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UPDATE: Ron Paul supporters take control of Republican caucus (everywhere)

Written by Subject: Politics: Republican Campaigns
 
(Publisher's note: I am constantly quizzed on the effect Ron Paul is going to have on the Republican National Convention. This article is a sample of what is happening across the country,... Right Now. And the LameStreamMedia knows NOTHING) 
 
 
 
 
UPDATE: Ron Paul supporters take control of Republican caucus

By Kalen Ponche
Monday, March 24, 2008 8:37 AM CDT




St. Charles County's Republican caucus at St. Peters City Hall was anything but typical this year.

Normally, caucuses are political formalities in which the party faithful vote on a list of delegates to send to the state convention and the congressional district caucuses.

But this year's caucus stretched into a six-hour event after supporters of Ron Paul, a presidential nominee and Texas congressman, gained control of the caucus.Josh Stigal, a 24-year-old Republican attendee, walked out of the caucus after three hours.

"It's ridiculous," he said.

Although Paul received just 3.8 percent of the vote during the primary race in St. Charles County, the Paul supporters were in the majority of the 131 people who attended the March 15 caucus. They quickly elected Brent Stafford, a Paul supporter from O'Fallon, as chairman.

"They were able to garner a few more people than we were," said Penny Bennett, member of the St. Charles Republican Central Committee. "Our people seemed to think that if they voted in the primary they didn't need to go in the caucus."

The Paul supporters filled 241 of the 274 delegate slots from St. Charles County. At the county-level caucuses, delegates were chosen to attend the state and congressional caucus. At these events, the attendees will help select the 55 delegates from Missouri who will go to the national GOP convention, where a presidential nominee is chosen.

The scene was similar at other caucuses across the state. In Kansas City, Springfield and several smaller counties, Paul supporters represented the majority of caucus-goers. Some Paul supporters claim they have secured one third of the total delegates who will attend the state convention.

Stafford said Paul supporters across Missouri organized through the Internet and even had practice caucuses.

But he said their main motive was not to put Paul in the White House.

"We weren't shouting Ron Paul! Ron Paul!" he said. "It was about party ideals."

The caucus attendees passed a proposed rule change that could impact the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. During the first vote, Missouri's 55 delegates are bound to vote for John McCain, who won the most votes during the statewide Republican primary Feb. 5. But Paul's supporters want the delegates to have the option of voting for the candidate who best represents the platform of the Missouri Republican Party.

The Paul supporters also did their best to propose amendments that would change the party platform to include support for abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Federal Reserve, removing troops from Iraq, and removing Republican support for President George W. Bush.

"The bottom line is to keep the dialogue going," Stafford said.

Jon Bennett, chairman of the Republican Central Committee, said ultimately it won't matter if Ron Paul supporters got a majority of candidates from a few counties across the state.

"The bulk of the people who will attend the state convention are going to still be bound to vote for John McCain for president of the United States," he said.

Bennett said the Ron Paul supporters should do what other Republicans have done and look at the big picture when it comes to the future of the GOP.

"I welcome these people to the Republican party," Bennett said. "If they want to be apart, that's fine, I have no problem with that. ... I think the way they are going about doing this, it disenfranchised a lot of the Republican faithful of St. Charles County."

How it works

The Republican delegate selection process:

Missouri's 114 counties each had caucuses to select delegates to send to the Missouri State Republican Convention and to the congressional district caucuses.

At the nine congressional district caucuses, attendees choose three delegates and three alternates to send to the National Republican Convention. (9 x 3 = 27)

At the Missouri State Republican Convention, attendees choose 28 delegates and alternates to send to the National Republican Convention. (27 28 = 55)

Three delegate positions are given to party leaders

55 3 = 58 delegates who will attend the National Republican Convention Sept. 1-4 in St. Paul, Minn.


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