Ron Paul wins 21 of 25 delegates elected in Iowa

[Governor Scott]

DES MOINES, Iowa –  Mitt Romney was pipped at the post by Rick Santorum at the Iowa caucuses in January, but neither will head into the national convention with the majority of delegates from the Hawkeye State.

Instead Ron Paul will go to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., in August with 21 of the 25 unbound delegates elected from Iowa over the weekend.

Paul won 10 of 13 delegates elected at Saturday's state convention in addition to having won 11 of 12 delegates elected at Friday night's district conventions.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/06/16/ron-paul-wins-21-25-delegates-elected-in-iowa/

[Lіef]

Man, if Rick Santorum had stayed in until the end we could have totally had a brokered convention.

[Wrecking Ball and Chain]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM9pXlxkomQ

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I find this really egregious.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Republicans and democracy don't seem to go together.

[Beet]

A bunch of pledged delegates are now suing saying that it's illegal for the party to make them pledge for a candidate. The fact that they found 163 in the 9th circuit alone can't be good for the Romney camp.

"The first 123 delegates, all from the 9th Circuit, sued the RNC, its Chairman Rince Priebus, and every state party chairman in the 9th Circuit in Federal Court on Monday, demanding the right to vote for the candidate of their choice on every ballot at the Republican National Convention, including the first.
     The delegates claim the party violated federal law by forcing them to sign loyalty affidavits, under threat of perjury, to vote for Mitt Romney, though he is not yet the official nominee.
...
Some people are saying that Palin could jump in:
" "If the judge rules in our favor, I won't be surprised if three or four new candidates, say Sarah Palin, jump in and say they want to be considered," Gilbert said.
..
Legally, the case may hinge on whether the judge accepts the plaintiffs' claim that the nominating convention is a "federal" election. Courts have traditionally given the two major political parties considerable leeway in managing their own affairs, for instance, in whether state parties may hold open or closed primaries."

http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/15/47495.htm

What I don't understand is, if the nominating convention is a federal election, what about the equal protection clause? Surely the caucus/tiered convention system doesn't hold up scrutiny as not discriminating against those who can't attend every single convention meeting, because of physical, or logistical issues, or those states that have fewer delegates simply because they gave their electoral votes to Obama in 2008, or those states that were penalized for violating the schedule. I mean, if this system meets the requirements for a federal election, what is to prevent a state from holding its general election through a tiered convention system?

[Emperor SJoyce]

I find this really egregious.

I find it egregious that Mittens can steal delegates in ND and VI, but that's the system; learn to make it work for you.

[WhyteRain]

One of my sisters and her husband are constitutents of Ron Paul.  She told me she votes for him at every election.

Overall, I'd say Paul is a bad messenger with a good message.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I find this really egregious.

I find it egregious that Mittens can steal delegates in ND and VI, but that's the system; learn to make it work for you.

"Tough, get used to it" coming from a libertarian is a little strange.

I know it's "the system," but it's still allowed to suck. It's a travesty when any candidate is able to steal delegates and discredit the will of the people. Wouldn't it be a better and more democratic system if delegates were allocated exactly proportionate to the popular vote?

[ChairmanSanchez]

I find this really egregious.

I find it egregious that Mittens can steal delegates in ND and VI, but that's the system; learn to make it work for you.

"Tough, get used to it" coming from a libertarian is a little strange.

I know it's "the system," but it's still allowed to suck. It's a travesty when any candidate is able to steal delegates and discredit the will of the people. Wouldn't it be a better and more democratic system if delegates were allocated exactly proportionate to the popular vote?

Would you be complaining if Romney was doing what Paul is doing? Paul is using the same system that was meant to keep him down.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

I would be complaining. I just said... It's a travesty when any candidate is able to steal delegates. It's not the way democracy is supposed to work and I think it's offensive to the people who voted.

If Ron Paul won in Iowa, he should walk out with the most delegates. He did not win in Iowa, so he should not. Not really seeing how this is controversial.

[Jayhawker]

New mentality of voters: Why even bother to vote in the primary when the delegates are decided at the state convention?

This is undemocratic - GOP voters should be represented with delegate selection, and sending 21 of 25 for Paul does NOT reflect Iowa Republicans at all.

[Vasall des Midas]

Man, if Rick Santorum had stayed in until the end we could have totally had a brokered convention.

That's probably why he didn't.

[Governor Scott]

What happened in ND and IA would be good reason to rethink the entire primary system.

[King]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM9pXlxkomQ

"Hitler finds out 2006 meme still in production."

[Mr. Morden]

Of course, one could ask, why even have delegates at all?  Why not just have the primary/caucus vote automatically determine who the nominee is, without having to go through the intermediate step of delegates?  The answer of course being that the assumption that the "voters" should determine who the nominee is is still a relatively new thing, and most of the system that we have is a holdover from the era of smoke-filled rooms.

But no, this is not going to cause a re-think of the nominating process.  Assuming that Romney still wins the nomination on the first ballot as expected, no one is going to remember this in six months.  The 2016 primaries will operate under exactly the same rules as the 2012 primaries, because the national parties just don't care about the silliness of the caucus system or delegate allocation.