To those who are discouraged about Nevada Results

[JasonM]

Remember, there's the public election, then there's the hidden one when delegates are actually chosen at the state convention.

Big question is, do we have more people on our side come "delegate selection day" than the establishment republicans, or do they have more folks than us?

Romney can win 99% of the vote for all we care, but if the establishment likes Gingrich and the Gingrich supporters storm the place, then all the delegates will go to him come National convention day regardless of the popular vote.

And we wonder why folks don't bother voting in primaries *face palm*. Oh well, may as well make the most of this distinctively undemocratic method of choosing delegates. We nearly had them on the ropes in Nevada from what I hear.

[mmadness]

It's all about the delegates, baby.

[Jtorsella]

It is not all about delegates. Momentum is 20 times more important. We can't accrue any delegates without having momentum enough to have respectable finishes.

[mmadness]

It is not all about delegates. Momentum is 20 times more important. We can't accrue any delegates without having momentum enough to have respectable finishes.

Perhaps. Perception is important, as it will help shore up soft supporters as they get discouraged easily. For the hardcore supporters, we don't care where Ron finishes in the meaningless beauty contests. We know where it's really at. I think the question is - do we have enough hardcore supporters in the delegate process that will make a difference? I think so based on the fact that in the 2008 Nevada State Convention, we dominated even though McCain was already the winner.

[JasonM]

It is not all about delegates. Momentum is 20 times more important. We can't accrue any delegates without having momentum enough to have respectable finishes.

"Momentum" is a media construction. While Romney was winning Iowa, he was the inevitable candidate. When it emerged that Santorum won instead cuz of a miscount, then he simply "eeked" out a win. If Ron Paul had won Iowa, then the win wouldn't have counted and then the whole state would have been undermined as the kind of state that is liable to "choose a nutcase" and clearly doesn't deserve to have the first primary.


The race was "blown wide open" when Gingrich won South Carolina, but then Romney returned to frontrunner once he won Florida again.

So matter what happens, we can't win the media primary. The media bosses maxed out their contributions to Romney, so he's going to get just about every break they can afford without making it obvious to the average joe.

That said, I do think that this "momentum" (or Ron Pauls perceived lack thereof) may have caused a lot of supporters to stay home instead of participate in the Nevada Caucus. Question is, do we have enough folks to get our guys on the delegate slate?

[DamianTV]

It's all about the delegates, baby.

Wins thread! +Rep!

By the way, I am a Delegate.


It is not all about delegates. Momentum is 20 times more important. We can't accrue any delegates without having momentum enough to have respectable finishes.

We are doing the same strategy as we did last time. Take the Delegates. At the State GOP, they walked out on us because our first 3 delegates had something like 283 votes for a RP supporter, compared to 13 votes for a Non RP Supporter. Is that enough MOMENTUM for you?

[JasonM]

Wins thread! +Rep!

By the way, I am a Delegate.

I was a state level delegate myself in Missouri. We managed to get a full 25% of the convention, give or take, and we had them very concerned. Wonder how much we'll get this time around.

[akalucas]

We still need to win at least 5 states to be considered. Really hoping Maine comes through

[Jtorsella]

By the way, I am a Delegate.



We are doing the same strategy as we did last time. Take the Delegates. At the State GOP, they walked out on us because our first 3 delegates had something like 283 votes for a RP supporter, compared to 13 votes for a Non RP Supporter. Is that enough MOMENTUM for you?
I cannot thank you enough for being a delegate.

I still think that we cannot get enough delegates if we don't win states. The previous poster is absolutely correct that momentum is a media construction, and it's sad to see the role they play is so large. But if we want to win the nomination, we either need to win enough to get past the first ballot, or we need to win enough to win on the first ballot. We cannot do either of these if we keep having finishes like SC and FL, and to a lesser extent our presumed finish in NV (I'll not get into the details of our possible second). Hoping that Gingrich's strength makes for a brokered convention is a very weak strategy. We should never put our success on somebody else's shoulders.

[Liberty74]

Will you people stop with this "behind the scene delegate BS theory?" It's a fairy tale.

I asked this on another thread that not one person could answer...

Name me one candidate who got trounced in state after state yet went to the convention with the most delegates to win the nomination?

In order for Ron to win, he is going to have to win Minnesota and/or Maine coming up next week to get the respect and free media spin that would help move the masses towards us. Or hope that some unforeseen event happens very soon knocking Romney down.

[royalecraig]

You might be able to get enough delegates if the others are stealing each other's delegates at elections. Supposing Romney lost a few, and RP just went round picking up votes here and there.
Maybe I'm wrong and obviously winning some doesn't harm.

[mmadness]

Will you people stop with this "behind the scene delegate BS theory?" It's a fairy tale.

I asked this on another thread that not one person could answer...

Name me one candidate who got trounced in state after state yet went to the convention with the most delegates to win the nomination?

We are making history my friend.

Plus Reagan lost the first six states in 1976 and went to the convention almost winning it.

[JasonM]

Will you people stop with this "behind the scene delegate BS theory?" It's a fairy tale.

I asked this on another thread that not one person could answer...

Name me one candidate who got trounced in state after state yet went to the convention with the most delegates to win the nomination?

In order for Ron to win, he is going to have to win Minnesota and/or Maine coming up next week to get the respect and free media spin that would help move the masses towards us. Or hope that some unforeseen event happens very soon knocking Romney down.


Dude, there hasn't been a brokered convention in over 50 or 60 years for the Republicans, which was before our current system of primaries and caucuses even came into being (establishment had far more power back then in picking presidential nominees than they do now).

The whole thing is just in case there is a brokered convention. It's unlikely because the process is rigged against this outcome according to Karl Rove, but it could happen. And that's pretty much the only way we can win.

If there was 0% chance it couldn't happen, then the media wouldn't be speculating that someone other than who's on the field right now can end up the nominee instead.

This election can get very strange.

Thus, if we do get a brokered convention, this is where delegate affiliations and bias come into play. Romney delegates can go Gingrich or Paul or some 3rd choice we don't know yet. It's the only real scenario where Paul (or possibly any candidates) would ever have a chance at the nomination.

[Butchie]

Dude, there hasn't been a brokered convention in over 50 or 60 years for the Republicans, which was before our current system of primaries and caucuses even came into being (establishment had far more power back then in picking presidential nominees than they do now).

The whole thing is just in case there is a brokered convention. It's unlikely because the process is rigged against this outcome according to Karl Rove, but it could happen. And that's pretty much the only way we can win.

If there was 0% chance it couldn't happen, then the media wouldn't be speculating that someone other than who's on the field right now can end up the nominee instead.

This election can get very strange.

Thus, if we do get a brokered convention, this is where delegate affiliations and bias come into play. Romney delegates can go Gingrich or Paul or some 3rd choice we don't know yet. It's the only real scenario where Paul (or possibly any candidates) would ever have a chance at the nomination.

I think his point was alot of us are getting tired of the fairytale talk. We were all told polls didn't mean anything because they didn't include Indies and Dems, yet once voting starts, what happens, we get trounced. Now we're being told that even tho we're coming in 3rd or 4th, OUT OF FOUR, somehow that's winning, thing is it's sounding more and more like some of you are almost like a cult just as the media says, this is not a knock on Ron, but it's becoming quite clear to me Americans, despite all their whining, are happy with things just as they are and there's nothing we're going to accomplish other than to spend money and time that could be better spent buying gold/silver, guns and ammo.

I'm just going to vote for Gary Johnson on the Libertarian ticket, and take my satisfaction knowing we'll deny the White House to these knuckledragging, warmongering "conservatives".

[NCGOPer_for_Paul]

The only way the delegates actually matter coming from Nevada is in the case of a brokered convention if the nomination goes beyond one ballot.

Paul is going to get 4 or 5 pledged delegates out of Nevada.

He MAY have more, BUT they will be pledged to someone else for the first ballot.

What DID happen is Paul moved further ahead of Santorum.

[Meatloaf75]

Will you people stop with this "behind the scene delegate BS theory?" It's a fairy tale.

I asked this on another thread that not one person could answer...

Name me one candidate who got trounced in state after state yet went to the convention with the most delegates to win the nomination?

In order for Ron to win, he is going to have to win Minnesota and/or Maine coming up next week to get the respect and free media spin that would help move the masses towards us. Or hope that some unforeseen event happens very soon knocking Romney down.

Lincoln/Seward was Pretty dramatic

[thoughtomator]

The only thing that will discourage me is if these state GOP people manage to pull off the defrauding of the vote without a body count as payment for the crime.

[nobody's_hero]

Will you people stop with this "behind the scene delegate BS theory?" It's a fairy tale.

I asked this on another thread that not one person could answer...

Name me one candidate who got trounced in state after state yet went to the convention with the most delegates to win the nomination?

In order for Ron to win, he is going to have to win Minnesota and/or Maine coming up next week to get the respect and free media spin that would help move the masses towards us. Or hope that some unforeseen event happens very soon knocking Romney down.

Truth is harsh.

Also, I'm not entirely convinced that the results we've seen in the popular vote have not been tampered with. So, "Behind the scenes", to me, sounds like a sure-fire opportunity for fraud.

So basically, we'd better start praying we do better in the popular votes, because at least it would raise some eyebrows if Ron Paul were getting say, 50% of the popular vote, and somehow got only 20% of the delegates in convention. People would say, "Hmm. what are those delegates smoking?"

If there's any delegate fraud now, people will just compare the results and say, "Oh, well, these numbers seem about right compared to what we saw on primary/caucus night. Nothing to see here folks, move along."

[tbone717]

We are making history my friend.

Plus Reagan lost the first six states in 1976 and went to the convention almost winning it.

He went to the convention almost winning it, because he won 23 states. Paul needs to break through and start winning otherwise we are going to go into March and April as an afterthought likely picking up votes from the most dedicated of supporters. We cannot win this without turning the momentum and viability to our favor.

[klamath]

We are making history my friend.

Plus Reagan lost the first six states in 1976 and went to the convention almost winning it.
and I was there in 76. Ronald Reagan lost those states by tiny margins and then went into the part of the country that he dominated. The south. He won by huge margins. He dominated in the west as well, winning overwhelmingly. There is NO comparison to this campaign. RP is coming in 3rd and 4th and lossing by huge margins in the later states. Reagan won every last delegate in Alaska Texas Utah Montana, California,Idaho wyoming,ND and SD, He won in every state south of the mason dixon line except FL. He won almost every state in the west except oregon. Reagan won every winner take all state and narrowly split the delegates in many of the states he lost.
Guess what? He still lost.

[tbone717]

and I was there in 76. Ronald Reagan lost those states by tiny margins and then went into the part of the country that he dominated. The south. He won by huge margins. He dominated in the west as well, winning overwhelmingly. There is NO comparison to this campaign. RP is coming in 3rd and 4th and lossing by huge margins in the later states. Reagan won every last delegate in Alaska Texas Utah Montana, California,Idaho wyoming,ND and SD, He won in every state south of the mason dixon line except FL. He won almost every state in the west except oregon. Reagan won every winner take all state and narrowly split the delegates in many of the states he lost.
Guess what? He still lost.

Correct. I think the only state of the first six where he lost by a wide margin was Vermont.

[klamath]

And Reagan won nevada. His campaign manager was Sen. Laxalt from nevada. In fact your state played a very big role in that their was like 30 delegates undecided at the convention time. Reagan tried to play politics and picked liberal Sen Swicker from PA before the convention as his VP, trying to sway the undecided delegates. It backfired and he lost a block of undecided delegates from MS. Then Reagan tried to pass a plank in the platform to force the candidates to name their VP choices before the nominating vote. He lost and showed he did not have the votes to win.