The official Republican primary season -- the time when all National Delegates are selected -- runs from Feb. 5 through July 28. At the halfway mark, Ron Paul's campaign is on a roll, suddenly back in the media eye. CNN had him on twice this week (with first John Roberts, then Wolf Blitzer), and even FOX News gave him face time.
Other eyes as well. Even the "luminaries" of the Trilateral Commission, at their Apr. 25-28 meet in Washington, DC (reports American Free Press) "expressed concern that Paul's rallies have attracted multitudes of young people who are getting 'their political education.' They want Republicans to pressure Paul to drop out now and stop his education rallies. This assignment was given to Thomas Foley, former U.S. House speaker."
Good luck to him. Paul is clearly enjoying the campaign, and has no intention of conceding before the National Covention. As he told CNN's Roberts: "What's the sense of having a convention if everything is decided?"
Three factors seem to account for the new interest. (1) Paul's recent surge in Pennsylvania; (2) the release of his new book, already a NY Times bestseller (and #1 on Amazon); and (3) the major Delegate Wars battle at the Nevada convention.
(1) While some are spinning Paul's 16% as a result of low GOP turnout, that doesn't completely wash. Paul's absolute numbers were also up: 120,000 votes is double what he received in Ohio just two months ago, and three times his total in New York three months ago. Either the RPR is growing, or anti-McCain conservatives are beginning to come to him; either one is good news for him.
(2) The idea of giving a copy of The Revolution: A Manifesto to every Republican National Delegate is beginning to go viral on the RPR portion of the internet.
(3) But the big news, in DW context, was what happened in Nevada. What did happen?
Reportedly the GOP leadership had a deal, negotiated with all campaigns (including Jeff Greenspan for Paul's), on a "unity slate." National Delegates were assigned as per the Jan. caucus vote, with Romney's share going to McCain. That would have given Dr. Paul 5 delegates.
However, when convention chairman Bob Beers proposed the slate, the state delegates rebelled and by a supermajority -- two-thirds -- opened nominations from the floor. That was followed, after long delays, by Congressional District elections (to be followed, in turn, by voting for the at-large National Delegates). With two districts counted, Paul had won 4 of 6 Nationals. Before the final district's results were announced, Beers declared the meeting adjourned, to a chorus of boos. Then he, the leadership, and the McCain delegates walked out, breaking quorum.
The convention will be resumed, at some point, no doubt after feverish negotiations between all parties. But there seems little chance that Nevada GOP unity can be patched up so easily. First, the Nevada leadership is determined that Ron Paul will not win its convention. Second, the Ron Paul Republicans (RPR) will settle for nothing less. If they have a majority of state delegates, they want a majority of National Delegates; if they have two-thirds, they want two-thirds.
And who can blame them? When they have a minority, no one is going to give them a deal; they and Paul will get nothing. Case in point: this weekend's Maine state convention, where, despite his 20% showing in the Maine caucus, Paul was given zero at-large National Delegates.
As I've pointed out before, there are two campaigns in play for Ron Paul. One is the official campaign, with the traditional organization and structure: Hope for America, or HFA. The other is the grassroots spontaneous order that calls itself the Ron Paul rEVOLution. The Ron Paul Republicans (RPR) are part of that latter group. They work with HFA, but not for it.
Which makes the question of whether HFA can strike deals with the GOP leadership almost irrelevant. HFA does not speak for the RPR; if they don't like a deal, they will vote against it. (And then the GOP leadership will crack down.) That is what happened in Nevada. The same thing happened in Jackson County, Missouri.
Dr. Paul himself cheers them on. As he also told Roberts, in context of the Nevada happenings: "We're picking up delegates all the time. That's what campaigns are supposed to be for."
And the HFA website continues to exhort them:
"Ron Paul needs you to be a delegate. Delegates select the platforms for their county, state and national party. They make the rules, influence their peers, and even pick the presidential candidate! In every step of the process, it is essential that Ron Paul supporters are engaged, active and numerous.
"If we are going to make our voices heard and affect necessary changes, then becoming a delegate is mission critical.
"Please sign up now to become a delegate and a leader in our movement. If we can turn out enough delegates, we can alter the course of the nation by helping Ron alter the course of the Republican Party."
"What's This? Ron Paul Tops McCain?" cried the Clark County Columbian on Apr. 25. Under the subheading "Weird Item 1," the Columbian opined that, at the county convention, John McCain "was left in the dust by Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, the anti-Iraq war, anti-tax, anti-big government libertarian.... Paul outpolled McCain by a substantial margin overall. Most of that margin was built among participants from the 18th Legislative District of north and far east Clark County, where Paul forces captured between 25 and 28 of the 30 delegate slots bound for the state convention."
The Columbian added that "what happened at the Spokane County GOP convention was even weirder. 'The Paul forces ate McCain's lunch,' a Spokane reporter told me, vastly outnumbering them and pushing through a get-out-of-Iraq-fast plank in the local party platform."
Ron Paul won the Feb. 9 caucuses in Spokane Co. with 46% of the vote his best showing in the country. At the Apr. 12 county convention, a convention-goer later told The Daily Paul, the "McCain campaign came prepared to win by trying to dominate the event.... Throughout the day we witnessed the McCain team doing everything within their power to try to dominate the agenda and sway the voting (as expected). Their tactics were both subtle and overt as they tried to confuse the newbie Ron Paul conventioneers by quoting obscure rules and procedures. At other times, they used heavy-handed, authoritative sounding directives and gamesmanship in attempts to promote their chosen delegates and derail the Ron Paul delegates and positions." One McCainiac went so far as "trying to steal an unattended Ron Paul delegate list."
The McCain camp also "employed a multi-media projector that prominently displayed on the front wall exactly which (McCain) delegates they expected everyone to vote for. After another round of protests and debate, their projector was eventually turned off (almost by force) and their subsequent attempts to dominate the process were systematically beaten back ."
The bottom line? "107 out of 111 delegates were elected who favor Ron Paul and his positions. Only 4 delegates were elected who favor McCain. This was a HUGE and unexpected upset that surpassed the wildest expectations of everyone in our group."
Similar stories have been reported around the state. In Lewis Co., "Seven rows of benches in the former courtroom of the Lewis County Courthouse were packed with party faithful and new faces. In a meeting that was expected to last only three hours, procedures that included repeated voting on potential delegates continued until mid-afternoon.... Much of the morning was spent with Republicans divided up into the three county commissioner districts in which they live. Each would get seven delegates to send to the state convention." Paul won District 1, 4 delegates to 3, but lost the other two (4-3 and 6-1); for 8 state delegates, 26% of the total.
"The 'Ron Paul people' took over the Whatcom County convention as well, [Lewis Co. Commissioner Richard] Graham said. 'It's a mess. It's a mess.'"
In Port Townsend, "Jefferson County Republicans on Saturday [Apr. 12] elected four delegates for Arizona Sen. John McCain and two for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul."
In Stevens Co., "Ron Paul delegates handily picked up 11 of the 13 at-large county delegate positions to go to State Convention in Spokane on Memorial Day weekend next month. The old guard didn't have a clue what hit them."
In Whatcom Co., too, "solid strategy and a well-organized grassroots campaign put Ron Paul on top, at the Whatcom County Republican Party convention.... GOP [county] Chairman Chet Dow said it appears that Paul received the majority of delegates who will be sent to the summer state convention in Spokane. From there, delegates will be selected for the national convention. How did that happen ...? 'One word: organization,' Dow said."
West Virginia held its state convention back on Super Duper Tuesday, Feb. 5. The bad news? Ron Paul's 10% first-ballot vote put him in last place, and he was dropped from the next ballot. The good news? "In an agreement first reported by West Virginia television station WSAZ, three Ron Paul delegates were secured through an agreement with the Mike Huckabee campaign.... Ron Paul delegates to the state convention swung their sizable support to Huckabee - putting Huckabee over the top - in exchange for the delegates."
Huckabee National Delegate Greg Smith later "confirmed a deal was hatched between the two camps, clarifying that the National Huckabee Campaign was not involved at all." Bob Fish, CEO of the convention, added "that Huckabee's WV Delegates are not 'legally bound' to vote for Huckabee at the GOP Convention. As it was the Huckabee Delegates who helped broker the deal, they can honor their commitment for 3 to support Paul."
Ron Paul Republicans Catherine Bleish, Larry Holland and Gregory Pals won the 3 National Delegate spots up for grabs at Missouri's 5th Congressional District (CD-5) convention in Kansas City on Apr. 19. Reported the Kansas City Star: "Paul delegates agreed to sign a pledge to follow party rules, including the current rule binding them to the winner of Missouri's presidential primary McCain. In exchange, GOP regulars agreed to drop potential challenges of Paul delegates, who were picked at a tumultuous Jackson County meeting in March. 'It's good for the party because we avoid any further acrimony,' said Jackson County Republican chairman Bunk Farrington, who walked out of the March meeting."
The Paul campaign reports that at least 4 (and possibly 7) "delegates supporting Texas Congressman and presidential candidate Ron Paul were elected" in Congressional District elections at the state convention Apr. 26. Chris Dyer was one of 3 delegates elected for CD-1. In CD-3, all 3 National Delegates - Arden Osborne, Carl Bunce, and Elizabeth BelCastro - were Paul supporters.
"In Congressional District 2, Congressman Dean Heller was in the lead, followed closely by Paul supporters Robert Terhune, Pat Kerby, and Marla Criss. When the count was halted, the remaining (approximately 50%) of the uncounted ballots were placed into seven sealed envelopes, signed by supporters of both John McCain and Ron Paul, and deposited in a safe at the Peppermill Casino in Reno."
In CD-1 elections held May 2 at the Maine state convention in Augusta, the RPR "got one delegate to the national convention. Patrick Eisenhart of Augusta is one of 21 Republicans from Maine who will go to the convention in early September."
http://www.nolanchart.com/article3255.html
http://www.nolanchart.com/article3438.html
http://www.nolanchart.com/article3508.html
http://www.nolanchart.com/article3588.html
http://www.nolanchart.com/article3747.html
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©2008 George Dance, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Sunday, May 4, 2008
Last modified: Thursday, July 31, 2008
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Reader Comments:
Posted By: Lloyd Kempson
Date: 2008-05-04 13:09:06
This is like watching a football game where the score is 45-21 with 2:00 left in the fourth quarter. Ron Paul is no Plano East, so don't expect Ron Paul to recove too many onside kicks and score before the time runs out. Even if he did, I am sure that once he established a lead that he would kick it deep and John McCain would return it for a touchdown and win the game destroying Ron Paul's effort.
Posted By: George Dance
Date: 2008-05-04 13:49:13
Thank you, Lloyd; I'm glad the sports analogy came through. I had in mind Umberto Eco's claim (which I read long ago, don't ask me where) that governments encourage the common man's interest in sport, to keep him from watching the important one, politics.
Posted By: spinnikerca
Date: 2008-05-04 14:07:21
Thanks for the report - I never had seen how West Virginia turned out....
Fingers crossed for Washington!
And people who only focus on the nomination are forgetting that the more successful we are, the more Ron Paul's message gets exposure.
Posted By: Mr. 1up
Date: 2008-05-04 14:13:54
Lloyd is right in a way. This is very much like a football game that leaves you on the edge of your seat because "your" team is making a late comeback, even if you know in your heart of hearts that it will probably never materialize.
That being said, thank you for the update sir :)
Posted By: Freedom4America Group
Date: 2008-05-04 15:42:19
George,
Great article but wanted to let you know that your link for "Global Elite Gather in D.C.," is wrong.
You have
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/global_elite_gather_135.htmlPaul:
Remove the Paul: and it will be right.
ONLY A Doctor WILL HEAL Our Country,
Freedom4America Group
Posted By: Freddie L
Date: 2008-05-04 18:39:31
Great article. There is a link to this article on the RonPaulforPresident2008 page that is not working. We're all a hopin' an a prayin! It's time for some Divine intervention!
Posted By: Swamp Fox
Date: 2008-05-04 22:12:16
"Even the "luminaries" of the Trilateral Commission, at their Apr. 25-28 meet in Washington, DC (reports American Free Press) "expressed concern that Paul's rallies have attracted multitudes of young people who are getting 'their political education.' They want Republicans to pressure Paul to drop out now and stop his education rallies. This assignment was given to Thomas Foley, former U.S. House speaker."
Blast Thomas Foley's office with phone calls FAXES and emails and let him know WE THE PEOPLE KNOW what he is up to, and we will NOT take it lightly!
Posted By: James Babb
Date: 2008-05-04 23:22:44
"Three factors seem to account for the new interest. (1) Paul's recent surge in Pennsylvania; (2) the release of his new book, already a NY Times bestseller (and #1 on Amazon); and (3) the major Delegate Wars battle at the Nevada convention."
Great article. Note that all 3 of these things are a result of grassroots efforts. Imagine what would happen if the campaign was on our side.
Posted By: Dave A.
Date: 2008-05-05 07:47:23
The campaign HAS imagined what would happen if they were on our side. Loss of power for them.
That's why they are fighting so vigorously. It isn't about what's best for us, but what's best for them (as far as they are concerned).
Posted By: George Dance
Date: 2008-05-05 09:03:00
James & Dave: Yes, most of the campaign's accomplishments have come from the grass roots. I've heard horror stories about how HFA has interfered with their efforts. (Eg, in Michigan, how the state co-ordinator wanted to stop all the meetups from organizing any events, preferring they all go through her.) But I think the problem's more one of incompetence than conspiracy; these are mostly graduates of local campaigns (Libertarian ones, plus Paul's Texas group) in over their heads, with no experience at this.
Freedom4America: Thanks for spotting the typo in the link. I fixed it.
On a happier note: I left out an Oklahoma update, because the initial word was that the Liberty Coalition won no delegates. I'm happy to discover that was wrong: James Dunn was elected national committeeman, making him an ex-officio delegate or "superdelegate".
Posted By: John Wieder TX-22
Date: 2008-05-05 14:48:27
Hello Folks, I am a contender for Texas CD22 the fall of 2008. It is so great to find this site, because most of the contributors are being made by libertarian and a few others mixed in. Every one who is a member here should help me solve the Right to Life case rather than getting on an immediate one side or the other. I will explain more later. May GOD bless all of us, U.S. TOO!!!
Posted By: Deet
Date: 2008-05-05 18:27:17
There has NEVER been such a grassroots uprising for any candidate, especially one with so little media coverage. You would think the desparate and dying Republican Party would grasp for Ron Paul and his supporters like a drowning man reaching for a life preserver! Juan McCain WILL NOT WIN in November, especially without Ron Pauls 10% of supporters. Ron Paul is the only contender that could keep the Republicans in office. I guess staying on the path to world government is more important than conservative American principals to the party elite.
Posted By: George Dance
Date: 2008-05-05 22:26:42
"[The Trilateralists] want Republicans to pressure Paul to drop out now and stop his education rallies. This assignment was given to Thomas Foley, former U.S. House speaker."
I heard that they originally asked Mark Foley, but he wasn't interested in pursuing it -- he just kept saying, "It's time to turn the page."
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