ron paul=awesome/kickass?

[Dr. Love]

om nom nom juicy delegates

Ron Paul Still Winning Delegates in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania
Allan Stevo in Politics, 2012 Elections

Ron Paul Still Winning Delegates in Rhode Island and Pennsylvania

In an unlikely turn of events, Ron Paul picked up a quarter of the delegates available in Rhode Island’s Republican primary election on Tuesday. The campaign also received an estimated 25% of the pledged delegates from the Pennsylvania primary.

Professor Josh Putnam, of Davidson College, shared what he calls a “rough, rough delegate count,” from Pennsylvania as primary results were being calculated. Putnam lists 16 or 17 delegates as “uncommitted/unconfirmed,” and divvies up the other 19 or 20 delegates among the campaigns as follows: Romney 7 (35%), Paul 5 (25%), Gingrich 4 (20%) and Santorum 3 or 4 (20%). Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum suspended his race earlier this month, but remained on his home state’s ballot.

In what is a multistep process, which started with Tuesday’s loophole primary, Pennsylvania will send a total of 72 delegates to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida in late August. Tuesday, a total of 59 delegates were chosen in Pennsylvania, but the allegiance of many of those delegates is difficult to identify.

In Washington last month, Paul supporters witnessed a united move by some of his opponents to marginalize his supporters. Some observers now speculate that Paul’s campaign may have supporters trying to avoid retribution by identifying themselves as “uncommitted,” as was the case in Colorado earlier this month, where Paul’s supporters gained the endorsement of that state’s GOP under the moniker "uncommitted." Uncommitted delegates make up 44% of the 36 delegates that have been decided in Colorado. If this is the case in Pennsylvania, these numbers are likely to grow in Paul’s favor. That all this took place in former Governor Romney’s backyard, where conservative Christians are not heavily represented, sends a signal that the GOP nomination remains undecided.

This news comes on the heels of a successful weekend for the Paul campaign in which they took 20 of the 24 available national delegates in Minnesota. That momentum will send Paul into the Minnesota state convention, May 18-19, in control of 83% of the available delegates, and guarantees him at least 50% of Minnesota’s 40 delegates to the RNC.

New York, Delaware, and Connecticut also held primaries on April 24.

http://www.policymic.com/articles/7543/ron-paul-still-winning-delegates-in-rhode-island-and-pennsylvania

[Dr. Love]

Ron Paul at the University of Texas

[Dr. Love]

[FORD]

Considering the state Repuke convention isn't until the end of May, I would say that article is a bit misleading. Paul is currently running second to the Mor(m)on in "soft" pledged delegates though, so it's not impossible that he could win..... just arrange for the Mormon "prophet" in SLC to get some major revelation from Elohim the last weekend in May, and keep the Romney delegates distracted. And then he just has to win the "Anybody but Mittens vote" and pick up the delegates who had previously pledged to Newt and Frothy.... but that's not a slam dunk, given that most of those people are probably fundagelicals who think a war with Iran is MANDATORY before Jesus can come back, and they would never get that with Ron Paul.

[Nitro Express]

Your cred with me just went down another 10 points....

You really seem to like the hope and change. Obama has spent more money on welfare so I guess you might be benefitting?

[Dr. Love]

Considering the state Repuke convention isn't until the end of May, I would say that article is a bit misleading. Paul is currently running second to the Mor(m)on in "soft" pledged delegates though, so it's not impossible that he could win..... just arrange for the Mormon "prophet" in SLC to get some major revelation from Elohim the last weekend in May, and keep the Romney delegates distracted. And then he just has to win the "Anybody but Mittens vote" and pick up the delegates who had previously pledged to Newt and Frothy.... but that's not a slam dunk, given that most of those people are probably fundagelicals who think a war with Iran is MANDATORY before Jesus can come back, and they would never get that with Ron Paul.

We'll see I guess... I think maybe that article was a little over optimistic based on what's happened in washington so far, but I don't think it's time to call it a win just yet.

[ELVIS]

Obama is a talented bullshitter and that's about it.

And that's all it's gonna take to beat the lackluster Romney...

[Dr. Love]

Another UT crowd shot... great turnout!

[Dr. Love]

Actually, Ron Paul Is Secretly Winning A Lot More Delegates Than You Think
Grace Wyler | Apr. 27, 2012, 9:25 PM | 6,648 | 74

Mitt Romney may have all but locked up the Republican nomination with his victories in the East Coast primaries this week, but Ron Paul and his army of acolytes aren't ready to give up the fight just yet.
As the rest of the political world's attention shifts to the general election, Paul is still quietly amassing delegates at district and county conventions, and is now poised to take a real bite — or at least a big nibble — out of Romney's delegate total.

In just the last week, Paul locked up 49 delegates, including five in Pennsylvania and four in Rhode Island, two states thought to be firmly on Romney's turf. In Minnesota, Paul won 20 of the 24 delegates awarded at last weekend's district caucuses, an impressive sweep that guarantees that Paul will control a majority of the state's delegation at the Republican National Convention.

And despite staunch opposition from the state Republican Party, Paul took 20 of the 40 delegates awarded in Missouri last weekend, according to campaign chairman Jesse Benton.

In at least five other states — Colorado, Nevada, Iowa, Washington, and Maine — Paul has done remarkably well at county and district conventions, and his supporters are expected to win a big chunk of the RNC delegates at the state conventions later this spring.

"We are very pleased with the results," Benton told Business Insider. "We still have a long way to go, but we've done very, very well at the county caucuses and district conventions and that bodes well for our strength when we get to the state conventions. Now we need to keep our nose to the grindstone."

Even Rick Santorum, who earlier in the race accused Paul of shilling for Romney, acknowledged the Texas Congressman's impressive organization this week, telling CNN's Piers Morgan that "Ron Paul is working the delegates hard."

In a surprising twist, a lot of Paul's recent success can actually be attributed to Santorum's decision to suspend his campaign earlier this month. In many places, Santorum supporters have banded together with Paul organizers in an attempt to deny Romney delegates.

In Colorado, for example, Santorum supporters have bonded with their Paul counterparts over a shared skepticism of Romney's conservative values. Although the Colorado GOP won't select its RNC delegates until the state convention next month, Paul organizers have gotten many of Santorum's pledged delegates to commit to supporting Paul over Romney.

"In Colorado, there is a real anti-Establishment sense — they want to send a very conservative delegation to the national convention," Benton told BI. "We're fighting it out, and we think there are enough Santorum delegates that are sympathetic to Ron Paul who will come over to us."

In Washington, Santorum's county caucus organizer sent an open letter to his fellow supporters urging them to vote for Paul's delegates rather than Romney's.

Here's an excerpt of the letter, obtained by Business Insider:

Romney wants everybody to quit. Quitting may be his solution when his back is up to the wall, but it's not what we want from our leaders. Our country has it's back up against the wall! We need principled fighters and not a pretty boy in a suit. We nominate Romney and it's the equivalent of making him the starting quarterback because he simply looks good in the uniform. He's a defensive coordinators dream. The mere fact he wins in the same places liberals do in the general election says a lot.

At some point, and it might as well be now, people are going to reign back power from party leaders, unite and actually make something like a Paul/Santorum unity slate work. As I see it, it's the only way to balance power, restore it back to the people and take it away from big money.

Those against such an alliance, especially elected state delegates, might want to address future problems and complaints concerning government to the person in the mirror. I fail to see the logic in people not trusting such an arrangement that both Paul and Santorum's people have agreed to, yet they'll trust the same people running the party for years that have helped bring us to this junction in history.
That Santorum's supporters are taking a second look at Ron Paul rather than vote for Romney's delegates is an indication that the former Massachusetts governor still has major problems with his party's Republican base.

"The plurality of them just don't want to vote for Romney," Doug Wead, a senior advisor to the Paul campaign, told Business Insider. “A lot of people are upset that Romney has not reached out to them at all. [They feel like] 'Why in the hell should we support him when he’s not asking for our support or doing a single thing to get it."

Both Wead and Benton concede that it would be difficult — if not impossible — to deny Romney the delegate majority he needs to win the nomination. The goal now, Benton told BI, is "to win as many delegates as we possibly can."

"We want to have a strong, respectful presence that says 'We are here, we are are going to participate, and we are ready to talk about the party platform with you if you take our issues seriously," he said. "We're going to send a message that the liberty wing of the Republican party is strong, and that it isn't going anywhere."

The Romney campaign declined to comment on Paul's delegate wins. But if Paul continues his hot streak, the presumptive nominees might not be able to ignore the libertarian iconoclast and his army of delegates by the time the national convention rolls around.

http://www.businessinsider.com/ron-paul-winning-delegates-missouri-minnesota-colorado-washington-2012-4

Half the delegation in Missouri, and Washington is looking to shape up nicely for the Paul campaign. Romney has declared himself the nominee (prematurely) but Paul keeps getting wins every week.

[Dr. Love]

Doug Wead (Ron Paul campaign) is a cool (and honest) guy:

Ron Paul’s delegate math, an accurate update
Has Ron Paul won the majority of delegates from Washington State to the Republican National Convention? That is the claim in a report that filed by the International Business Times last night. Has Ron Paul won the majority of delegates from Iowa? That was a recent report from Rachel Maddow on MSNBC the day before.

Now, here are the facts. No delegates to the Republican National Convention have been chosen from either state. The selection of the official delegation from Washington State will take place May 30, 2012. And the official delegation from Iowa will take place June 16, 2012.

Last Sunday night I reported on wins for Ron Paul in Minnesota and Iowa at the state’s respective district conventions. Delegates were indeed chosen in Minnesota, at the district level, to be part of the official state delegation to the RNC in Tampa. But not in Iowa. The rules are different there.

The wins that I referred to in Iowa had to do with committee selection and the elections of district delegates to the state convention that could lead to a Ron Paul heavy delegation to the RNC. The point to keep in mind is this. It hasn’t happened yet.

In the end, Rachel Maddow will likely be right. In fact, it will likely be better than what she is saying. She either got inside information from our campaign on the makeup of those delegates to state or she had her staff at MSNBC make phone calls to the delegates themselves to determine their favorite candidates.

By the way. I misspoke on her show when I incorrectly claimed that Ron Paul had carried a county in 2008 that he had not actually won. My point was right, that a Romney county chairman had postponed a county caucus that Ron Paul was expected to win, and one that he did eventually carry, but he had not won that county in the last cycle. So mistakes are easy to make.

Which brings me to one more correction. The International Business Times claims that Ron Paul will win a majority of the delegates from North Dakota. Nada. That will not happen. In fact, that process is done and it is one of the states where the Ron Paul people were ambushed by Romney’s Goldman Sachs brigade. While Ron Paul beat Mitt Romney, who came in third place in the North Dakota state vote, Romney still won 60% of the delegation at the state convention by a combination of lawyers, parliamentarians, the elimination of paper ballots and controlling the audio visuals. As the former state chairman said, “What could the Ron Paul people do? Go up and write a delegates name on the screen?”

The point here is to be accurate. And when a mistake is made to correct it. Which is a lot better than the New York Times or the Associated Press seem willing to do. They have still refused to correct their lists of delegates that are now wholesale fiction.

So what does it all mean?

It means that journalists are beginning to catch on to the truth of the Ron Paul delegate strategy which is very different from what has been reported. It means that we are on schedule to win many of those delegations from a number of states. It means that a brokered convention probably would have happened if the Santorum and Gingrich campaigns had not collapsed. And there are a number of options possible even now. But it also means that things can go wrong. It isn’t done yet.

Journalism is dead in America. This is the age of entertainment. Keep that in mind. And double check your sources.

http://dougwead.wordpress.com/2012/04/27/ron-pauls-delegate-math-an-accurate-update/

So I guess we can't call Iowa, Minnesota or Washington for Paul just yet...

[Dr. Love]

Another good day!

RP supporters take over the Alaska GOP chair and vice-chair.

Louisiana elects a very, very large amount of RP supporters as delegates to their state conventions.

UPDATED 8:40pm I am a Ron Paul delegate who won in district 5.
Complete but unofficial results (http://lagop.com/2012/04/preliminary-caucus-results):
Ron Paul - 111 delegates and 61 alternates
Santorum/Newt - 25 delegates and 11 alternates
Romney - 14 delegates and 0 alternates

Ron Paul's delegates will control the state convention!!!

So far RP has swept half of the Congressional Districts in Massachusetts as well (suprising as it's Romney's home state). While the elected delegates are ardent RP supporters, they will be required to vote for Romney on the first slate.

I have been reading 2 scenarios the Paul supporters are debating on for the national convention.

Option 1: They apparently can vote at the national level to unbind delegates on the first round of voting, or abstain from voting in the first round at all.
Option 2: Most states levee a fine of $100-$200 for not voting as bound.

I haven't personally verified either of these, but a lot of Paul delegates are out on the internet talking about doing it. They are a very committed bunch.

So, RP still keeps racking up delegates, whether they are pledged to him or not, and his progress keeps getting ignored. It'll be interesting to see how it develops. He's currently projected to carry a plurality from at least 10 states outright in pledged delegates, with a lot of other states having a large representation of Paul supporters formally pledged to other candidates with the intent to ultimately vote for Paul anyway.

[knuckleboner]

I have been reading 2 scenarios the Paul supporters are debating on for the national convention.

Option 1: They apparently can vote at the national level to unbind delegates on the first round of voting, or abstain from voting in the first round at all.
Option 2: Most states levee a fine of $100-$200 for not voting as bound.

I haven't personally verified either of these, but a lot of Paul delegates are out on the internet talking about doing it. They are a very committed bunch.

So, RP still keeps racking up delegates, whether they are pledged to him or not, and his progress keeps getting ignored. .

so, are you saying that the liberty-loving ron paul supporters don't really believe in democracy?...

[kwame k]

Actually they are engaging in Democracy and it's practices by exploring these scenarios.........this is part of the electoral process and perfectly legal.

[knuckleboner]

Actually they are engaging in Democracy and it's practices by exploring these scenarios.........this is part of the electoral process and perfectly legal.

oh, i know it's legal. private political party nominating processes need not be democratic at all. caucuses really aren't.

i'm just saying i think it's kind of funny that some ron paul supporters would support (completely legitimate) tricks to change delegates elected in an open primary to one candidate to their guy, instead. they would go apeshit if romney somehow convinced the delegate paul accumulated by winning the texas primary to vote for him, nonetheless. the cries of, "THIS IS WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE SYSTEM!!" would be deafening...

[kwame k]

To an extent I agree but as you said, it's part of the nomination process........back room deals and multiple floor votes are nothing new.

In this day and age, with the media spin, they make it sound like a contested nomination has never happened before......multiple floor votes, delegate shifting and the front runner losing the nomination isn't anything new.