Posted on 03/03/2012 4:09:17 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
In a potentially ominous Super Tuesday setback for Rick Santorum, a campaign filing mishap in Ohio could leave him ineligible to be awarded 18 Buckeye State district delegates -- more than a quarter of the total at stake there, ABC News reported Friday.
Ohio has 66 delegates total, with 63 at stake on Tuesday. Santorum failed to qualify for any district delegates in three Ohio congressional districts representing nine delegates because he didn't turn in names there.
ABC News reported that in six other congressional districts, the former Pennsylvania senator's campaign submitted fewer names than required to be eligible for all three delegates up for grabs in each district. That would put another nine delegates in jeopardy.
Santorum spokesman Hogan Gidley responded to the report by issuing a statement that sought to depict the issue as a continuation of a controversy in Michigan. Santorum contends he and Mitt Romney should have split the delegates evenly in that state, but party officials there awarded Romney 16 and Santorum 14 in a move that the latter has decried as dirty politics and is contesting.
"The attempt by the establishment to to deceive the voters of Ohio and further their hand-picked candidate will be met with resistance on Tuesday," Gidley said. "I want to be clear -- Rick Santorum's name will appear on every ballot in the state of Ohio, and every vote cast will go towards his at-large delegate allocation.
"As it relates to individual congressional districts, it's clear we aren't the establishment hand-picked candidate, and back in December we were a small effort focused on Iowa. Now that we've won several states, obviously much has changed, and we feel confident that we will do well in both the delegate and popular vote count on Tuesday."
But a Romney spokesman seized on the report as further evidence that Santorum is a vastly inferior candidate.
"Rick Santorum has failed to get on the ballot in Virginia, has failed to file full delegate slates in Tennessee, New Hampshire and Illinois, and has failed to submit enough delegates in several Ohio congressional districts," said the spokesman, Ryan Williams, alluding to other Santorum logistical pitfalls. "The fact that he cannot execute the simple tasks that are required to win the Republican nomination proves that Rick Santorum is incapable of taking on President Obama's formidable political machine."
If he wins in a district where he failed to allocate a full slate of three delegates, Santorum would be eligible to take only the delegates he has already allocated in that district. But the unallocated delegates would not be awarded to anyone else.
"On Super Tuesday, if Sen. Santorum were to carry a district where he has not seated a full delegate slate, he will be awarded delegates where he has submitted delegate names," Ohio Republican Party spokesman Chris Maloney told The Plain Dealer of Cleveland. "And the additional delegates in that district will be unallocated."
Such a situation, The Plain Dealer said, sets up challenges -- if not from Santorum, then from political rivals such as Romney or Newt Gingrich.
The Ohio state party told the newspaper it has not faced this situation before, but it has been reviewing its bylaws and is prepared, if there is a challenge, to convene what it calls a "committee on contests."
Maybe he can talk his way out of this one......That’s what he seems to do the most of.
I don’t think there was much organization for a candidate that wasn’t planning on running.
It was a lack of organization that was a tip that she wasn’t going to run.
She was probably right to know that it was Romney’s turn and that it would be a waste of time and effort to run.
The deck was stacked since 2008. We are seeing that now.
I don’t think he can talk his way out of this one. And if he can’t, pitching a fit will not win converts. Since this is big political news in Ohio, what would you do as a potential Santorum voter going to the polls knowing if Santorum won in your district (where he doesn’t have a full slate or no delegates) your vote will not count? If I were in that pickle, I’d have to vote for Newt instead.
__________________________________________
......”Ohio has 16 congressional districts, or will for purposes of this election. (It now has 18 but will lose two at the end of 2012.) Romney, Gingrich and Ron Paul have slates of three delegates in each. But here is how Santorum’s slates shake out:
District 1: 3 delegates
District 2: 3 delegates
District 3: 2 delegates
District 4: 1 delegate
District 5: 3 delegates
District 6: 0 delegates
District 7: 3 delegates
District 8: 2 delegates
District 9: 0 delegates
District 10: 1 delegate
District 11: 3 delegates
District 12: 2 delegates
District 13: 0 delegates
District 14: 3 delegates
District 15: 3 delegates
District 16: 1 delegate
This could get interesting, and difficult, for Santorum because his failure includes districts where he might otherwise run well”......
http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2012/03/rick_santorum_faces_bigger_ohi.html
Neither Santorum or Gingrich are on the ballot in VA, which is part of Super Tuesday. Newt wasn’t on the ballot in Missouri. Santorum isn’t on the ballot in DC.
I agree that the fix is in for Romney and it’s disgusting.
The GOP deserves what it gets for not recruiting better candidates.
This is a lose/lose sitution. If Bam wins, we get ...four more years of an unfettered socialism regime bent on destroying our freedoms and our country. If Romney wins, we get ...a flip flopping, lying, power hungry, unlikable, mean spirited, out of touch “moderate” who may not destroy the country but would govern like the liberal that he is, expand government programs and make the Tea Party and the will of We The People insignificant.
I agree with those who say that if Mitt is nominated, Obama will win another term. This whole thing is a nightmare.
My intention is to concentrate on keeping the House and taking the Senate..no funding to the GOP and to make direct donations and other support to the Conservative candidates. If we have both houses come November, the powers of the executive office will be somewhat limited.
As for the Supremes and the likely retirement of at least two justices, Valerie will once again choose feminists like Kagen and Sotomayor to succeed them. If that happens, God help us all.
The Republican Governors Assn will be shilling for Romney if he is the nominee.
Yay! Maybe I can get an honest answer as you seem to be an upfront Romney supporter - Was ready for work Mitt for or against the Blunt Amendment? The answers I have seen attributed to him online have been more than a little ambivalent : /
Thanks in advance, and may God guide our course.
Tatt
I would not call it his failure. This is a set up because they knew he might run well in those districts.
CLICK
.....Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich — each filed full slates in all of
Ohio’s districts as did two candidates who are no longer in the race, Rick Perry
and Jon Huntsman.....
In 2010 some state houses flipped, hundreds of seats became Republican. Rick Perry was the Chair for the RGA (twice) and broke fundraising records. There are many good Republican governors who have put Congress to shame. If GOP leaders on the Hill want to learn how to stand strong, they need to emulate our strong conservative governors.
I’m open to being persuaded but I do not see how this was “a set up.”
I would not call it his failure.
Why wouldn’t it be a failure, lack of follow through or incompentency? He signed the form, sent it in without sufficient names on it for some districts. Now it maybe he was aware of that and just didn’t want to spend the time/effort to find a another person or two whose name he could submit.
Newt was very well known my most, and most decided that because of his distant past, he did not fit the “perfect social CONservative” mold. (Forget the fact that Newt is a human being like the rest of us.)
We have always had a chance to win with Newt, and had the base, etc, stayed true, Newt would be well ahead by now and we would not keep waking up to this nightmare.
knowing that the most important thing in all of this, is to fix the economy and repair our damaged Capitalist system, the most obvious Man to fix that is Newt, and Newt only.
Hell write in Sharon Angle or Christie O’Donnel,because you know Sharon Angle can beat Harry Reid.Hell she would have no problem with Obama.
I am prepared to send Newt or Rick my few bucks to support them in the nomination if they were to win it.
I am for the anybody but Obama candidate.
Romney is the only one organizationaly prepared to run against the Kenyan.And what you see in Ohio and Virginia is obvious who is the most prepared.
At least he is more conservative than McCain and hell of a lot smarter than Bush ever was.
ROMNEY Pushed Obama for National Healthcare Mandates, 2009
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2853936/posts
If Santorum loses this state by a small margin, he still isn't going to drop out.
He will just do what Newt is doing and stay in as long as he can to be a thorn is Romney's side.
You do know that unless something big happens to knock Romney out, he is going to wrap this up either before or at the convention. In fact, if Romney wins Ohio and a host of other states on Super Tuesday the chances for Newt or Santorum are most likely over.
I imagine Texas is being pushed back so that Mitt can secure the nomination well before Texas.
If you look at the rest of the states, most of them will go Romney with the exception of a few southern states. That won't be enough to put Newt or Santorum near the votes they need for the nomination.
Wyoming has already gone Romney, California will go Romney as most western states will.
The Mitt team has the big experts in the demographics of these states like Tokyo Rove, Dick Morris etc. They know what areas to stifle Rick or Newt. So far, it is working along with a deluge of negative ads aided by the continued venom between the Newt and Rick supporters.
I have not been hard on Santorum on this thread so please do not get on your high horse. We need to save our ammunition for our foes.
It will be a long 3 months to Texas' primary May 29 and a lot can happen before then. California follows. I am not ready to be as certain as you about what Romney "wins."
I don’t believe I accused you of anything. I am not on a high horse, just pointing out some facts.
In fact I thought you were more reasonable than some who inject venom with every post.
You seem to be a trooper for whomever you are backing.
I’m sorry then to have taken your words and given them a tone.
Peace.
Where have you been? Newt got raked over the coals for not making a State. Crawl back under your rock - it's not time to wake up yet.
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