another 3 hours, and the room had no bookings the following day. If it was a matter of a few thousand dollars to pay the hotel staff overtime, the delegates were more than willing to cough up $20 each to avoid having to make the trip again. The time limit was the excuse they used for getting more time. They were not prepared for the change in the rules, and we were. They saw the way the CD votes were going, and saw how organized we were, so they decided on the desperation plan.
I'm fully expecting them to attempt to invalidate the CD elections, and be fully prepared for the at large delegate vote. But they have cut off their nose to spite their face. This tactic has brought a lot of attention, and the world is watchng, and the credibility of the Republican Party continues to dwindle.
They could fix it easily by supporting Ron Paul
