Ron Paul Dominates Maine, Nevada State Conventions

We've already seen the results of Evangelical ant-Mormon hate that ultimately failed to stop Romney. It goes without saying that a number of mormon haters will vote for the only non-mormon candidate available. and now that all the non-Romney's have been eliminated, Ron Paul will definitely pick up some of those voters. But Santorum was their last hope. He's sent his email and is gone now.



as for your argument that the GOP front-runner's weakness is failing to energize the base, why continue a campaign that if anything emphasizes that weakness? How does that do anything but help Obama win?

SpiffCoug wrote:
Things don't look bleak for Romney. Fox News is wrong.

No argument on the last part of your post. Faux News consists of a bunch of morons who don't do any real news unless it lands on their heads just like the rest of the MSM.



Romney won't rally the base though. They are right about that.

Let me add that I do not question Paul's supporter's honor and patriotism. I will respect their opinion but not their attempts to put forth the idea that he is the only one that is right and every one else is wrong. Nor do I agree that Romney or any of the other candidates are the same as President Obama.

I always think it is funny when people from the Republican party talk about the primary and caucus process and say it should be treated as a democratic process. Everyone had the opportunity to elect their representatives. The Paul supporters won more delegate slots. That is how a republican organization works.



I agree with you that no one's supporters are any more pure than others. And any Paul supporter that derides others is doing Paul and their country a disservice. They should be educating others about Paul's record in defense of the Constitution. As a governor of a state Romney doesn't have much of a record with respect to the Constitution (other than his run for Senator). That is why Paul hasn't attacked Romney's record the way he attacked Santorum and Gingrich and their voting records.

nuk13 wrote:
From what I understand Paul supporters in Maine and Nevada are successful at getting enough precinct people to go to the state whatever to throw the vote to Paul even though Romney won those states. They are trying to do the same here even though Romney won 62% of the caucus votes . I will do my best to find out when this voting for precinct chairmen occurs and work against Paul. The reasons I will do this are because I do not think Paul's people are any smarter than the rest of us, nor do I think they are any more pure than the rest of us and I reject the idea that Paul is the only one out there that believes in and will work for the Constitution or that he is the only fiscal conservative. Paul's people are doing the same thing to us as they accuse people doing to them, that is using technicalities to nullify votes.



I voted for Paul in the last election. I like his stance on the Constitution and his fiscal conservatism. I could possibly like him or Rand running with Romney. I do not like his supporters deriding the rest of our opinions, our honor and our love of country.

CougarClaw wrote:
We've already seen the results of Evangelical ant-Mormon hate that ultimately failed to stop Romney. It goes without saying that a number of mormon haters will vote for the only non-mormon candidate available. and now that all the non-Romney's have been eliminated, Ron Paul will definitely pick up some of those voters. But Santorum was their last hope. He's sent his email and is gone now.



as for your argument that the GOP front-runner's weakness is failing to energize the base, why continue a campaign that if anything emphasizes that weakness? How does that do anything but help Obama win?

People who think the Republican party is rejecting Romney because he is Mormon are deceiving themselves. At my legislative district meeting we have a straw poll every month. Romney never got more than 1-2 votes out of 25-30 precinct committeemen. Jeff Flake, another Mormon from up in Mesa running for senator took 2/3 of the vote every time.



If anyone thinks this has anything to do with Ron Paul they are wrong. Romney's failure is not that he is Mormon and all non-mormons hate him. It is that his past positions fail to inspire any confidence in him among the Republican base. Right now Arizona is a toss-up state with Romney between -2% and +9% in the last few polls. There is no way it should be that close in Arizona with the registration advantage Republicans have.

Romney has energized the majority of the base. The only ones who are not energized are the fringe evangelicals and the even more fringier Paul isolationists.

Paul can engergize his base. Too bad his base is relatively small. Romney does not have this problem.



If he did, his poll numbers would be much more similar to Paul's.

You know, nothing says I can energize the base like losing elections to candidates no longer in the race.

Romney does not need to energize the fringe. He needs to engage the center. He will.

I think the past 3 1/4 years of Obama have energized the GOP base plenty. As long as there is a GOP candidate opposite Obama on the ticket, there is no need to worry about this "energizing" the base.



Note that the only people worried about "energizing the base" are the fringe candidates who cannot get independent and swing voters on their side, so they over-emphasize their appeal to the people who will vote for anything GOP. Some years that might be a valid concern, but with an incumbent as polarizing as Obama, the base is energized and the idea of needing a nominee who appeals to people who will already fall along party lines is a hollow argument.

So in some regards, 2012 is very similar to 2008. 2012 could well be a referendum on Obama and the GOP candidate doesn't matter as much as it might normally. Just like 2008 was a repudiation of Bush and the Dems could have ran The Emperor and Darth Vader promising a despotic, totalitarian regime against a GOP ticket of Ronald Reagan and George Washington and still have won the White House.

Romney's plan is no different than O's. That will be the narrative. Is the narrative already. It will work because it is too true.



Romney is taking a lesser percentage of the vote with lower turnout than McCain did. Of course it depends on how things go the next few months but things don't look good right now.



And as far as who can take independents and democrats, please. It isn't even close between Romney and Paul.

This also is not true. Turnout was up in many states when the nomination was still in doubt. Alabama, Alaska, Illinois, Kansas, Louisian, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont and Wisconsin all had higher turnouts.



Romney is killing Paul with independents. I know this because Romney is actually beating Obama in recent polls and has a double digit lead amongst independent voters. While Paul is losing to Obama.

If Romney is the same as Obama how do you explain their opposing views on gay marriage.

nuk13 wrote:
If Romney is the same as Obama how do you explain their opposing views on gay marriage.

Where in the Constitution are marriage contracts addressed? It is a non-issue in any event. People only care about the economy. And the Romney and Obama economic plans are essentially the same.

Mars wrote:
Latest Rasmussen: Romney 5% over Obama. Paul tied with Obama.

SpiffCoug wrote:
Romney is killing Paul with independents. I know this because Romney is actually beating Obama in recent polls and has a double digit lead amongst independent voters. While Paul is losing to Obama.

In national polls the presumptive nominee always enjoys about a 5-6% bump compared to their competitors in the same party. It is a known phenomenon that has been around since the beginning of polling. Paul's superior numbers among independents and democrats are what keep him in the game. Oh and the rasmussen poll cited by Mars illustrates this point. Paul does great with independents and democrats compared to Romney. He loses a few Republicans.



Oh BTW I just found out delegates at the national convention, though bound due to state GOP rules to vote for president, are not bound in selecting a VP. So if Ron Paul succeeds in getting a majority of delegates but loses on the first ballot as a result of some being bound to Romney, his delegates could still force Romney to select Ron Paul as VP. Some are talking about Rand, but if I were Rand I wouldn't touch Romney - he needs to remain an outsider to have a chance in 2016 or 2020.



It would be a thing of beauty to see VP Ron Paul on Meet the Press each week calling for the end of unconstitutional measures such as NDAA, bringing the troops home and decreasing government spending while Romney does the exact opposite.

we already have a comically old and out of touch crazy man for a VP, do we really need another one?

Paul's delegates will have NO say for the nomination of either Pres or VP. Romney will be the nominee and he'll name whom HE wants as VP and the delegates at the convention will vote in support of both.



Paul won't have a enough delegates to effect either vote.

Romney and Obama do not have the same economic plan. Romney will remove barriers to business success unlike Obama.