Santorum supporters shocked, angered at Greene County Caucus
Ron Paul walks away with 59 percent of delegates, Romney 36 percent, Santorum 5 percent
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- At times, the Greene County Republican Caucus on Saturday seemed to teeter on the brink of chaos.
"Madam Chairman, this is not Russia! This is America!" cried one woman into the microphone in the University Plaza Convention Center's center aisle.
From the moment the doors opened at 8 a.m., it was clear supporters of candidate Ron Paul were playing for keeps. Many wore hunter orange, with the ring leaders sporting Secret Service-style listening devices in their ears tied to two-way radios. Long time party members commented more than once that they had never seen so many young people at a Republican caucus.
Ten hours later, when the the caucus was gaveled to a close, Paul had collected 65 delegates, an overwhelming majority of Greene County's 111 delegates going to the next round of caucuses. Rick Santorum got six.
Winning Missouri's meaningless primary in February may have been the worst thing to happen to Santorum. His supporters, while enthusiastic and vocal, were outmaneuvered and out-prepared by the Paul camp, who had read the rules and played their caucus hand like an ace-high straight.
Along the way, Paul's supporters cut a deal with the Mitt Romney circle, a move that proved to be the caucus' ultimate master stroke.
Tom Fowler, the leader of the Romney supporters, spent years as Missouri's Republican Chairman. Few in the room were as familiar with both the caucus process and how to make the most of what support you have. By teaming with the Paul camp, Romney came away with 40 delegates, 36 percent of the total.
In the end, the caucus unfolded much like an eight-hour episode episode of CBS's "Survivor." With Newt Gingrich skipping Missouri (he was not on the primary ballot), Santorum was outflanked by the Romney/Paul alliance. The final vote was 407-353. The tribe had spoken.
As the writing on the wall became clear, Santorum supporters became increasingly incensed.
"You're out of order!" caucus chairwoman Danette Proctor repeated over and over as the Santorum uprising reached the center aisle microphone.
Many with Santorum stickers said their piece, then left in disgust before the final vote, the ultimate outcome already a foregone conclusion.
"We're one of the most conservative counties in the state," said one disgusted delegate who asked not to be identified. "How in the (heck) did we end up giving almost all of our delegates to the two least conservative candidates?"
That question was not limited to Greene County. In other county caucuses across the state, Paul's supporters used caucus rules and alliances to walk away with far more than establishment Republicans thought they "deserved."
"I apologized to my party, to the entire caucus," said Dallas County Republican Committee Chair Jack Dill. "We were tipped off that something like this was going to happen, and sure enough (it did)."
But rules are rules. And that's how a caucus works. It is not a primary.
"And that's wrong," said Dill. "We (the Missouri Republican Party) made a mistake not having a primary that counted. I hope that never happens again."
Missouri's Republican Party chairman released a statement on Saturday evening in the face of disagreements across the state, including a spat over a video camera at a St. Louis-area caucus that led to two arrests and the caucus shutting down before it even started.
“Reports coming in from across the state indicate that a vast majority of the Missouri caucuses were well run and well attended," said David Cole, chairman of the Missouri Republican Party. "While it is natural that supporters of different candidates will disagree, in most cases, these disagreements were handled in a civil manner."