Why the Heck Does Guam Get Nine Delegates to the Republican Convention?

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No senators, no congressmen, no Electoral College representation, and yet Guam gets nine delegates? And all of them for Romney?

Hey, can we sell Guam to somebody?

I mean, why not? We won it fair and square in the Spanish-American War and now we’ve got a budget deficit. What’s Guam done for us lately? 

Maybe China’s in the market for a Pacific island. 

And if the worthless RINO-huggers in Guam don’t like the deal, they can complain to their new owners in Beijing. We’re done with ’em.

15 comments

  6. Guam is a federal territory with no direct electoral representation.  They have a delegate to the House who can vote in Committee but not on the floor.  So both parties grant them delegates to their conventions so they at least have some say in choosing the nominees. 

    As to why they all go for Romney, it should be obvious:  to keep the riff-raff out of Vanuatu.

  7. Sell Guam? What about the First Battle of Guam (1941) with 17 U.S. soldiers killed,  35 wounded,  and 406 captured and the Second Battle of Guam (1944) with 1,747 U.S. soldiers killed and  6,053 wounded?

    Since the last Japanse soldier from World War II to surrender to the U.S. was captured on Guam on January 24, 1972, does that make Richard Nixon the President who won World War II? Or should that honor go to President Gerald Ford, as Teruo Nakamura stationed on Morotai Island surrendered to Indonesian authorities on December 18, 1974?

    I would have thought the future Ambassador to Vanuatu would have locked Guam and Northern Marianna Islands up for Santorum. It’s not too late to get on the next plane to American Samoa, which has its caucus on March 13.

  10. Guam is a Catholic majority island.  Why not have Rick Santorum send someone out there to win some of those delegates?  My guess they are backing Romney because they want to back the winner.  But had Rick made an effort (he could have sent some people instead of going himself) he could have won some of those delegates.  

  12. Stacy, while I don’t disagree that 9 delegates seems a bit much for a territory, I will dissent on your assertion that Guam hasn’t done much for us lately.

    I link to a RedState diary I wrote  2 years ago celebrating VJ Day recounting the words of my grandmothers brother who served in WWII as a B29 pilot. He recounts his last mission over Japan which, unknown to him at the time, prevented the Emperor of Japan from being kidnapped and unable to complete the surrender to the US.

    So, 9 delegates to a RINO? Blast away, my friend! Dissin’ Guam? Meh, not so much.

    Read the whole thing: http://www.redstate.com/jstjoan/2010/08/14/vj-day-august-14-1945-a-tribute-to-my-great-uncle/

    For more on the significance of this “Last Mission” read here: http://www.amazon.com/Last-Mission-Secret-History-Battle/dp/0767907787

  13. Even more insane than  Guam getting nine delegates,  they have the same representation (3 members) on the Republican National Committee as any state, and the same representation (2 each) on the convention rules and platform committees as any state. Guam, American Samoa, Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and Northern Marianas combined have the same representation on the governing body of the Republican Party as Texas, Oklahoma, California, Missouri, and Ohio combined. (I reported on the 2004 RNC Rules Committee meeting that gave the Northern Marianas three seats on the RNC.)

    As to why the territories tend to vote with RINOs? I’ve been told that these territorial party leaders are very dependent on outside money to keep their organizations afloat and to cover the tremendous cost to attend quarterly RNC meetings on the mainland. Big RINO donor pays for your travel expenses to the mainland four times a year, and you gratefully put your three RNC votes at the RINOs’ disposal. Or so it has been  speculated.

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