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Paul humiliates Romney ... in his own home state
Could the Bay State’s Ron Paul-loving delegates ruin Romney’s coronation?
Mitt’s Massachusetts Massacre
By DAVID S. BERNSTEIN | May 2, 2012
Saturday was an embarrassment of epic proportions for Mitt Romney and the Massachusetts Republican Party — an organization that, as I've chronicled in recent months, is essentially an extension of the Romney machine.
In a nutshell, a bunch of diehard followers of presidential candidate Ron Paul won spots intended for Romney loyalists, to represent the state at the Republican National Convention (RNC) in Tampa late this summer. In nine district caucuses, Paul supporters won 16 of 27 delegate spots, and 18 of 27 alternates. (These numbers might change slightly after consideration of provisional ballots and potential challenges.)
It won't affect the nomination. By virtue of Romney's easy primary victory, in which he received more than 70 percent of the votes, Romney is guaranteed the pledged support of all Massachusetts delegates on the first convention ballot. And there is little chance that there will be more than one ballot, regardless of the high hopes of some Paul devotees.
But it's certainly humiliating that the Paul crowd so thoroughly out-organized the Romney crew in his own backyard. Organizing supporters is so fundamental to the fall general election, that this fiasco— which took place while top adviser Eric Fehrnstrom was in Washington, DC, schmoozing at the White House Correspondents' Dinner — could raise questions about whether the campaign's eye is on the ball.
The effort should not have come as a surprise, since the same people did the same thing in 2008, with more limited success. Although some of the state's 41 delegates to the RNC are chosen by the state committee, and some at the MassGOP convention this spring, the bulk are elected by any registered Republicans who show up at the district caucuses.
Ron Paul libertarians, though highly motivated, are few in number. To defeat them required only 100 to 150 Romney supporters at each of the nine caucus locations — from an entire congressional district.
The failure to do so has stunned some Massachusetts Republicans. At the least, it is another black eye for new state party chairman Bob Maginn, whose long relationship with Romney goes back to Bain Capital.
But it could become more than a passing embarrassment.
The home-state delegation traditionally gets seated front and center, and national media typically seeks them out for comments about the nominee.
I asked Frank Capone, an elected "Liberty" delegate from District 5, what he will say to media in Tampa who ask his opinion of Romney. "Probably not what I should be saying," he chuckled.
OFF MESSAGE
MassGOP officials are publicly putting a game face on the caucus results — pointing to the higher-than-usual turnout as a positive sign. "It's a pretty fantastic thing to see the enthusiasm," says MassGOP spokesperson Tim Buckley.
But the importance of home-state delegates is a big reason that the Romney campaign took the unusual step of selecting and promoting a complete "slate" of candidates — which the MassGOP promoted on its Web site. There were also robocalls made for the slate candidates.
The Romney campaign wanted to ensure that the delegation would be "on message" in Tampa.
They also wanted to reward those who had loyally helped Romney and his allies over the years, by giving them a VIP junket to the national convention.
That's why the Romney slate included Kevin Jourdain, Holyoke City Council president and local pro-life leader, who stood up for Romney back in the 2008 campaign as a "pro-life governor" who "was always there for us"; and Cuban-born Framingham Selectman Nicolas Sanchez, who could speak for Romney's inclusion of Hispanics.
Both Jourdain and Sanchez lost on Saturday. So did a number of big-name Romney supporters: his lieutenant governor, Kerry Healey; 2010 gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker; House Minority Leader Brad Jones; sheriffs Lew Evangelidis, Frank Cousins, and Tom Hodgson; and Plymouth County DA Tim Cruz.
The candidates who won spots instead, under the banner of a "Liberty Slate" or "Unity Slate," range from thoughtful, well-spoken libertarians to somewhat nutty conspiracy theorists. They are overwhelmingly white and male.
Many were part of the Liberty Preservation Association of Massachusetts (MassLPA), formed in 2009 by disgruntled Paul supporters. MassLPA partnered with fringe groups, including the John Birch Society, Oath Keepers, and Free State, and focused primarily on opposing a local pandemic-response bill, which conspiracy theorists believed was an attempt to impose martial law.
Take David Kopacz of Ware, a co-founder and vice-president of MassLPA, who has spoken and written about the dangers of United Nations "Agenda 21" and FEMA concentration camps. He will be a RNC delegate from District 2.
AVOIDING A FIGHT
There is talk, among national Ron Paul supporters, of delegates like these — and an unknown number of others across the country — finding loopholes that allow them to vote against their pledged candidate or to abstain from casting a vote at the RNC.
But Massachusetts Liberty delegates tell me they plan to honor their commitment to vote for Romney on the first ballot. They say they are not going to Florida with the intention of embarrassing Romney.
"Happy to be going to Tampa," delegate-elect Renato D'Amico wrote in response to my inquiry. "I love supporting the Republican agenda. Smaller government is the only way to have a free society."
Of course, if somehow Romney does fail to get the necessary votes for nomination on the first ballot, "trying to stop the coronation is ultimately still the goal," says Capone.
What you don't find among even their most positive statements is praise of the candidate to whom they are pledged.
If they feel mistreated in Tampa, it probably would not take much for them to start spouting their real opinions of Romney to the media.
The question for the Romney campaign is what will make these delegates happy enough to behave. It is not yet at all clear that a speaking slot for Paul, and an "audit the Fed" plank in the party platform, will be enough.
It's also far from certain that Romney's team has any interest in making them happy. Until now, they have dealt with Paul diehards in their typical aggressive style — removing them and their signage from anywhere Romney appears.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them do the same in Tampa. That may be fine with most Paul delegates, whom the media don't seem to take seriously anyway.
But a battle with his own local delegation might be an irresistible story line — one that Romney surely doesn't want spoiling his big party.Last edited by Dr. Love; 05-02-2012, 11:51 PM.Comment
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Fuck you RNC!
RNC to NV GOP: Don’t let Ron Paul delegates take over national convention slots or don’t bother coming to Tampa
By Jon Ralston
Wednesday, May 2, 2012 | 9:18 p.m.
RELATED FILES
See RNC letter at right
In a letter delivered Wednesday to GOP Chairman Michael McDonald, the RNC's chief counsel said if Ron Paul delegates are allowed to take too many slots for the national convention, Nevada's entire contingent may not be seated in Tampa.
John R. Phillippe Jr. said that while his letter is not binding, "I believe it is highly likely that any committee with jurisdiction over the matter would find improper any change to the election, selection, allocation, or binding of delegates, thus jeopardizing the seating of Nevada’s entire delegation to the National Convention."
Clearly, the RNC fears that mischief at the Sparks convention this weekend could result in Ron Paul delegates taking Mitt Romney slots and then not abiding by GOP rules to vote for the presumptive nominee on the first ballot in Tampa. So they are trying to force McDonald to ensure that actual Romney delegates fill 20 of the 28 national convention slots, thus removing any mystery of who they will vote for.
This could be even more fun on Saturday because — and I may be wrong — I don't think these Paul folks respect authority too much. And now the new chairman, who is close to some of the Paul folks, has to be the enforcer.
Too delicious.
The letter is at right.Comment
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Now for the BIG fuck you to the RNC:
RP has taken 22 of the 28 delegate slots for Nevada! This is especially funny since the RNC basically threatened not to seat the entire delegation if they voted too many in for Ron Paul. They also won 2/3 of the super delegate slots for the 2016 conventions (in anticipation of Rand Paul running).
This is DESPITE the fact that over 400 people showed up with fake delegate credentials and were voting for Romney. Most/all of them were identified and thrown out eventually. This is ALSO DESPITE the fact that people were handing out fake liberty slates to try to throw off the Ron Paul votes (they were being handed out by people with fake credentials and were thrown out).
For someone that has the nomination all in hand, the GOP establishment and Romney sure seem desperate to stop Ron Paul from collecting delegates.Comment
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Romney challenging the delegation from Mass because he doesn't like who was picked.
Down Comes the Axe
by: Paul R. Ferro
Fri May 04, 2012 at 21:50:07 PM EDT
Redmassgroup.com has confirmed that the Romney Campaign will be invoking Rule 5.2 of the MassGOP "Plan for the Selection of Delegates" to the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida by choosing to "not certify" delegates elected at last Saturdays caucuses under the "Ronald Reagan Unity Liberty Slate" banner.
Emails have been sent to Romney Slate Delegates, many of whom finished in 4th, 5th, and 6th place for one of three delegate slots, informing them that the Romney Campaign would challenge Liberty Slate Delegates, and to be prepared to serve as Delegates in their stead.
Further, RMG has learned that Allocation Committee member, and veteran State Committeewoman Nancy Luther has resigned her spot on the Allocation Committee, and been replaced by State Committee member Matthew Sisk.
Publisher's note: Luther has resigned, Sisk has told Red Mass Group he will not be serving on the allocation committee.
Most observers have interpreted this an effort to ensure that any non-certification of the Liberty Slate Delegates will be upheld by the Allocation Committee upon appeal.
cry me a river, dickbag!Comment
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Another victory!
Ron Paul wins majority of delegates from Maine GOP
By Associated Press
Sunday, May 6, 2012
AUGUSTA, Maine — With Ron Paul forces in control, the Maine Republican Convention has elected a majority slate supporting the Texas congressman to the GOP national convention.
The names of 15 at-large delegates from Maine to the Tampa, Fla., convention were posted Sunday morning as the state convention entered its second day. Ron Paul supporters essentially took over the convention Saturday after electing a convention chairman. Maine has a total of 24 delegates.
Paul finished a close second behind Mitt Romney in Maine’s presidential caucuses but those results were nonbinding.
Charles Cragin, a Romney supporter who lost Saturday’s bid to chair the convention, calls the turn of events "bizarre." He says the Paul-led delegation may not be seated at the national convention because of violations of rules of procedure this weekend in Augusta.
They are voting on delegates from the congressional districts now ... he may wind up with most if not all of the remaining 9 delegates!Comment
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We control the delegations from:
Maine (GOP challenge expected)
Nevada
Colorado
Minnesota
Iowa
We expect to control the delegations from:
Washington
Louisiana
Missouri
Hawaii
Oklahoma
Mass (maybe, we're hovering around half the delegates, GOP challenge expected)
Alaska (maybe, too close to call)
We'll see how it goes beyond that. We're fighting hard in TX to get the state convention stacked with as many RP people as we can. There's some encouraging reports from WV and NC as well.Last edited by Dr. Love; 05-06-2012, 01:37 PM.Comment
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Didn't work
The funny thing is that Romney's son was in Nevada stressing the need for unity. He got unity. Just not the unity he wanted.Comment
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It appears the prevailing attitude right now is that RP supporters will simply abstain from voting in the first round so that Romney doesn't have enough delegates to win the nomination in the first round, and then to take it in subsequent rounds of voting.
I've read that the chair of the each delegation can vote in place of abstaining delegates but I can't tell if it's true. I think the real test will be to see which side (Paul or Romney) can swing the gingrich/santorum delegates to their side.Comment
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Ron Paul Wins in Maine and Nevada Increasing Delegate Count Towards GOP Nomination
Hamdan Azharin
Ron Paul's supporters scored an incredible upset at both the Maine and Nevada Republican State Conventions this weekend. In Maine, they won 15 out of 15 at-large delegates and were on track to win the 6th congressional district delegates. In Nevada, Paul's supporters won 22 out of 25 delegate slots, a result officially announced just minutes ago.
Following the Texas congressman’s recent wins in other caucus states, these victories provide further evidence that the “delegate strategy” might be one of the most successful electoral strategies in modern political history.
In Maine, over 2,000 delegates gathered at the Augusta Civic Center on Saturday. After multiple recounts that stretched through the early afternoon, Paul supporter Brent Tweed was finally elected as the convention chairman, defeating Romney-backed candidate Charles Cragin by a mere four votes. Sources report that Mitt Romney backers began filtering out of the convention hall shortly afterwards.
In the early evening, the delegates separated into county caucuses to elect Maine’s 15 at-large delegates to the Republican National Convention. The counting of the ballots was finalized shortly after midnight. When the convention reconvened Sunday morning, it was announced that Ron Paul backers had won all 15 of 15 at-large delegate slots.
The Ron Paul takeover seemed complete as Paul supporters were then elected to the caucus chair and caucus secretary positions with nearly unanimous support. While final results will not be announced until early afternoon, Ron Paul is expected to win all 6 district delegate positions as well, giving Mr. Paul a clean sweep of 21 of 21 delegates from Maine.
In Nevada, 1,600 or so delegates had been officially credentialed by Saturday morning at the Nugget Casino in Sparks. Extensive debate about the rules that would govern the convention lasted for several hours, during which time several Romney supporters were escorted off the floor for distributing fake delegate slates.
Ron Paul himself addressed the convention after lunch, emphasizing familiar themes of limited government and fiscal conservatism. He was introduced by his wife, Carol, and was greeted with jubilation by his supporters in the crowd as they chanted “President Paul, President Paul.” Romney backers were also present in the crowd, although they were outnumbered by the Paul delegates, a significant portion of whom appeared to be younger than 30.
The first evidence of the Paul supporters’ strength in numbers came with the vote to elect Nevada’s National Committeeman and Committeewoman on Saturday afternoon. Paul backers soundly won both positions, ousting the incumbent Romney-supporting committee members. James Smack defeated Bob List with a vote of 932-623, and Diana Orrock defeated Carol Del Carlo with a vote of 902-429, with incumbent Committeewoman Heidi Smith garnering only 231 votes.
The convention also voted to elect Nevada’s 25 national delegates, three each from four congressional districts and 13 at-large delegates. The counting of the ballots took place on the third floor of the casino and lasted until early Sunday morning, conducted by volunteers from among the delegates and overseen by officials of both the Paul and Romney campaigns. Final results released earlier this morning confirm that Ron Paul supporters won 22 of 25 delegate slots.
The successful election of Paul supporters to most of the delegate slots comes on the heels of multiple warnings from the Republican National Committee to the Nevada Republican Party not to elect Paul-supporting delegates at the convention. The state party rejected the RNC’s advice, and it appears that the convention delegates have done so as well. The convention is expected to reconvene Sunday morning to consider possible changes to party bylaws.
Establishment party officials are reported to be in a panic over Ron Paul’s resounding victories in Maine and Nevada. Charles Cragin, the Romney-backer who was defeated in his attempt to chair the Maine convention, has predicted that the RNC will refuse to seat the Ron Paul dominated Maine delegation in Tampa. Meanwhile, a backup delegation of Romney lawyers is reportedly arriving in Nevada this morning to contest Ron Paul’s win.
Ron Paul’s surprise upsets in Maine and Nevada – two states that the mainstream media had already called for Mitt Romney – has the potential to upend the race for the Republican nomination. Paul supporters nationwide have been energized by the late-breaking turn of events and are redoubling their efforts in the upcoming primaries in Texas and California. Ron Paul continues to have a lasting impact on the Republican race and his supporters may well control the Republican Party in a few years.Comment
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Ron Paul also picked up 10/13 of the remaining unallocated delegates from Iowa today!Comment
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I don't see the majority of them going Ron Paul's way. These people are likely to be fundagelicals who hate the idea of voting for a Mormon cultist, but at least they know that he will start a war with Iran, which is necessary before Jesus can come back. (No, I don't believe that bullshit and neither does Jesus. But the Repuke "base" does) So in that contest, the Joseph Smith cultist beats the Ayn Rand cultist.Eat Us And Smile
Cenk For America 2024!!
Justice Democrats
"If the American people had ever known the truth about what we (the BCE) have done to this nation, we would be chased down in the streets and lynched." - Poppy Bush, 1992Comment
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So, we should support the fake Bin Laden killing, medicaid corruption for all, fast and furious and wall street bought and paid for cultist ??Comment
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