In 2008, Republican insiders in a number of states worked mightily to ensure that presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul met with no success. So, this time around, his campaign has trained supporters in the caucus states to act like insiders.
What’s the secret?
“There were no actual delegates rewarded in last Tuesday’s voting,” Greg Gutfeld clarified on Red Eye, his late-night Fox News show. 
The votes reported on caucus night are not the votes that count, the ones that elect delegates. Instead, the delegates — who go on to pick other delegates to go to the state convention and then the national convention, and ultimately choose the GOP candidate — are picked later, after many caucus attendees have gone home for the night.
Ron Paul’s supporters stick around. And vote themselves in as delegates.
“We do have to remember,” Ron Paul has gloated, that “the straw vote is one thing, but then there’s one other thing called delegates, yeah!”
News sources consistently report caucus night straw vote totals, but rarely mention that such caucus polling is relevant only for perceptions of “momentum.” The actual candidate selection mechanism? Something else again.
Indeed, it looks like a majority of Minnesota delegates, as well as surprisingly high percentages in Iowa, Colorado and Nevada, may actually end up supporting Ron Paul for President.
Un-democratic? Paul supporters are unashamed of their strategy, as campaign senior advisor Doug Wead happily explained to Rachel Maddow. As they see it, they are only acting according to the rules that usually serve to favor insiders in the GOP boys’ club.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
12 replies on “Something Up His Sleeve”
Predicting the future:
Newsmax published a story that Romney was the winner of the Nevada caucuses. Problem was that the story was published on February 2, two days before the earliest results could have been known on February 4. The story was pulled and then republished on the 4th, even though it was finally released 20 minutes before any resluts acually started coming in. CNN and FOX chimed in that Romney was the winner when only 4% of the votes and been tallied. And since then a precinct by precinct count of the votes has not been made abailable by the Nevada GOP.
Besides, it’s Romney’s turn. Apparnatly he’s been blessed by the GOP old school and Ron Paul hasn’t. Plus Romney played nice in 2008 and bowed out so that McCain could run, because it was McCain’s turn. Because McCain had played nice and bowed oout so that Bush could run. GOP is nothing but not fair to people that play nice and according to the RINO rules.
Drik: I fear you have the pattern right. But we need to keep a larger goal in mind; Education, which Ron Paul is doing admirably.
After all, look at number of intelligent people digging deeper into economics, history, philosophy and nefarious political schemes, than ever before.
I fear I am right also and that keeps me up at night. While there is education by a few, the national, democratically controlled education system in this country keeps spoon-feeding the vast majority of children with pablum without teaching them about our country or its uniqueness or exceptionalism and without teaching them critical thinking skills. Hence we have the laughable stars of Jaywalking being representative of the product of our education system. Hence we have the warped sensibilities of Presbo. For which the Department of Edukashun has the unmitigated gall to be billing us a billion a year (in current day dollars) for the last 40 years.
We should be able to turn the kids in and get working replacements and a refund.
Ron Paul is the least scariest of the bunch. That leaves him as a minority among the republicans.
He doesn’t have a chance with the rabid right wingers and the tea baggers.
With cash flush Mexican Mitt, unelectable Santorum, and one world order Newt, against English citizen Obama, it comes down to Ron Paul for President. We really have only one choice in November and if tactics permit the Paul camp to use the rules then I guess I can support Paul.
Let’s all pray and trust that Doctor Paul gets scores even hundreds of delegates and that Mr Gingrich and Mittens the Massachusetts’ Moderate’s never-had-an-actual-job sinecure-seeking corruptly bought-and-paid-for Ricky-Bob Vander Plaatsantorum both do as well.
Enough, I pray and trust, to ensure the severely-socialist Massachusetts RINO doesn’t get the 1144 delegates that will see him become 2012’s John Dole / Bob Bush / George Hebert Walker McCain clone!
Pray for a brokered convention and for a Republican Nominee who can win. For a PALIN/PERRY ticket, say!
JohnnyK talks of “tea baggers.”
Aren’t they all propagandizing poofter pretty boys on CNN?
Did Ms K mistake this thread for the “Democratic” Underpants?
Instead of being verbally inventive, I’ll just put things my way, straightforwardly: If Ron Paul somehow gets the Republican nomination, he’ll also get my vote; if he does not, then my vote will go to whoever runs on the Libertarian ticket. I’d like lots of others to do as I intend to do.
[…] (typeof(addthis_share) == “undefined”){ addthis_share = [];}On Monday I reported on the Ron Paul campaign’s “open secret” strategy: Gaining delegates in the caucus states, […]
Ron Paul is defeating Reince Priebus. Priebus is looking incompetent with all the problems in being able to properly count votes. The anti-Paul tactics of GOP leaders magnifies the incompetence. Then there is the problem that they can’t defeat Obama when myself and other Ron Paul supporters who they have kicked into the gutter vote third party in hopes of getting someone who is actually for smaller government and lower taxes into office.
[…] == “undefined”){ addthis_share = [];}The Ron Paul 2012 campaign’s caucus-state delegate strategy, discussed here before, aims to work around the candidate’s biggest hurdle: Republican voters. Though Ron Paul has a […]
[…] BBC puts Ron Paul’s delegate count at 104, with frontrunner Mitt Romney 178 short of a lock on the nomination — but that’s at […]