Just saw this today on Repub delegates from MA -- is it more etching and sketching?
Mass. GOP moves to invalidate caucus ballots
Ron Paul backers cry foul
By Stephanie Ebbert | GLOBE STAFF MAY 28, 2012
A month after former Governor Mitt Romney’s loyalists were trounced by supporters of Ron Paul in his home state caucuses, the Massachusetts Republican Party is trying to invalidate results - a move that has infuriated rank-and-file Republicans who accuse establishment insiders of bending the rules to their own benefit. The challenges could change the makeup of the delegation that Massachusetts is expected to send to the Republican National Convention in Tampa in August, though it won’t affect the Republican nomination for president. Based on Romney’s strong primary win in Massachusetts, the delegates to the convention are all committed to vote for him and Paul has dropped out of contention.
See you after the Itzl pretzel doodle.
The full story is here, although the Globe requires a subscription: http://www.bostonglobe.com/...
No analysis going on here, and I don't want to pay for the info so I don't know if the article makes it clear -- are R$ supporters trying to change it so it looks like he has unanimous delegate support? Must the Wizard's spectacle be managed so thoroughly? I don't know enough about conventions -- is there often wheeling and dealing before the event in the name of party unity? Establishment Repubs keep showing they are really worried that there will be a delegate uprising to the point they continue to alienate people.
While looking for more (free) info on this, I noticed an article in the NYTimes (5-22-12) about machinations by Paul supporters: http://www.nytimes.com/...
With their favorite having lost the nomination for president, Mr. Paul’s dedicated band of youthful supporters is looking down-ballot and swarming lightly guarded Republican redoubts like state party conventions in an attempt to infiltrate the top echelons of the party.
“Karl Rove’s fear-and-smear-style Republicans are going to wake up at the end of the year and realize we are now in control of the Republican Party,” said Preston Bates, a Democrat-turned-Paulite who is running Liberty for All for Mr. Ramsey. ...
Backers of Mr. Paul, a Republican congressman from Texas, crashed Republican conventions in Iowa, Maine, Minnesota and Nevada in recent weeks, snatching up the lion’s share of delegate slots for the Republican National Convention in Tampa this August, a potential headache for the national party and its presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney.
And Paulite candidates for Congress are sprouting up from Florida to Virginia to Colorado, challenging sitting Republicans and preaching the gospel of radically smaller government, an end to the Federal Reserve, restraints on Bush-era antiterrorism laws and a pullback from foreign military adventures. ...
Republican Party officials say they are in daily contact with Representative Paul, in a delicate effort to harness the energy around him without inciting his supporters. “We have had open dialogue with Dr. Paul and his campaign to ensure we are all focused on winning in November,” said Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee’s communications director.
And just a reminder that
actual analysis has been done:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
I'm thinking it might be time to watch my first Repub convention this time around!