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| Paul Smith |
As of today, 32 states have voted, accounting for a total of
1291 delegates. Some states (like Florida) gave the winner every delegate. Some
(like New Hampshire) awarded their delegates proportionally. Thus far, these two sorts of states have
awarded a total of 913 delegates. These 913 delegates are bound, meaning they must support a certain candidate. Of these, we
know that Mitt Romney has 554, Rick Santorum 197, Newt Gingrich 129, and Ron
Paul 33.
But 1291 (the total number of delegates so far) minus 913 (the
total number of bound delegates) still leaves 378 delegates. So what of these
other 378 delegates? Who gets them? This question is ignored by the media, who like
to pretend that these delegates are awarded in the same manner as mentioned
above. But the truth is that many states hold caucuses instead of primaries, and do not award their delegates to
any specific candidate. Their delegates are unbound:
they may support any candidate they choose at the Republican National
Convention.
Here lies the strength of the Ron Paul campaign. In each of
these caucus states, the campaign has organized concerted efforts to get Ron
Paul supporters elected as these unbound delegates. This strategy is paying off
immensely: initial results indicate that
Ron Paul will control a majority of those 378 delegates at the convention. The collapse of the Rick Santorum campaign also bodes well
for Ron Paul’s delegate count. As noted earlier, Santorum has been awarded 197
bound delegates. But now that he is out of the race, these delegates will become
unbound, meaning that they can vote their conscience at the convention. And
many of those delegates just happen to be anti-establishment folks who have now
turned to Ron Paul as the last remaining conservative in the race.
When these facts about the delegates are taken into account,
it is clear that the race is far from over. A more realistic analysis of the
delegate race would put Paul close behind Romney—in second place with somewhere
between three and four hundred delegates.
Now, New Mexico is a proportional primary state that awards
bound delegates to each candidate who receives fifteen percent or more of the
vote. We New Mexico Republicans faced a
similar choice in our 2008 primary: a career moderate, or Ron Paul. We chose
the moderate, John McCain, and we got four years of Barack Obama. I encourage
all Republicans to consider supporting Dr. Paul, the only
candidate who can beat the current president. Don’t be misled by the media’s shoddy
reporting. Stand up, be counted, and
help return the Republican Party to the Constitution, and the presidency of the
United States.
Paul Smith is a Grassroots Coordinator for the Ron
Paul Presidential Campaign in Dona Ana County. He has worked with the campaign
since January, traveling in an official role to Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, and
Louisiana before returning to the Mesilla Valley this month to assist the
grassroots movement. The founder of Aggies for Ron Paul, a chapter of the
national campaign’s Youth For Ron Paul directive, Paul earned his Bachelor of
Arts degree from Hillsdale College, MI, where he majored in English Literature
and Religious Studies.
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