Biggest surprise of this year's Republican primary season

[RogueBeaver]

Puerto Rico, North Dakota. For PR not Romney's victory but the margin.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Definitely the Iowa Caucus mix up. First Romney won, then Santorum won, now Ron Paul won because he got 80% of the delegates.

[Lincoln Republican]

A big surprise is the absolute stupidity of the Republican primary system.

Confusing is a good word to describe it.

Starting in 2016, all Republican primaries and caucuses should have the following requirements:

-Only registered Republicans can vote

-Candidates are granted the number of delegates in proportion to the percentage of the vote they receive

-Candidates must win at least 15% of the vote in order to qualify for any delegates

[HagridOfTheDeep]

Definitely the Iowa Caucus mix up. First Romney won, then Santorum won, now Ron Paul won because he got 80% of the delegates.

Let me make this clear. Ron Paul did not win the Iowa Caucuses.

[Averroës Nix]

People continuing to treat Dick Morris like he's a serious political analyst.

[Mr. Morden]

A big surprise is the absolute stupidity of the Republican primary system.

Confusing is a good word to describe it.

Starting in 2016, all Republican primaries and caucuses should have the following requirements:

-Only registered Republicans can vote

-Candidates are granted the number of delegates in proportion to the percentage of the vote they receive

-Candidates must win at least 15% of the vote in order to qualify for any delegates

#2 and #3 directly contradict each other. 

In any case, #2 and #3 certainly aren't going to be imposed on a national level, because the RNC will continue to let states decide their own delegate allocation, with the exception of the weak proportionality requirement for early voting states.  The RNC is basically going to keep the 2012 rules intact for 2016:

https://uselectionatlas.org/FORUM/index.php?topic=152436.0

Now, there might be more caucus states choosing to adopt something like #2, to bind delegate selection to caucus results.  After some of the issues with Paulite infiltration at the later stages of delegate selection, this might be something of a concern.  But it won't be a big change.  And the WTA states aren't likely to switch to proportional.

#1 also isn't going to be imposed on the national level, but some more states might opt for it.  Of course, many states don't have party registration, so such a rule would be impossible.

[Maxwell]

People continuing to treat Dick Morris like he's a serious political analyst.

[indulgence]

A big surprise is the absolute stupidity of the Republican primary system.

Confusing is a good word to describe it.

Starting in 2016, all Republican primaries and caucuses should have the following requirements:

-Only registered Republicans can vote

-Candidates are granted the number of delegates in proportion to the percentage of the vote they receive

-Candidates must win at least 15% of the vote in order to qualify for any delegates

- Add: Caucuses ought to be abolished.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Definitely the Iowa Caucus mix up. First Romney won, then Santorum won, now Ron Paul won because he got 80% of the delegates.

Let me make this clear. Ron Paul did not win the Iowa Caucuses.

According to the delegate allocation, Ron Paul has won Iowa, Nevada, Maine, Minnesota, and Massachusetts.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Definitely the Iowa Caucus mix up. First Romney won, then Santorum won, now Ron Paul won because he got 80% of the delegates.

Let me make this clear. Ron Paul did not win the Iowa Caucuses.

According to the delegate allocation, Ron Paul has won Iowa, Nevada, Maine, Minnesota, and Massachusetts.

Massachusetts? LOL!

[Fmr President & Senator Polnut]

a) the only thing that matters is the delegate division... and Ron Paul has 21/24 IA delegates, therefore has won IA.

b) The fact someone disliked and more importantly, mistrusted by the party base won the nomination by saturation negative advertising... and being up against people who were verging on certifiable. So a nomination by elimination, rather than by active support.