Remember when the Maine GOP pulled all those shenanigans to make sure Romney beat Ron Paul in their caucuses? Turns out that Ron Paul had the last laugh. He also piledrived Romney in Nevada this weekend:
Augusta, Maine, Paul supporter Brent Tweed narrowly won the election to chair the state’s GOP convention. From there, he presided over a meeting that ended up with Paul winning 18 of the state’s 24 delegates to Tampa.
Romney narrowly won Maine’s caucus straw poll earlier this year. But that was a nonbinding beauty contest. Sunday’s vote was what really counted.
In Sparks, Nev., the result was even more one-sided. Paul supporters won 22 of 25 delegates up for selection. But Nevada’s caucuses, unlike Maine’s, were binding on delegates. Some delegates were also awarded on an at-large basis. The bottom line: In the first round of voting in Tampa, 20 Nevada delegates are bound to Romney, and eight are free to vote for Paul, no matter their personal preference.
The article goes on to discuss a possible strategy for the bound Romney Paul delegates at the convention. They can apparently abstain without violating the rules. So, on the crucial first ballot, Romney can only count on 9 delegates from Maine and Nevada combined, while Paul is assured of eighteen.
I have two thoughts on this. First, it just highlights what a sad joke it is to think about our nominating contests as elections. They’re not elections. If you want to be the nominee, it helps a lot to win the elections that take place, but don’t ever think that your vote is going to count. Figure out what the rules are in your state and make sure your candidate gets your support when it matters.
Second, how incompetent is Mitt Romney? While the president is out chasing down the terrorists who blew up the USS Cole twelve years ago and disrupting terrorist plots and putting General Motors on the Forbes Top 5, Romney is losing fistfuls of delegates to a guy he tried to cheat out of those very same delegates three months ago. I thought the one thing Romney was good at was taking people’s shit away from them, and here he is getting his pockets picked by a near-octogenerian.
In the end, Ron Paul can’t do anything to prevent Romney from being the nominee, but he can make him look stupid. Oh wait! He already did.
I’d love to see a floor fight at their convention. And I’d love to see Ron Paul beat him on the second ballot. I suppose Arthur Gilroy would too, except for a different reason than me. Wouldn’t you, Arthur?
It’s an entertaining idea, but it won’t happen. Too bad. The fix is in too deep.
AG
“Second, how incompetent is Mitt Romney?”
Excellent point! I’ll try but hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t always appropriately cite you as the source when I repeat it in conversation.
Mitt Romney doesn’t need Ron Paul’s help in order to look stupid. All he needs is tapes of Mitt Romney, saying the exact opposite of whatever he happens to be saying at the time. His record makes Kerry look like a beacon of consistency, if only the Obama campaign decides to go there. And I’ll lay odds they will.
I agree but think about this.
Would Obama 2008 ever have allowed Hillary or anyone else to steal their lunch money like this?
No,
Remember it was Hillary, helped by Mark Penn of course, who was made to look the fool in ’08 by not contesting a bunch of caucus states very hard. If there is one thing the Paultards are good at it’s making sure they know the rulebook inside and out. And just imagine if there is a real fight or two on the convention floor! 😉
On that point, read The Magic Number by Jeff Berman sometime. It’s a quick read that takes us through the entire delegate hunt of the Obama 2008 campaign. Berman was the national delegate director. Many of us know a good deal of the story but we get a little more inside info. And the planning and determination to get each delegate available is amazing.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Magic-Number-Presidential-Nomination/dp/0984934014/ref=cm_pdp_rev_itm_titl
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I think the flip-flopper line is weak. He wants to be “severely conservative,” I say make him own it. Take him at his word. The president, I suspect by his Rolling Stone interview, agrees.
They aren’t mutually exclusive. What you do is highlight Romney’s current, radical, extreme positions, explain that he adopted them – contravening earlier words and actions – to pander to the very far right, and that he’ll say or do anything, including [insert example of batshit craziness here], to become President. Can we really trust a man like that?
At once, you’ve hit the flip-flopping, the extremism, and the “Who Is The Real Mitt Romney?” lack of trust many people feel. I’d go there. But then, that’s probably why I don’t get the big bucks.
You can go there…and then hit the Bain Capital/man of and for the 1% angle too. Ali came off the ropes in Kinshasa and hit Foreman with combinations. No reason Obama can’t hit Romney with combinations too.
Cleanup on aisles 9 & 10…
we were just chatting about this this morning.
I’m rooting for a floor fight. Or better yet, for Romney to prostrate himself to the Lord Paul, begging for his support, promising anything like the pandering twat he is.