Bachmann, Santorum fail to qualify delegates on TN presidential ballot

Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | 12/30/11 | Tom Humphrey

[SmithL]

NASHVILLE — Four of the nine Republican candidates in Tennessee's presidential primary ballot will have no committed delegates on the ballot with them on the March 6 ballot, while Mitt Romney has a surplus wanting to represent him at the Republican National Convention.

Candidates Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul and Rick Perry also had a substantial slate of committed delegates on the ballot to qualify before the deadline earlier this month. Candidate Jon Huntsman has three — two of them being former Knoxville Mayor Victor Ashe and his wife, Joan.

Tennessee Republicans will elect delegates as well as choose their favorite as the party nominee March 6, though that part of the election gets relatively little attention. The candidates without delegates on the Tennessee ballot — Michelle Bachmann, Gary Johnson, Charles "Buddy" Roemer and Rick Santorum — can still win them at the polls and have delegates appointed later by the state Republican Executive Committee under party rules.

But getting delegates on the ballot does at least speak somewhat to a candidate's organizational effort in the state, said Tennessee Republican Chairman Chris Devaney, who stresses his neutrality in the primary.

"I do think it shows a certain amount of organization on the part of the candidates who have gotten a good number of delegate candidates to run," he said. "That certainly shows there's a level of organization and that they're thinking beyond the early primaries."

[Sacajaweau]

Bachman....go home....your 15 minutes are up.

[Jukeman]

The establishment fix is in place. Four more years of Obama assured.

[svcw]

I don’t remember candidates having so much trouble qualifying for ballots as in this race.
The rules and regs to get on the ballot are pretty clear, what is their issue?
Really if they don’t have ground crews who get this done in a timely fashion then they wouldn’t win anyway.

[NonValueAdded]

There you go ... step 1) show the ability to lead a national campaign. In VA you had a last-minute rules change to contend with; what will the excuse be for TN?

[muawiyah]

What we have is a break down at the highest ranks of the Republican party. Ordinarily you'd have some effort from the RNC chairman to make sure that candidate's registered with the National Party ALSO achieve whatever registration is required in the states.

What we have instead is Reince Priebus, who is devoted totally to the Romney campaign.

Didn't I tell you folks about this last year? That if you put Priebus in you'd get Romney out!

Well, here it is ~ you get Romney.

[muawiyah]

You are a Romney supporter, correct?

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

NASHVILLE — Four of the nine Republican candidates in Tennessee's presidential primary ballot will have no committed delegates on the ballot with them on the March 6 ballot, while Mitt Romney has a surplus wanting to represent him at the Republican National Convention.

First VA now TN. We should all sue the states and the Romney campaign for disenfranchising our primary choices. This makes it crystal clear to me that the stinking GOP and media are choosing ObamneyRomneyCare not THE PEOPLE of the United States..

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

This isn't as problematic as Virginia. Virginia will allow neither write-in votes nor delegates apportioned to those not on the ballot. In Tennessee, all of the candidates are still on the ballot. And, in addition, from the article:

The candidates without delegates on the Tennessee ballot — Michelle Bachmann, Gary Johnson, Charles "Buddy" Roemer and Rick Santorum — can still win them at the polls and have delegates appointed later by the state Republican Executive Committee under party rules.

[bigbob]

they’ll both be done by then anyway

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

So it’s the GOP in TN’s way of saying they pick pathetic Romney.

[PieterCasparzen]

Local Republican political machine people will all fall in line behind the establishment preference.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Please explain how Bachmann and Santorum failing to qualify delegates has anything to do with "the establishment"?

I see Romney's run away toward the nomination as being the problem with too many conservative candidates splitting the conservative vote. It has nothing to do with "the establishment". I can vote for any one of these candidates I want and that goes for every other potential Republican voter in the country.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Ordinarily you'd have some effort from the RNC chairman to make sure that candidate's registered with the National Party ALSO achieve whatever registration is required in the states.

So you want to blame Priebus. This is absurd. It's not his job to get candidates qualified, it's the jobs of the campaigns.

[grey_whiskers]

I see Romney's run away toward the nomination as being the problem with too many conservative candidates splitting the conservative vote.

Then Perry should step down.

[Dubya-M-DeesWent2SyriaStupid!]

The GOP establishment are idiots they think they have to cater to the moderates first and foremost.They actually think if Romney says he is a progressive he can then beat Obama. There is a reason there is a tea party caucus.If the GOP were not mirrored twins with the DNC’s BS political correctness we would not have a tea party caucus.Rush made this clear in an Greta interview last night.The GOP does not want a conservative nominee because they are not conservative. Look at McCain....they got nervous so they threw in Palin to appease.

[muawiyah]

Priebus is woefully underqualified for working with a national party organization. The man has absolutely no idea what his responsibilities are nor does he have any idea how he can find out.

He should resign as soon as possible before he does more damage.

You people are screwing up so bad you are LOSING THE REPUBLICAN BASE.

[mylife]

9 candidates?
Who knew there were 9 candidates?

[Jukeman]

It’s obvious to me.

[muawiyah]

BTW, your response was SO LEGALISTIC that makes me believe you are either a SDA or an LDS.

Winning campaigns against Democrats do not count on legalism being sufficient ~ because THEY, THE DEMOCRATS, DON'T CARE WHAT THE RULES ARE!