Setting the Record Straight on The Real Delegate Count

There is much confusion about the delegate process. That’s because each state has its own unique and frequently complex rules and procedures but basically delegates to the RNC National Convention are selected at state conventions or at a State Executive Committee meeting (not all states have state conventions).

Headlines are popping up that say ‘Ron Paul wins MN or CO or IA or WA’. It’s simply not true. Neither Washington or Iowa nor Minnesota have even had their state conventions yet.

Let’s start with the states that have actually had state conventions that have finalized delegates to the national convention or where delegates are a done deal. 

NH (1/10) Romney 9, Paul 3 (decided at primary)
ND (4/1) Romney 20, Santorum 6, Paul 2, State Convention
TN (4/7) Santorum 29, Romney 17, Gingrich 9, State Executive Committee – tentative
CO (4/14) Romney 14, Santorum 6, plus 16 uncommitted delegates. State Convention
WY (4/14) Romney 23, Santorum 2, Paul 2, plus 1 uncommitted and 2 available, State Convention

In NH, Ron Paul got 23% of the vote and 25% of the 12 delegates.

In TN, Santorum got 37% of the vote but 53% of the delegates. Romney got 28% of the vote but 31% of the delegates. Gingrich got 24% of the vote and 16% of the delegates. Ron Paul got 9% of the vote and zero delegates. The delegates are “tentative” because TN will probably end up awarding all its delegates to Romney.

In ND, Ron Paul got 28% of the caucus vote but only 7% of the delegates. Santorum got 40% of the caucus vote but only 21% of the delegates. Romney got 24% of the caucus vote but 71% of the delegates.

In CO, Ron Paul got 12% of the caucus vote, but zero delegates. Santorum got 40% of the vote but only 17% of the delegates. Romney got 35% of the vote but 39% of the delegates. However, CO has 15 uncommitted delegates.

In WY, Ron Paul got 21% of the vote but only 3% of the delegates. Santorum got 32% of the vote but only 7% of the delegates. Romney got 39% of the vote but 79% of the delegates. WY has 3 uncommitted delegates.

It’s 100% true that Republicans and GOP party officials have done everything possible to shut out and marginalize Ron Paul and the Paulites. GOP treachery is best explained by what happened in Wyoming as posted on Doug Wead’s blog.

And we [Ron Paul supporters] did take over the Nominating Committee on Friday. We had 16 out of 44 of the votes in the committee but we managed to take 9 out of the 14 preferred delegate positions on the ballot. I actually saw/heard one guy telling that to Senator Enzi and his wife Diana. ‘The Ron Paul people took over the Nominations Committee’ and Diana put her hand over her mouth and gasped, ‘OH NO!’ You would think someone just told her we killed her dog

There was a definite sick feeling at the convention. I didn’t see a rally behind Romney at all. It took all the Senators, the Governor and even the former VP of the U.S. (Dick Cheney) getting on stage and telling them to suck it up and vote for Romney; but the delegates did not vote Romney with excitement. They did it because they were told that there was no other choice that ‘could win.’” Read the rest here.

Politics is very much a contact sport that is fought in trench warfare. It’s gritty, it’s dirty and it’s corrupt. The elites who hold power will do anything to preserve their power.

Ron Paul is waging a Revolution more than he’s running to win an election because he knows the power players and what he’s up against. For Ron Paul, it’s all about educating folks on the issues so that they will someday have the knowledge and voting power to evict the traitors who are wholly owned subsidiaries of the banksters, military industrial complex and corporatist special interests. On that point alone, Ron Paul’s success can only be described as phenomenal and beyond our wildest expectations.

The results of state conventions and state executive committee meetings will start to roll in fast and furious. In Minnesota and Iowa, Ron Paul is heavily favored simply because Paulite grassroots succeeded in making substantial inroads into the state party machine. Upcoming conventions:

AK 4/26 –28, 27 delegates, including 3 unpledged. State Convention
DE 4/28, 17 delegates. State Convention
KS 4/28 40 delegates. State Party Committee Meeting
ME (5/5-6) 24 delegates. Maine District Caucuses and State Convention
NV (5/5-6) 28 delegates. State Convention
OK (5/11-12) 43 delegates, including 3 unpledged. State Convention
CT (5/18) 28 delegates, including 3 unpledged. State Committee Meeting
GA (5/18-19) 76 delegates. State Convention
MI (5/18-19) 30 delegates. Congressional District Caucuses/State Convention
MN (5/18-19) 40 delegates. State Convention
MS (5/18-19) 40 delegates, including 3 unpledged. State Convention
SC (5/19) 25 delegates. State Convention.

As most of the state conventions wrap up in April, May and June, Santorum and Gingrich delegates will probably go to Romney because they’ve both now endorsed Romney. For more information, please visit The Green Papers.

While it's true that the GOP machines employed ruthless and dirty tactics to shut out the Paulites, it's also true that liberty activist are the GOP's minority party crashers. Most Republicans are quite happy with the party just the way it is. The only real dispute within establishment Republican ranks is the social conservative agenda that makes party elites cringe. Both factions support statism, the wars, endless foreign interventionism, entitlements,the Nazified Police State and fascist crony capitalism.

Liberty activists can continue to play in the GOP's pond until they finally succeed in taking it over, something that will eventually happen. Meanwhile we need to do all that we can do to prevent Republican victories when the candidate is a statist neocon. That's something we can accomplish by supporting Gary Johnson in the event Ron Paul isn't the nominee and he probably won't be.