Ron Paul people kept telling us that the apparent results of the straw polls in caucus states where some or all of the delegates are not bound by the results of those votes were meaningless, and Paul’s likely victories (that is, capturing a majority of the actual delegate votes in Tampa) in Iowa and Minnesota were early signs of this.
The New Orleans Times Picayune reports over the weekend on great Paul progress moving up the chain of delegate selection in Louisiana, where Paul dominated in picking delegates to go to the state convention (which will select who goes to the national one):
Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, dominated the Louisiana Republican caucuses held Saturday. The results guarantee he will have a strong presence in the state’s delegation to the Republican National Convention in August…
While the presidential preferences of the delegates were not identified on the caucus ballots, delegates who back the libertarian congressman, who is now the only one of Mitt Romney’s adversaries still standing, won the lion’s share of the contests, carrying the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th Congressional Districts.
As a result, under party rules, Paul is guaranteed at least 17 of the 46 delegates to the convention….
The delegates elected Saturday will go to a state convention June 2 in Shreveport, where they will choose the delegates who will go to the national gathering in Tampa.
Based on his victory in the state’s March 24 primary, Santorum is guaranteed 10 pledged delegates, and Romney, who finished second, is guaranteed five.
The balance of the 46-member delegation will include at least 17 Ron Paul delegates; at least one other Romney delegate in the person of National Committeewoman Ruth Ulrich, who just endorsed him; and the rest uncommitted…..
A look at the Paul fan strategies, and how much it annoys the GOP establishment:
Ron Paul supporters distributed “voter guides” at caucus sites that steered voters to choose one of six virtually identical slates of Paul supporters that the guide variously characterized as the right choice for backers of Paul, Romney, Santorum, Newt Gingrich, the Tea Party, “Citizens Against Traffic Cameras” and defenders of faith, family and freedom…..
While congratulating the Paul campaign “for apparently capturing their first state delegation in this presidential election cycle through an excellent get-out-the-vote effort today,” Sarah Roy, chairwoman of the Greater New Orleans Republicans, characterized it as an “odd and undemocratic result” that would embarrass and distract both Romney and Gov. Bobby Jindal.
“The result of this ill-conceived and confusing caucus clearly does not represent the will of the vast majority of Louisiana Republican voters, as Ron Paul recently received only 6 percent of the vote in the Louisiana presidential primary,” said Roy, who on behalf of her organization called for the state party’s leaders to resign for designing Saturday’s “debacle.”
The Paul campaign’s own press release on the Louisiana results so far:
Preliminary results from the Louisiana Republican Party indicate that Ron Paul supporters won majorities in Congressional Districts 1, 2, 5, and 6, with a narrow decision having occurred in District 4. This means Ron Paul supporters won about four and a half of the six Congressional District caucus conventions held yesterday.
In each CD the top 25 delegates will go to the state convention on June 2nd in Shreveport. Yesterday, 111 out of 150 or 74 percent of delegates elected today were in fact Ron Paul delegates. The Louisiana state GOP soon will award 30 additional delegates.
A “conservative slate” ran a partially combined slate with establishment-moderate Mitt Romney in CDs 1, 2 and 4. In each of those districts Ron Paul supporters required more votes than all of their opponents combined. Remarkably, supporters of the 12-term Congressman from Texas accomplished this in CDs 1 and 2, but fell just short of this in CD 4, which is why the decision was split.
Taken together, victories across four and half CDs mean that Ron Paul supporters are likely to control the outcome of the state convention in June….
Continue Reading…
http://reason.com/blog/2012/04/30/louisiana-also-looking-good-for-ron-paul