Talk Elections

No 'straw poll" will be held to determine the preference of those in the room. Participants will not be asked to run to a corner of the gymnasium to indicate their favorite candidate. There may be few, if any, soapbox speeches.

The premise of the caucus is actually as mundane as it gets — an organizational meeting.

"It's a regular meeting that takes place pursuant to Robert's Rules," said state GOP spokesman Jonathon Prouty. "The only business that is meant to take place is the election of delegates and the review of the platform."
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Effective campaigns will head into the caucuses with a chairman and slate of delegates already prepared. Compromise can play a role, if, say, no candidate has a majority in the room, and two camps collaborate to split delegates and shut out a third contender.

Even if the process goes flawlessly for the state GOP, results will not be officially known until the congressional district meetings in April.

I think Santorum has to win at least one to be credible as a real alternative to Romney.

Then it is down to IL and PR.  I think Santorum has to win at least one to be credible as a real alternative to Romney

Halfway through with 10 states? He's either going to be the nominee, or it is going to convention, as with Reagan.

The last time the nomination went this long without a winner was back in '08 with 19 states going to the challengers.

Mitt Romney and his campaign advisers pride themselves on vigorously pursuing every delegate in every corner of the country in their quest to secure the Republican presidential nomination.

That was not the case here Thursday evening at the Chariton County caucus inside the Railyard Steakhouse, where Republicans voted to send their full share of delegates to the district and state conventions in support of Rick Santorum.

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The first question of the evening was whether to bind delegates to the results of the February primary. The measure passed by a wide margin and no discussion, which sent four delegates on behalf of Mr. Santorum and none for Mr. Romney or Representative Ron Paul of Texas.

In Boone County. Out of 53 delegates, 48 went to Ron Paul and five went to Mitt Romney. Romney's people joined Paul slate.

Well, I just got back from my caucus in St. Charles County, Missouri and it did not go well. First of all, the caucus was supposed to start at 10am but the lines were so long that they decided to let anyone who got in line by 10am to get in. The actual meeting didn't even start until approx. 11:10am and this black guy (Eugene, I think he was the St. Chas. County Republican Chairman), tells everyone to turn off their video cameras and that recording is not allowed. The place went ballistic and then Eugene told the cops to arrest this guy who was video recording. The cops went up to arrest the guy and everyone started yelling things like, "First Amendment Rights!", ""Defend the Constitution!", "Arrest the chairman!" The cops realized that this could get ugly so they backed off and called for reinforcements. The meeting was stopped until about a dozen or so more cops showed up. Then Eugene started the meeting again and announced that anyone caught video taping would be arrested. Right after that he asked for a nomination for Caucus Chairman. Brent Stafford was nominated and was overwhelmingly endorsed by the crowd. This Eugene nazi fellow, completely ignored the crowd and nominated this white guy tool who Eugene immediately announced as the Caucus Chairman without any support at all. The place went ballistic and the Romney and Paul supporters realized that we were being screwed. The place continued to go nuts and so the caucus was completely canceled and guess what?! St. Chas. County will not have any delegates to respresent them in this election. The only thing I can figure out is that maybe this Eugene character and his coharts were Santorum supporters and they saw that Romney and Paul were going to get the majority of the delegates so they decided to stir up this trouble. I am sorry to ramble on like this but I am so shaken right now. What I just witnessed seems like something that came right out of the nazi playbook. I'm stunned that something like this could happen in one of the most conservative republican counties in Missouri. Just stunned. Oh, I forgot to mention that the cops did indeed eventually handcuff and arrest the guy that was video recording. Welcome to the nazi police state of the USSA, people.

A primary which no one contested except for one candidate who badly needed a boost precisely because the state decided ahead of time it would be meaningless. Had the delegates been tied to that, the results probably would have been different. To hold that up as being, the "democratic" thing to do at this point, is a mistake.