I missed this. Did Newt say this recently? So do you think Newt is hoping for VP?
“Newt says Romney is the apparent nominee, and he wants to work with him in Tampa on a conservative platform.”
There is a rigid way to come up with the planks in the platform and no candidate has a say in that.
Just as in a state convention, the platform committee is chosen by the chairman, at the state level it’s the state chairman, at the national level it’s the national chairman.
Now, at precinct meetings after voting stops on primary day, people come to their precinct meeting and resolutions for the platform are accepted. The county chairman appoints a platform committee and they go over all resolutions turned it and combine those that are about the same subject. Then, at the county county this committee presents the resolutions for acceptance or change or rejection by the whole body.
After that is done, these resolutions accepted are sent to the state party. Then, the state chairman selects a platform committee who go over all resolutions submitted and they combine them, then these final resoltuions are presented to the entire state convention delegates for approval or change or rejection.
Then, these final resolutions are forwarded to the national chairman and he appoints a platform committee who go over all the submitted resolutions and come up with the final platform. Then, this platform, plank by plank, is presented to the whole national body delegates for approval or rejection.
So, you see, it is the chairman of a county or state or national party to select the members of that committee. It is very difficult for a candidate to impose his/her own resolutions/planks on that committee. Sure, they can request to speak to that final committee, but there is no guarantee anything they say will be considered.
The planks of our party, both state and national, seldom change much. Have you ever read them? Our Texas platform is really long. A chairwoman we had a number of years ago was a smart woman and I liked what she said when she said the platform is too long. She said if we said this, it would cover all the planks - “We believe in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” I agreed with her - that says it all.