Delegates Count (in Large Amounts)

by Scott

I just came across the following press release sent by the Ron Paul campaign. It is a good reminder that delegates are ultimately what matters when it comes to winning your party’s nomination, not simply public opinion polls (though I suppose this concept confuses people on about the same level as the Electoral College).

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2008

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA – While most reports about this past weekend’s Maine Caucus focused on the purely symbolic presidential preference poll, in the meaningful race to secure delegates to the state convention Ron Paul is primed to finish second with likely 35 percent of the total delegates.

Delegates to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis are elected by the state delegates. Internal results from 10 of 16 counties, including the largest cities of Portland, South Portland, Lewiston, Auburn, Augusta, Waterville, Bangor, and Brewer, show Ron Paul picking up 215 of 608 State Convention delegates so far reported, or 35%.

“Ron Paul’s strong second place finish in Maine, in which he beat John McCain, is proof that this race is far from over,” said Ron Paul campaign manager Lew Moore. “We’ll continue to battle for every delegate in this wide-open race for the Republican nomination.”

In the presidential preference poll, with 70 percent reporting, Ron Paul is in third place just two percentage points behind John McCain. However, the Maine preference poll is purely a beauty contest, and in the actual election of state delegates the so-called “frontrunner” McCain is far behind Ron Paul.

It seems that depending on how Super Tuesday turns out, we could be looking at brokered conventions for the Democrats and Republicans (providing people vote their consciences). And while some folks probably just want all this politics stuff to be over and done with so they can go back to their regularly scheduled programming (especially since an end to the writer’s strike is imminent), I think that a prolonged contest and a bona fide convention (not a coronation) would be good for the country.