Posted on 02/16/2012 8:34:06 AM PST by opentalk
By now, it is clear that the Maine caucuses were a complete mess.
Evidence is mounting that Mitt Romney's 194-vote victory over Ron Paul was prematurely announced, if not totally wrong. Washington County canceled their caucus on Saturday on account of three inches of snow (hardly a blizzard by Maine standards), and other towns that scheduled their caucuses for this week have been left out of the vote count. Now, it looks like caucuses that did take place before Feb. 11 have also been left out of final tally.
As the full extent of the chaos unfolds, sources close to the Paul campaign tell Business Insider that it is looking increasingly like Romney's team might have a hand in denying Paul votes, noting that Romney has some admirably ruthless operatives on his side and a powerful incentive to avoid a fifth caucus loss this month
According to the Paul campaign, the Maine Republican Party is severely under-reporting Paul's results and Romney isn't getting the same treatment. For example, nearly all the towns in Waldo County a Ron Paul stronghold held their caucuses on Feb. 4, but the state GOP reported no results for those towns. In Waterville, a college town in Central Maine, results were reported but not included in the party vote count. Paul beat Romney 21-5 there, according to the Kennebec County GOP.
"It's too common," senior advisor Doug Wead told Business Insider. "If it was chaos, we would expect strong Romney counties to be unreported, and that's not what's happening."
...."People feel threatened they don't want to see a bunch of kids who may have voted for Barack Obama take over," Wead said. "They feel a sense of ownership over the party but there has to be an accommodation
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
So Romney won Iowa until he didn’t and now he’s won Maine exceptt that he might not have.
So how many states now has Romney strong armed?
I would say this is more about protecting Romney than anything else.
Romney simply can’t afford another loss—especially in a NE state that should go heavily for him.
Sounds like friction developing between the Paul and Romney camps. I thought they were buds?
This is the dumbest article I have read in awhile. And no wonder....this Dartmouth grad interned at Newsweek and is a ‘writer on politic’ ....Is anyone surprized that Mittens plays dirty??? No. Ron Paul is NOT driving the Republicans insane....though he may be driving the Elite insane.
WA State has had problem with the Libertarians for years. It is not just an effort to disrupt caucuses, it is an effort to disrupt the conventions, as well.
The Paulers think that they can take over the Republicans the same way that the Democratic Socialists of America took over the Democrat Party. The problem is that the Paulers aren’t as patient and are very open about their efforts.
A lot of the Paulers in my area have joined the OWS, as a matter of fact, the Paulers claim to have started the OWS in this area.
...A.J. Spiker was just elected as the new chairman of the Iowa Republican Party. Spiker replaces Matt Strawn, who stepped down over this year's Iowa caucus dustup.
In Nevada, the state chair has also resigned over caucus disaster
And Florida, where he won all of the delegates, but really didn't
They said the same in 2008. I remember they had a majority of state delegates in Nevada, but it just lead to a lot of shouting, not any more Paul delegates in the National Convention.
This kind of obvious voter fraud proves Democrats and RINOs are the same damn thing. Romney is a criminal and the RINO elite who support him are criminals as well.
Which all goes to prove Romney is a Myth....No Kidd n ;~)
Help! I don’t know html.This thread is incomplete without some Ron Paul photos.
Maine GOP adds missing caucus votes, but wont release updated vote count
... The Maine Republican Party has added additional votes accidentally omitted from Saturdays caucus results, state party chairman Charlie Webster told The Daily Caller Wednesday. But those votes wont be publicly released.We dont want any more drama, Webster told TheDC. Ive already got death threats and 1,800 emails.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was declared the victor in Maine over the weekend, claiming a slim 194-vote lead over Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
I think it is the shenanigans in elections that drive people crazy.
Get thee to the html sandbox.
The headline sure doesn’t match the article. If Paul were really taking over, it wouldn’t be his votes excluded from counting.
Just because you’re the kid in school who gets away with flipping of all of the teachers, doesn’t mean you’ll be nominated “most likely to succeed”.
Romney's campaign is reenacting the Obama campaign. ‘Wall Street’ money to buy a nomination.
Well maybe Maine should try this new idea of having everybody vote on the same day.
Of course I know the reason for them doing things this way is so the numbers can be manipulated while giving the peope the illusion that they are participating in the process of choosing their own representatives.
I’m not a fan of Romney or Paul, but when you see stories like this it makes one question the process.
If Romney was smart he would come out publicly and insist that all the votes be counted...because right now there are a lot of angry Ron Paul supporters that might rally behind the anti-Romney.
The best advertisement for RP is Myth and Santorum.
“The headline sure doesnt match the article. If Paul were really taking over, it wouldnt be his votes excluded from counting.”
Correct. The article is saying Paul is being prevented from taking over by the existing GOP-E in Maine performing vote-counting fraud, thereby cheating Paul out of his win.
I don't think so.
Ron Paul gained in popularity (IMO) when he was the only candidate that spoke out against NDAA. Romney said he would vote for it.
Yep, in addition there is FL, where it is not
winner take all’ because of when they held the primary YET the FL Republicans wont do anything to correct the error.
Back to my original thought- Romney is scum.
So we have:
VA
IA
NV
FL
now Maine
More than half of the primaries/caucus so far being mucked up by Romney (apparently).
Well, Eva, I would suggest that WA has had a problem with the RINOs running the state GOP for years. For example, instead of getting behind Clint Didier, the RINOs gave you Dino, again. And you lost, again. And, there is no prospect that things will get better.
Perhaps RPs people are a bit brash and wrong on some issues. Nevertheless, the R establishment in WA is weak to wrong on many issues, lacks passion, can’t broaden its appeal, and manages to lose time and again. Most recently, the GOP establishment was unable to stop sodomite marriage (not that many in the R inner circles really wanted to).
You might consider that the continued dominance of the RINOs is the main problem, not the RP people.
Sounds to me that Mittens Divides the Republican party period.
I can’t argue with you on some of that. The only reason that the Republicans did not get behind Clint Didier was because the Libertarians at the state convention made it very obvious that Didier was one of them and the Libertarians were so obnoxious that it scared people off.
The group of Libertarians that were seated near me, acted as though they were high most of the time at the convention.
The treatment of RP on this site is insane. He is right on most of the issue, not all, and at least does not have to walk his votes on most things or make excuses.
Help! I dont know html.This thread is incomplete without some Ron Paul photos.
Sounds like you need to go get in the Sandbox for a few mintues and you’ll remedy your problem with html.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2827523/posts
That being said, Newt campaign chairman filed the paper to challenge within twenty four hours. They must have heard wind of what was happening and were prepared. Can you say lawsuit?
As to VA, Perry not Newt filed papers challenging the rule passed weeks before the primary, changing the numbers. Newt, within a few days, turned the person/company in, that was hired to collect signatures but forged them. The AG is investigating in behalf of Newt. Hope the job is complete enough to tie them into either the GOPEe or Myth.
Wouldn't put anything passed Willard, particularly after reading Tricia Erickson's CAN MITT ROMNEY SERVE TWO MASTERS?
IMO He has no moral compass.
If the GOP was wise they would listen to what is resonating with his message instead of calling him crazy.
“The group of Libertarians that were seated near me, acted as though they were high most of the time at the convention.”
Some of them probably were, but most aren’t. Regarding Didier - the R establishment didn’t get behind him because he was very conservative and from the wrong part of the state, not because he was libertarian. Real conservatives are anathema to the King/Pierce/Spokane county crowd. I know because I have been watching WA politics since Catherine May represented Eastern Washington.
Demint and Palin have been screaming the same thing for months but the neocons and big govt repubs on this site refuse to see it.
I laugh so hard at some people claiming they would vote for myth over Paul when it is plainly clear that Myth and obama are two sides of the same coin.
“The group of Libertarians that were seated near me, acted as though they were high most of the time at the convention.”
Some of them probably were, but most aren’t. Regarding Didier - the R establishment didn’t get behind him because he was very conservative and from the wrong part of the state, not because he was libertarian. Real conservatives are anathema to the King/Pierce/Spokane county crowd. I know because I have been watching WA politics since Catherine May represented Eastern Washington.
The ones that were high were very vocal and obnoxious. They appeared to be the leaders.
I went to the convention excited about Clint Didier and I came home questioning that choice, then when he did the radio show with Ron Paul and they discussed foreign affairs, I changed my mind.
It didn’t help that we had some problems with the Libertarians in our own delegation, who once were elected, didn’t bother to show up and the one that did, was too late to be seated, but tried to have the seat held for him (against the rules).
The libertarians may want a bigger role in the party, but they are going to have more grown-ups first.
yup
Paul has the ability to get through to youth and democratic voters, much needed for the next election regardless of who our candidate is.
When this all shakes out , it is still going to be a big fight against progressive propaganda, MSM, globalist machine.
It is more likely they had just been drinking and having a good time. Paul's people are very enthusiastic when they are talking about him.
I have no doubt that Clint Didier would have been a better choice than Rossi, but the Libertarians ruined it for him.
But, you’re exactly right about the WA GOP be run by RINOs, not very smart RINOs, at that.
We have a coal terminal being built in Whatcom County. It’s a huge Democrat crony capitalist project being pushed straight from the Obama White House and funded through federal money through a bill that was proposed by Patti Murray. All the environmental groups were behind the terminal until they brought in the coal. So, now the environmentalists are leading the fight against it (and rightly so) while the Democrat politicians and bureaucrats work behind the scenes to push the terminal. The kicker is that they have talked the Republicans (and Libertarians) into supporting the terminal as a property rights issue. They don’t realize that property rights doesn’t mean that private industry has the right to destroy the health and well-being of people who live in a three to five mile radius of the coal terminal.
Anyway none of the Democrats who are running for office in November are openly supporting the terminal. Even Jay Inslee has come out in opposition to the terminal. All the Republicans are supporting it. So, while the Democrats work to push the terminal through, the Republicans are getting the blame.
The project couldn’t get passed without the Democrats. The Republicans in this state have no power. The problem is that the Whatcom County GOP is controlled by people who live in the eastern and central part of the county, who will not be affected by the terminal, in the short term, anyway.
Republicans lost almost every race last fall, due to the coal terminal support.
By the way, A.J. Spiker was Ron Paul’s Iowa campaign manager, all the while sitting on the Republican Party of Iowa’s Central Committee... for what it’s worth.
“Demint and Palin have been screaming the same thing for months but the neocons and big govt repubs on this site refuse to see it.”
The tone on this site regarding RP has changed over the last few weeks...maybe there is hope for FR, and America.
It’s the free weed.


I think alot of what the old man says, scares the cheet out of the political insider establishment.
Those who wish to keep things politically, “Business as usual” are going to be in for a big surprise in the future.
They are not all crazy. Paul's warning of the FED power must hit home, along with the military message. The UN is using our troupes for NATO UN agenda.
I don't think he will advance past primaries, but am glad he is still able to add to the discussion of where our county is going and who is steering us.
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