Ron Paul Racks Up Delegates, Putting GOP Establishment On Edge

[Grassy Knoll]

Source: huffingtonpost

WASHINGTON -- A prominent Iowa Republican, and a major supporter of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, did not hesitate to answer when asked recently how many of the Hawkeye State's 28 delegates he expects Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) to have heading into the national convention in Tampa this August.

"Twenty," he said.

Conversations with numerous Iowa Republicans confirms the same thing: The state party establishment is dreading a Paul rout on June 15 and 16 at the two-day congressional district/state convention in Des Moines.

"Paul is costing the state a lot of credibility," said Bob Haus, a GOP consultant who most recently headed up Texas Gov. Rick Perry's campaign in the state.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/03/ron-paul-delegates_n_1473035.html

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LOL, Rmoney's other little problem.

[Fearless]

1. Paging Sarah Palin... you're wanted to sort out Iowa!

[freshwest]

2. Freeperville to endorse Paul! Not long now.

[Lasher]

3. Ron Paul is liked by stupid people.

There has never been a shortage of stupid people.

[chollybocker]

4. I can't wait for the Rethug Convention.

It's going to be the most hilarious circular-firing-squad clusterfuck in the history of humanity. I hope Paul doesn't accidently get suicided and winds up running a third party campaign this fall. Good times.

[tabasco]

30. No, it won't.

It will be like a huge nazi rally to glorify the fuhrer.

[klook]

5. Paul currently has

less than 10 percent the delegates that Rmoney has.

Although I'd love to believe he could be a thorn in Rmoney's side, it seems that rumors of his significance are greatly exaggerated.

[MADem]

8. He can deny the guy a "unanimous" vote, though. That's where he has clout. nt

[klook]

9. True -- any weakening of Rmoney is welcome. (n/t)

[AtheistCrusader]

18. It's a lot more than that.

staggeringly more if Romney fails to win the first round of voting, and the pledged delegates are unbound to vote for whomever. Maddow has been covering the paul camp's ground game on delegates for a while now. It's impressive.

Get some popcorn, their convention is going to be goddamn GLORIOUS to behold. They are going to tear themselves apart on national TV.

[klook]

25. Man, I sure hope so

Your vision is my dream come true for the RNC in Tampa this August.

[grantcart]

21. That chart is worthless.

For example it shows Romney sweeping MA while in fact Paul is going to have a majority.

The Romney people got the headlines and walked away while the Paul people worked the county and state conventions and packed the results.

Also there are some number of 'trojan horse' Paul delegates that have pretended that they support another candidate just so that they could get to the convention.

All Paul has to do is to have a majority in 5 delegations and they can present motions from the floor.

Romney is going to have a big majority but Paul is going to cause a major disruption.

[MADem]

6. Well, maybe this will put a nail in the "Iowa Caucus" coffin. That beauty contest is pretty

meaningless. They were all over "Anybody But Romney" during that Aw-shucking exercise, and now they're all over Paul? Didn't Santorum actually win that thing, even though RMoney spent a zillion dollars and a few caucus results went "missing" so it looked like he kinda won it? But in reality, it was a three way split between those two idiots and the other idiot, Paul...!

I guess those religious types are voting with their fundy beliefs--and their fundy beliefs regard RMoney as a cult leader in a wealthy religious cult.

Irrelevant!

[justgamma]

7. "Paul is costing the state a lot of credibility

That ship sailed when the pukes keep electing King.

[Cosmocat]

32. +1 ... Thousand

In the urban dictionary, the smiling face next to the term arshat is King.

[Jamaal510]

10. How can we expect Republicans to run the country

when they can't even run their own primaries properly?

[TrollBuster9090]

11. The key question is obviously what will happen to the PaulBots after the convention.

Will Ron Paul be a good little token libertarian and tell them all to support Mitt, or will he set fire to the place on the way out?

Obviously, we're all hoping he'll stomp down the street and re-join the Libertarian party, and have a three way race between Obama, Paul and Romney, Ross Perot style. Or, at the very least, I'd like to see all the PaulBots WRITE HIM IN on their ballots, instead of voting for REED "rubber man" RICHARDS.

[PatrynXX]

13. big problem mainly is Libertarians aren't tea part

I'm Libertarian. Now because of the tea party I gotta say left wing libertarian. But Ron is no Tea Party. Like saying Madonna is the King of pop..

[Kennah]

16. You and me both

The Libertarian Party and the Paulbots are RW libertarians.

Progressives are LW libertarians.

[karynnj]

27. Most progressives are NOT libertarians

Most see a need for government to help those who need it and work for a safety net.

[Kennah]

31. Noam Chomsky identifies himself as a libertarian socialist

Individual freedom, social justice, and expansion of the welfare state are key tenets.

[LiberalLovinLug]

28. Saying you are a "left wing libertarian"

...is like saying you're a Wall Street socialist.

[AtheistCrusader]

19. I think he's probably going to set fire to it.

All his 'principled career' goes down the shitter if he endorses Romney. He might try something like he did with abortion though, 'signing' that national pledge thing, but with caveats. Maybe.

I'm hoping he whips out a can of gas and some matches though.

[PatrynXX]

12. Old old old old news. if you happen to live in iowa

keep saying Ron Paul isn't playing by the vote tally rules. He's playing delegates. It's the the party system rules. Either side. Not all of the have to vote for whomever they are told to vote. As for Iowa having a cred problem. 1. Florida fucked that up and 2. Iowa figured Mitt won. then it was Rick now its Ron. zzzzzzz

Michigan is a bit problematic since Mitt and Rick tied there. then they changed the rules after the voting there. SO why is ron paul still in the race.... cause he's a smart ass. Rick and um who is the other moron...on freaking newt. dumb folks. Ron isn't...

[AtheistCrusader]

20. Plus, Paul has money

Gingrich is politically broke. He's wealthy as an individual, but his campaign is something like 4 million dollars in the hole.

This is exciting. Romney is trying to gear up for Obama, and Paul just keeps biting him on the ass.

At least until a week after the convention, we are all going to be very entertained.

[jberryhill]

14. Yay! May the fun never end!

It's like watching some vast unstable stellar structure going nova.

[AllyCat]

15. This is just classic. Awesome!

[Kennah]

17. "Paul is costing the state a lot of credibility"

Those words mean so much coming from a man who backed Perry.

[MrSlayer]

22. Tough shit bud, the Paulites know how the game is played.

Why didn't he just say democracy is ruining the credibility of the state? Ron Paul is a jackass of the highest order but his followers are rabid and they know the election rules. He has an opportunity to get some planks in the platform or some sort of leverage at the convention.

Hell, his followers are crazy enough to riot on the floor if they don't get their way. And wouldn't that be interesting?

[tanyev]

23. Heh. I was wondering who to vote for in the GOP primary.

All the clowns are still on the ballot. Looks like a vote for Paul would be the most anti-Romney message of all.

[OnlinePoker]

24. What I like about that article

On the right hand side of the page is the "Electoral Outlook 2012". Currently, Obama 288, Rmoney 170.

[yellowcanine]

26. "Paul is costing the state a lot of credibility." So, "(Iowa) = Iowa Republicans?"

[uncle ray]

29. how many super delegates has Paul racked up?

i'm guessing zero.

[Cosmocat]

33. yeah, gotta give Paul credit for working the margins

with his bushwacking insurgency operation.

Picking off delegates where he can get them.

But, the party machine is the party machine.

I think he does what he does, let his followers get their anarchy on a little bit, but simply slither into the background when the rubber meets the road.

[sarcasmo]

34. The GOP clown car keeps on rolling.