Posted on 02/03/2012 11:37:06 AM PST by VinL
You did not misread the headline; and it’s not just a truism about Mr. Gingrich’s political orientation, I mean he’s correct—that Florida’s winner-take-all primary system isn’t fair.
According to Republican National Committee guidelines, all contests held prior to April 1 must allocate delegates proportionally. But Florida, not wishing to change procedures or fall behind other states, decided to flout the RNC rule, which means that Mitt Romney will get all 50 of its delegates. Mr. Gingrich—who came in second—will get none. Under a proportional system, Mr. Romney would receive 23 and Mr. Gingrich 16.
Not only that, NPR has calculated that Mr. Gingrich would currently be leading his rival 39 to 32 overall (New Hampshire plus South Carolina plus Florida), if delegates were allotted proportionally.
Mr. Gingrich’s campaign, which has surely done the same math as NPR, has complained to the Florida G.O.P., and consequently left me in a rather unfamiliar position. For perhaps the first time in my life, I completely agree with the former House speaker and future moon colonist.
Mr. Gingrich might have raised this issue before the Florida primary, when some polls suggested he could eke out enough of a plurality to benefit from the winner-take-all system. I doubt he would care about the RNC guidelines if he’d managed to win, and I doubt Florida’s delegates will be instrumental in determining whether Mr. Romney or Mr. Gingrich earns the G.O.P. nomination.
But the point is that a candidate in a two-person, winner-take-all primary could get 49.9 percent of the votes, and receive no delegates, and that’s not right. As our editorial board has said many times, both parties’ rules should be rewritten to guarantee that the number of delegates a candidate receives accurately reflects his percentage of the popular vote. (snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at loyalopposition.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Oh man. The RNC had better get this fixed AND FAST.
It matters not whether he would have said something had he won FL, that would have been up to Mittens or the voters or the delegates. Maybe Mittens is just not that smart.
I just hope Mittens spent 25 million on proportional delegates.
And there is still the Robert Rules of Order. Yes they did penalize them by taking away 49 delegates but primary was indeed held before April 1st. OR give them the full 99 proportionately and penalize them with the seating and hotels in Tampa in August. Not fair to the 54% of voters who voted NOT-Mitt.
Why is Bishop Willard Mitt Romney not using his title? What is he trying to hide? Do we want the elder of any faith to serve as President? Would we want a Catholic, Anglican, Methodist Bishop serving as president? Is it even constitutional? We need to have this conversation now!
The RNC will do nothing. They NEED mittwit to win the nomination.
“The primaries are over ...”
Not yet. That’s the meme the MSM, the RNC and the beltway pundits want us to buy, but there are plenty of primaries left to go.
The problem with our betters deciding that Romney will be the annointed one is that a significant portion of the base will, indeed, stay home rather than vote for him. It’s pointless to whine that such intransigence is self defeating and not really “truely conservative”. It is not for the electorate to conform itself to the RNC’s preference: it’s the RNC’s job to recruit and support candidates that can speak to the base, carry their standard.
Mittens can’t, or won’t do that.
Rules only matter in the Virginia primary.
Exactly. The elites want Newt gone, pronto, so why should they do anything. They will just say Newt is a sore loser and had he won, he wouldn’t be saying a word about proportionality. And they’re right.
“we need to get behind the nominee”
Yes we do. Please let me know when one of the candidates has 1144 delegates, or there are no other candidates left besides him in the race. Then I’ll get behind our nominee.
Between the stunt they played in Virginia and this breaking of their own rules in Florida, the GOP-e are indistinguishable from the democrat crooks.
The whole thing of “electability” I think may have as much to do with the GOP-e’s cannibalism and people knowing they want Romney.
The whole thing makes me sick. I hate politics. I absolutely hate politics.
They wont. It will just be another nail in the RNC coffin. The RNC is dead to me.
Why bother with the rules at all, if they can be changed on a whim when it suits the establishment?
Is this even legal if the RNC is a chartered organization, with bylaws and a governing body, and is registered with the FEC?
Shouldn't there be some modicum of fealty to the rules if they are supposed to be a legitimate outfit?
-PJ
I agree. We need to put pressure on the RNC to treat all of the primary candidates in a just and equal manner. They have no business playing favorites, disenfranchising the base, at this stage of the game! Contributions to the GOP are way down, and they are going to slide further if they don’t get their act cleaned up.
The primaries are over and Mitt won and even Rush Limbaugh believes we need to get behind the nominee and focus our energies on going after Obama.
************
The primaries were over for Limbaugh on the day Romney declared. You see, Rush worships at the altar of money— Romney made multi-multi millions- that’s a Limbaugh hero, no matter how the money was made.
To Limbaugh, Newt’s a peasant.
I'd accuse you of having smoked something wacky but Mittbots aren't known for doing that.
It was the Florida state AG that caught this..not Newt. It warrants a challenge and last I heard the rules will be bent in Mitts favor. UNLESS Newt becomes the front runner..ironic isn’t it because Newt would have been the front runner according to their own rules.
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