North Dakota GOP Screws Over Santorum

Posted on | April 9, 2012 | 75 Comments

I’d heard some talk about this: Evidently, the pro-Romney leadership of the North Dakota Republican Party rigged their state convention so that, despite the fact that Mitt Romney came in third in the March 6 caucuses, he got most of the delegates. The Right Scoop has this video:

(Hat-tip: Richard McEnroe on Twitter.) The amazing thing about this is how GOP “leaders” flagrantly screw over their own rank-and-file like this — and “leaders” in the Republican Party do this all the time — and then wonder why it’s so hard to generate grassroots enthusiasm for their hand-picked candidates.

Short of tar-and-feathering the corrupt bastards, what can you do?

Category: Mitt Romney, North Dakota, Republicans, Rick Santorum

Comments

75 Responses to “North Dakota GOP Screws Over Santorum”

Shelleys Playtime
April 9th, 2012 @ 12:59 am

“reality check you won’t see anywhere else” ~ this is unfortunately true ~

They just do not get it. They think I’m going to fall in line because I want Obama out that badly that I will vote for whom they want regardless of how they get who they want. I am just an average person, an average American voter…but I know I am not alone. I am a fighter and I go against the grain.

~Dead fish go with the stream, live ones go against it. ~ Thomas Whittemore

I am not a dead fish.

They are pushing me in a corner. NOBODY puts Baby in a corner…
Wintery Knight
April 9th, 2012 @ 1:04 am

Never give the party any money, just donate to individual campaigns of real conservatives. That’s what I tell them when they call looking for donations.
JakeSnake
April 9th, 2012 @ 1:19 am

I would argue the Caucus system in general is a major screwing of the rank and file Republican.

When you only have something like 1% of registered Republicans in the state participating in the choosing of a Presidential nominee, something is wrong. That’s why caucuses usually produce crazy results, only the freaks can take an entire day off and participate in a ridiculous circus.

What happened in North Dakota was, one smoke-filled room screwed over another smoke-filled room.

And the whining is coming from the guy that knew he couldn’t actually beat Romney in delegates or votes, but was threatening to try and screw Mitt out of the nomination in a smoke-filled room at the Convention.

Priceless!
GTS from Texas
April 9th, 2012 @ 1:39 am

All of this makes me glad I live in a state that has no bearing on republican national politics, as we are too small and backwards to hold any clout.
Adjoran
April 9th, 2012 @ 1:42 am

So screening the delegates on the basis of time spent working for the Party and money donated to the Party is “corrupt,” now?

Just as in Missouri, the earlier caucuses in North Dakota were “non-binding.” That means the results have NO effect on the state selection process. The report itself admits it was “in effect a straw poll.” Well, when it’s well known in advance the results DON’T COUNT, fewer people are going to show up, take time out of their busy lives, for what amounts to nothing more than a beauty contest.

How dumb do you have to be to just assume the actual selection will mirror a “non-binding” straw poll? Instead of working hard after the beauty contest, this campaign turned its attention elsewhere, and was blindsided.

Just as in Missouri, where Santorum forces showed up at County level caucuses only to be surprised by Romney supporters voting for Paul delegates to shut Santorum’s out, they weren’t well enough organized to know the rules ahead of time and be prepared.

But for the biggest crybaby campaign in memory, their own failure to know the rules and work the rules successfully always is someone else’s fault. Whine, cry, and slander your better-prepared opponents if it makes you feel better.

The rules didn’t change. http://tinyurl.com/7uwf5a9
Evi L. Bloggerlady
April 9th, 2012 @ 2:27 am

Wow. It seems like Rick Santorum got screwed on this one. I thought if you “win” you at least get more than the guy who did not do as well as you.
Bob Belvedere
April 9th, 2012 @ 7:35 am

NOT ONE RED CENT
robertstacymccain
April 9th, 2012 @ 8:00 am

Welcome to the Pay-for-Play Party!
Tennwriter
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:14 am

Wow. The guy preaching about honesty is now more accepting…

And we want a floor fight. No smoke filled back room which is liable to benefit the cheating, corrupt, commie….err Romney.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:19 am

I favor the caucus system, provided they have it on a day when working people can participate if they want to. The people willing to put the effort into a caucus are the people who really know the issues and give enough of a damn to devote a good chunk of their time.
Tennwriter
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:19 am

The Libertarians: Lap dogs for the RINOS.

Hey libertarian, you scream about change, about respecting the Constitution, but when push comes to shove, your guy agrees with the Establishment.

Been playa-ed you have.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:20 am

Romney would still get it. If not him, maybe Jeb Bush. It wouldn’t end the way you think it would, damn sure not for a guy way back in second place in the delegate total.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:24 am

“WAAAAAHHHHHH”
Slam Dunk for the Gentry | Daily Pundit
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:24 am

[…] Dunk for the Gentry Posted on April 9, 2012 6:24 am by Bill Quick North Dakota GOP Screws Over Santorum : The Other McCain The amazing thing about this is how GOP “leaders” flagrantly screw over their own rank-and-file […]
Largebill
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:33 am

“Short of tar-and-feathering the corrupt bastards, what can you do?”

Um, remind me again, why do we have to stop short of tar and feathering?
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:45 am

Maybe because we know if Obama is re-elected there might soon not be a constitution worth the paper its written on. And just one or two SCOTUS appointments is all that would take.

And yes, Romney would be loads of magnitude better than Obama in that regard, and yes, that’s by far the most important thing. Especially a hell of a lot more important than a “Right To Life” Amendment.

If Obama is reelected, guess we’re stuck with Roe for a while. Like maybe two or three decades at least.

And I’d damn sure trust a successful corporate business expert like Romney to cut wasteful government spending over Obama, who just wants to add to it.

Your brokered convention floor fight will lead us to a disaster at the polls the country might never recover from. I will have nothing to do with it. Democrats are more or less united. We have to be as well, or its over. And your threatening to walk away and not support Romney is just guaranteed to encourage him to reach out to independents and moderates for real.

And if he does, I’ll still support him. Anybody but that fucking Obama.
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:49 am

Pagan, we get that you have no principle you won’t sell out for a meaningless election victory. Take it as read, will you?

Tell me again how the guy people like these support is going to turn the country around. Tell me how he’s one whit better than Democrats with their dead voters now. Go ahead, explain it to me.

And while we’re at it, I hope all you electoral geniuses who barked for Newt and donated to his SuperPAC are happy he’s announced he’ll campaign for Romney.
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:51 am

Adjoran, did you see the video? Did you read how they set this thing up so the only names the delegates could freaking SEE were Romney backers.

Now I can believe you worked for Nixon indeed. Or at least Haldeman and Ehrlichman.
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 9:52 am

You keep saying that. Put up one word of proof Romney will do anything material to fix what Obama’s done to this country, besides changing the labels.
Tennwriter
April 9th, 2012 @ 10:06 am

Yup, we need to push for a floor fight with Santorum, and if Santorum does not win, we need to vote third party.Some may say this is not fair, but fairness is predicated on both sides having reasonable plans.

Romney is an Establishment luzer, and is taking us off a cliff.
If he wins, we still lose. But he’s not likely to win. If Romney were an actual Conservative we would not need this conversation.

Its better to have the Democrats own the coming disaster, and also have a chance to turn the Republicans back to Conservatism rather than Power Worship.Maybe next election cycle the GOP will put in a Conservative. Even if they do, we need to be working on a third party. Constitutionalist sounds good to me.

Don’t be a dead fish.
Tennwriter
April 9th, 2012 @ 10:08 am

Perhaps. But if you had to bet on Rick Santorum being number two this far into the electinn cycle a year ago, you would not have bet.

Its been an underdog, highly improbable story so far. We might have a Cinderella ending too.

And, of course, if Romeny or Jeb Bush takes it, then the GOP loses anyways.
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 10:16 am

I’m not sure what legal or political options we outside North Dakota have, except striking it off our Things to Do List.

This is the kind of shortsightedness that will destroy the GOP. ND is enjoying an oil boom right now, so endorse a Northeastern liberal to oppose a Chicago leftist who’s trying to strangle energy production in order to keep our seats in the club, no matter what our voters said. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Tennwriter
April 9th, 2012 @ 10:25 am

I will believe things are so desperate when the Republican Party acts like its that desperate. Put in a Constitutional Conservative and support him or her wholeheartedly, and then I will believe the GOP.

If you and all the other Romneyites joined together in singing ‘Romney Must Resign’ I’d believe things were very bad.

Faint heart never won fair damsel, PT. We’re in trouble, and if we want to get out, we’re going to have to take some risks. There is no safe road to a good future.

And I laugh at the notion that Romney is going to double-double mess me over if I don’t support him now. Thats ‘get in line and take your beating, or you’ll get worse’. Well forget that noise. I’m an American.
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 10:33 am

As for what the people of North Dakota can do: “Eh, I voted for the Republican guy once already. What ever happened to him?”
Michael Bates
April 9th, 2012 @ 10:39 am

This report needs to be taken with a big grain of salt, as it’s a Ron Paul news source. Had Ron Paul supporters had the majority at the convention, they’d have seized all the delegates for Ron Paul, and Reality Check would be celebrating the triumph of democracy, notwithstanding Paul’s 2nd place finish in the straw poll.

There is a built-in logistical problem with trying to elect 25 (or more) delegates in a convention that lasts just a few hours. You can’t have all the candidates speak, and you can’t elect each delegate separately. One way state parties cope is to have a committee interview candidates and put together a slate. In Oklahoma, that’s done by the state executive committee.

At the 2008 Oklahoma state convention, state delegates had a choice between the executive committee slate and the “Liberty and Values Coalition” slate made up of Ron Paul supporters and disaffected conservatives. A majority of delegates to the state convention picked the executive committee slate.

The practice of an official, pre-screened slate evolved during a period when nothing important was likely to happen at a national convention, and being picked as a delegate was a reward for being a loyal party volunteer or donor. Now that there are battles for party control, there should be a voting method that can cope with multiple factions in contention.

In the meantime, shame on the Santorum campaign for not having a slate ready and printed and for not organizing the Santorum delegates to the state convention to defeat the official slate and substitute their own.
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 11:54 am

We need to recognize that the RNC and the DC GOP have no interest in unseating Obama, as such. Like the Vicar of Bray, they imagine their little benefices will be theirs forever.

No, their fight is with us, to protect their perks, and they will happily screw the country over to keep their fine offices and leather chairs, so long as we are slapped back into line.
AllPatriotsMedia » The TK Quick Six – Monday, April 9th 2012
April 9th, 2012 @ 11:54 am

[…] – North Dakota Rigs GOP Primary For Romney – via […]
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 11:55 am

Rick Santorum and the people of North Dakota. Not that that’s a problem for the RNC.
Adobe_Walls
April 9th, 2012 @ 11:57 am

The GOP isn’t a conservative party when they nominate a conservative it’s a fluke. We need a new party so do most of the people who consiser themselves democrats for that matter.
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 11:57 am

This was the party leadership printing this slate. Where only their 25 chosen ones were listed. If we have to shame Santorum for anything, shame on him for not expecting North Dakota Republicans to act like Democrats.
Adobe_Walls
April 9th, 2012 @ 12:03 pm

I’d like to hear that one my self.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 12:18 pm

1. Getting Obama out of the White House, along with the rest of his Chicago Mafia thugs, is a hell of a lot more than a “meaningless election victory”, regardless of the name and face of the person who replaces him. That is a hard core principle I damn sure won’t abandon, and is not dependent on who our nominee is. If it were, I would have abandoned ship months ago when Palin decided not to run, and again when Bachmann dropped out. But I didn’t, I stuck with it, and will continue to stick with our nominee, whoever that is. Yes, even if you get your impossible miracle dream wish and its Santorum.

2. Any Republican by definition is better than any Democrat, and that’s 10x true when you’re dealing with Romney versus Obama. Conservative judges are orders of magnitude more important to me than any issue, social or fiscal or national security, you can name. Romney has made it plain he believes in states rights. Has Santorum?

3. At the time I “barked for Newt” ( I never donated to his Super Pac) he was every bit as viable a candidate as Santorum, and would have made a hell of a better candidate if he had won the nomination, troublesome though I concede he is in certain respects.

4. Again, its not my fault Romney is going to be the nominee. But he is going to be the nominee, and I will support him.
Adobe_Walls
April 9th, 2012 @ 12:25 pm

Here’s the problem as I see it all of the steps taken involving any one other than the committee that selected the Romney slate was a sham designed create the illusion of an open delegate process. The caucus was all pretense of broader participation and a waste of money . Apparently the Romney delegates were already selected by the state party leadership. If the purpose of the convention was to select delegates based on who they supported for the nomination a simple ballot with all the delegates next to who they supported would have been printed. Romney was selected by the state party leadership months ago everything else was theater designed deceive. If the nominating delegates are ultimately solely the choice of the establishment why bother being a republican in ND? For that matter why bother being and voting republican at all?
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 12:26 pm

Santorum isn’t getting screwed out of a damn thing, he’s just screwing himself, again. All this horn-blowing and finger-wagging and bitching and moaning, and then threatening a brokered convention, that’s what’s done it. Why in the hell shouldn’t the RNC do anything in its power to nip that in the bud? Why should the ND state GOP allow themselves to be pawns in such a sorry display? They all know what the result would be. Name me one time a party torn apart at the seams went on to win an election against a united party. Well that’s exactly what Rick’s serving up, and so many of you guys are just lining up to swallow that swill. Please, grow up!
Adobe_Walls
April 9th, 2012 @ 12:40 pm

“Any Republican by definition is better than any Democrat,”
This is what the GOP counts on to maintain their place on the merry go round in Washington and screw us. This why the “club” members get their turn, as long we are convinced that we must choose between a Bolshevik or what ever Dole or McCain or this time Romney the GOP hopes will maintain their place at the dessert buffet we will keep getting more of the same.

I believe that it was SDN who said Americans deserve another four years of Obamsky because we haven’t gotten it good and hard enough yet, he might be right. That’s almost certainly what’s about to happen whether we deserve it of not.
Teresa Anthony
April 9th, 2012 @ 12:56 pm

That is why these Straw pols need to stop. If you don’t like the way your particular state’s system of primary works, change it! This has happened since the beginning of the Party. Straw pols and caucuses are worthless, as they are gamed in every state. Nothing new. An actual voting primary is what ND needs.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 12:57 pm

And I believe it was me who said, if you want to be the majority wing of the GOP, you are going to have to work for it, and its going to take a lot of time and effort, not just at the national level, but at the state and local level as well. And I stand by that.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 1:01 pm

The problem is, no matter how low the position you started out from, number two is still no better than second place, and is otherwise known as “the loser”. Santorum, give him credit, fought a valiant albeit flawed battle, but its over. Whether he withdraws is entirely up to him. But whether he does or not, nobody should be surprised or disappointed, at this stage of the game, when they see Mitt Romney step up to the stage to accept the GOP nomination. And I will support him.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 1:03 pm

There’s no reason to think he wouldn’t be a deficit hawk, because that was his record in the business world. Whether you like him or not, nobody can take that away from him. That’s what he brings to the table, and we need it now more than we ever did.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 1:04 pm

Romney won’t resign, but he might fire a lot of people that need their asses canned.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 1:09 pm

The ND primary that Santorum won was non-binding. Moreover, if it was held today, the result might be vastly different with everything that’s happened since. People just assume that everybody is dug into that first choice. Maybe the party leaders of ND are in a position to know better.
Shelleys Playtime
April 9th, 2012 @ 2:45 pm

That is what you will be doing IF Mitt is the nominee and when he loses to Obama…
daialanye
April 9th, 2012 @ 2:53 pm

What almost everyone seems to be missing is that Romney and his supporters are digging their own graves. A fair and fair-minded election campaign will be accepted by the losers, who will turn around and work for the winner. As it is, Romney’s tactics are making that unlikely. This is short-sighted and stupid, like running up the score in a football game.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 3:02 pm

You need an editor, SP Let me FTFY

That is what you will be doing WHEN Mitt is the nominee and IF he loses to Obama.

There now your statement is more factually correct.
richard mcenroe
April 9th, 2012 @ 3:05 pm

You’re kidding yourself if you think denying the people the results of their votes and from denying the right to have their own say with hectoring demands to fall in line are the path to victory. The RNC and the Romney campaign have set themselves on the onecourse guaranteed to lose in the general.
Shelleys Playtime
April 9th, 2012 @ 3:06 pm

” Why in the hell shouldn’t the RNC do anything in its power to nip that in the bud?”

BECAUSE I HAVE NOT VOTED YET!!!
Shelleys Playtime
April 9th, 2012 @ 3:07 pm

exactly…(should be posted as reply to daialanye)
Confutus
April 9th, 2012 @ 3:23 pm

It would appear that the Santorum campaign claimed victory in what amounted to a straw poll, while the Romney campaign focused on where the delegates would actually be selected. The possibility that the delegates will have different opinions than the voters is or ought to be a known hazard in states that use non-binding primaries, one which makes a proper follow-through in such states essental. Crying about how he wuz robbed may get him some sympathy, but it doesn’t improve either his image or his prospects for the future.
ThePaganTemple
April 9th, 2012 @ 3:23 pm

You’re still going to get your chance to vote. So will I. But its a moot issue. Romney is going to be the nominee and it doesn’t make sense to think that a brokered convention would give it to Santorum.
Shelleys Playtime
April 9th, 2012 @ 3:38 pm

Ugh…