Will a GOP uprising take place at the Republican National Convention?
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As the mainstream media obsesses over the Democratic Party's brewing civil war, supporters of Republican presidential candidate US Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, are already staging their own quiet uprising at GOP conventions across the nation.
If, by a strange twist of fate, the Republicans' presumptive nominee, US Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., fails to win the first ballot at the national convention, "all hell will break loose," one Santa Fe County delegate tells SFR.
In New Mexico, Paul would need to collect 15 percent of the popular vote to win delegates to the national convention. That's exceedingly unlikely in New Mexico. McCain barely broke 10 percent in 2000 after George W Bush, like McCain in 2008, became the presumptive nominee following Super Tuesday. Instead, Paul's grassroots and netroots campaign is attempting to stack the deck with what can only be called "cryptodelegates"-elected delegates to the national convention who are privately supporting Paul's presidential bid. They would be "bound" to vote for McCain on the first ballot, but may vote for whomever they choose if the nomination is forced to a second ballot.
Already, hell is breaking loose at the county and state levels, especially in the Southwest. YouTube video of the Nevada State Convention last week shows chaos and confusion after a super-majority coalition of state delegates, organized by Paul supporters, overturned party rules to allow new national delegates to be nominated from the convention floor. The Nevada leadership shut down the convention and is currently negotiating a new date. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won the Nevada caucuses with 51 percent of the vote, but Paul beat McCain 14 percent to 13 percent. New Mexico Republicans will not vote for their nominee until June 3.
Similar skirmishes have been reported in small-town newspapers from Maine to Texas. Furthermore, much of Paul's campaign is driven by the 9/11 Truth Movement, which has grown increasingly aggressive, staging disruptions at events ranging from HBO's
Real Time with Bill Maher
to public appearances by Bill Clinton.
In New Mexico, Republicans are allowed to self-nominate themselves as national delegates, provided they were registered with the party before the ***image2***Governor's Address on Jan. 15. Last week, the local parties held their County Quadrennial Conventions to nominate delegates to the state convention, where the national delegates will be elected. The New Mexico GOP does not release the names of the state delegates to the media.
However, according to Paul's New Mexico field coordinator, Jeff Wright, Paul's delegate count looks good. Wright tells SFR that 19 out of 25 of Santa Fe County's delegates, seven out of nine of Lincoln County's delegates and more than 50 of Bernalillo County's 156 delegates, are Paul supporters.
At the state convention on June 14, 29 delegates and 29 alternates will be elected for the September national convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn. New Mexico will send a total of 32 national delegates, including three party officials.
"Part of what's going on, as the candidates run across the country, is that we're receiving a disproportionate number of the actual delegates," Wright says. "In Colorado, Ron Paul could receive a majority of the delegates. There's a high probability that McCain could be denied a first-round ballot nomination."
But a Paul supporter cannot be identified by sight. The New Mexico page of Paul's campaign Web site (
ronpaul2008.com/states/new-mexico
) tells supporters: "It is not recommended for any of the delegate candidates at this stage to 'fly the colors' as Ron Paul supporters. Delegates should simply represent themselves as interested, involved and committed Republicans."
Marta Nystrom, an investment advisor and educator in Santa Fe, was elected as a state delegate. She says she's not interested in becoming a national delegate, but plans to send pro-Paul delegates to Minneapolis in September, both with her convention vote and by fundraising for travel expenses.
"Even if McCain wins on the first ballot, delegates [supporting Paul] at the national convention can still influence the party's platform," Nystrom tells SFR via e-mail. "We are in this for the long haul; not the short term. We didn't lose our country overnight; we won't regain it overnight either."