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Setting the Record Straight about Colorado’s Republican Caucus
Ari Armstrong ^ | 3/11/16

Posted on 04/11/2016 1:59:17 PM PDT by justlittleoleme

“All Colorado Republicans [registered more than a month] could vote in precinct caucuses, which chose delegates to congressional and state conventions, who voted for national delegates.” That’s my (unabbreviated) Tweet summarizing the way that Colorado Republicans chose delegates to the national Republican Convention. I should know; as a Colorado Republican I participated in the caucuses.

But apparently, for some Trump supporters, my experience participating in the caucus process is no match for a Drudge headline claiming it never happened. As of the evening of April 10, Drudge claimed on its main page, “Fury as Colorado has no primary or caucus; Cruz celebrates voterless victory.”

So let’s set the facts straight, beginning with my own experiences with the caucus system.

After long being an unaffiliated voter, I registered as a Republican voter late last year, in part so that I could participate in Colorado’s Republican caucus system this year. (I plan to remain a Republican, barring an unforeseen major shift in the political scene.) I looked up how to participate in my precinct caucus on March 1, showed up, participated in the meeting, and successfully ran as an alternate delegate to the county convention on March 19 and to the state convention on April 9.

-snip-

A completely fair headline of what happened this year would have been, “Colorado Republicans Select Presidential Delegates the Same Way They Did Last Time.” But the reality of the situation is so much more boring that the trumped up version of it.

(Excerpt) Read more at ariarmstrong.com ...


TOPICS: Front Page News; Politics/Elections; US: Colorado
KEYWORDS: caucus; co2016; colorado; cruzcucksclan; readbeforecommenting; trump; trumpwhiner
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To: publana

The GOP pulled the primary of the table in August when they saw the Trump surge...they did it so as NOT to allow the people of Colorado a vote....this was a stop Trump effort pure and simple. That was the intent all along.

This kind of “process” by the GOP establishment only solidifies that anger the GOP base has toward them and helps Trump in the long run....the problem is NOT Trump...it is the GOP.


81 posted on 04/11/2016 5:51:55 PM PDT by Moby Grape (Formerly Impeach the Boy...name change necessary after the Marxist won)
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To: grey_whiskers

Wow, you really don’t have anything better to do than to sift through my posting history? What a pathetic bunch you are. Just because I don’t support your candidate, I’m a GOPe “apparatchik?” You don’t know shit about me. Get a life, gray beard.


82 posted on 04/11/2016 5:52:21 PM PDT by reegs
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To: reegs
Wow, you really don’t have anything better to do than to sift through my posting history? What a pathetic bunch you are. Just because I don’t support your candidate, I’m a GOPe “apparatchik?” You don’t know shit about me. Get a life, gray beard.

That was *awfully* weak tea.

83 posted on 04/11/2016 5:53:05 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: reegs; grey_whiskers
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84 posted on 04/11/2016 5:56:19 PM PDT by mkjessup (CruzBot MADNESS!! It's like Reefer Madness without the fumes! But it still stinks!)
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To: skeeter
"So what this guy is saying is what just happened in CO is like a winner take all caucus, where the delegates were selected based upon their support of non-support of the candidates."

That's a fairly accurate summary. Although it is not automatic that it would be winner-take-all, but it does definitely lean that way. A lot of these rules are there to try to wrap things up quickly, ironically, to avoid the intra-party blood-letting we are witnessing. It favors the leader. But they did not count on a leader who is bumbler when it comes to understanding and following rules.

But then, Donald has been ignoring rules his whole life. Now we find out his kids can't vote because they failed to register, the family seems to be a bunch of bumblers when it comes to following the rules. A commonly-seen hazard of being filthy rich is that they begin to think the rules don't matter.

Sur-PRi-ize.

85 posted on 04/11/2016 6:02:06 PM PDT by cookcounty (Why are Trump's poll numbers against a wounded Hillary so AWFUL? Hello? No answer?)
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To: Moby Grape

You don’t know for sure that the GOPe pulled in August for that reason. The reason given was that it was too early and they don’t want to waste their votes on those pulled out. With that said, I agree with you. The GOP probably did it to stop Trump.

BUT... Trump hosed his own pooch by firing his CO man two days before the election then submitted his delegate sheet chock full of errors including even the wrong delegate that actually belonged to Cruz. The GOPe didn’t do this. CRUZ didn’t do this. TRUMP did this.


86 posted on 04/11/2016 6:08:55 PM PDT by publana (Beware the olive branch extended by a Dem for it disguises a clenched fist.)
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To: castlegreyskull

“I never even seen a Colorado poll. I have a hunch Trump would not have been in 1st place, but I really do not know.”
_____________

Trump was leading Cruz at the time of the polling. Then they decided they would change the rules in August and let the party decide rather than have a straw poll, caucus, or primary. It was early in the process, but the order at that time in Colorado was Carson, then Rubio, then Trump, then Cruz. (Bush was way down at 2%, his usual). The poll I’m quoting was Quinepiac, or how ever you spell it.


87 posted on 04/11/2016 6:09:51 PM PDT by The Continental Op
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To: The Continental Op

I went to Quinnipiac Law school for a year. They just lost the frozen four on Saturday.

Yes, the Colorado primary was secretive from the beginning.


88 posted on 04/11/2016 6:44:25 PM PDT by castlegreyskull
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To: Yashcheritsiy
"There are Ted supporters here on FR, FB, and all over the establishmedia who are swearing up and down that there was no caucus - and that’s what the rules said would be the case all along."

They are dead wrong. They are lying or maybe perpetually drunk. Ask what Precinct they are in, I bet they can't tell you

I was Chairman of my precinct caucus, Precinct 231 of El Paso County, March 1st, 7pm, at my neighborhood school, Room 102.

We elected Two people to State and 2 to the Congressional District Assembly (in addition to 2 Precinct leaders and 8 to the County Assembly).

According to the rules you can self-nominate, no second necessary. All you had to do is raise your hand, state you want to be a delegate, and we wrote the names on a big flip chart. Everyone had the chance to briefly state who they are and who they favored, and why they wanted to run. Then we voted. One (Yes ONE) Trump supporter said he wanted to be a delegate. He got 4 votes. Not good enough. Cruz supporters won 3 spots, I won the other one. ( said I'd vote for for Rubio, but if he failed, then Cruz.

THere are so many outright lies being told, like the old goofball burning his whatever. Look at the story, he showed up at the State Assembly claiming to be a delegate to State, when he was in fact not a delegate to State, but only to County. ---Like showing up to the airport with a ticket to Pittsburgh and being mad because they won't let you get on the plane to Switzerland. Duh. And Trump emotes first and thinks later, tweets yet another idiocy on behalf of this goofy illiterate cornball that couldn't tell the difference between "County" and "State." Delegates to National are not elected at County Assemblies, not 4 years ago, not 8 years ago, not 12.

Trump people are so wound up, they believe anything and everything, a darn good reason to NOT vote Trump, who encourages it himself and utterly lacks a judicious mind or temperament. Plenty of temper, though, oh, yeah, pul--enty. If he was my kid, I'd kick his arrogant ass.

89 posted on 04/11/2016 6:50:23 PM PDT by cookcounty (Why are Trump's poll numbers against a wounded Hillary so AWFUL? Hello? No answer?)
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To: cookcounty
Heh.

IIRC, the Donald is ahead of the pace Romney was at last time; what people didn't count on was Kasich explicitly staying in long after he'd been skunked everywhere, explicitly to deny Trump Oho (Winner-take-all); and if Trump had got both Florida AND Ohio on the same day, even the megalomaniacal-acting Cruz would've had to drop out.

Speaking of that, people didn't count on TWO people either mathematically eliminated, or all-but-mathematically eliminated, not only staying in the race but openly conniving with sitting party officials to try to slime and cheat and defame their own party's front runner.

Look at the facts, troll-boy.

How many other candidates have have several hundred MILLION in attack ads thrown at them by their own party, and still led the pack?

90 posted on 04/11/2016 6:52:35 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: stephenjohnbanker

O.K. lets see the results of these caucuses he speaks of. They must be able to show us vote tallies right? How many Coloradans voted? What was the date of this vote? How many votes did Cruz get? How many votes did Trump get? Is it a winner take all State Convention? Notice there has never been a winner take all caucus, but these idiots decided to create a winner take all convention where like 500 people vote.


91 posted on 04/11/2016 7:01:14 PM PDT by Windy City Conservative
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To: RedWhiteBlue
I'm not for Trump, but there is an inaccuracy in what you say:

"The guy never bothered to show up for the district convention. Never signed in or picked up his badge or credentials. He was on the slate at the district convention to run for a delegate position to the state convention, but got no votes. If he were there, he would at least gotten one vote — his own.

You do not run for State from the District Convention. You run from the County, except in El Paso County, where State and District delegates are elected directly at the Precinct Caucus (that is where I was elected to State). The guy himself seems confused about the process. Maybe reading the rules is too much for him. If he was pushed out, it was definitely an isolated incident.

I was at State, people had their delegate badges scanned by World Arena employees, nobody from the party was at the doors checking the 3900+ delegates and also the alternates (Guests had to go through a separate gate). Maybe if something didn't scan, I do not know what the procedure would be then, but there were a significant number of Trump-buttoned people in line with me, they breezed through Gate B, 4-abreast as we filed in (though Bronco-Orange Cruzers were definitely more common).

From one report I heard, he tried to pass off his County Delegate credentials as a State credential, hard to know exactly, reporters should all be required to take Remedial Civics, lots of ignorance in their ranks.

92 posted on 04/11/2016 7:06:55 PM PDT by cookcounty (Why are Trump's poll numbers against a wounded Hillary so AWFUL? Hello? No answer?)
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To: grey_whiskers
IIRC, the Donald is ahead of the pace Romney was at last time

False, disproven here. Trump is behind the pace of the last six, non-incumbent presidential primary campaign leaders.

93 posted on 04/11/2016 7:34:25 PM PDT by JohnBovenmyer (Obama been Liberal. Hope Changed)
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To: stephenjohnbanker; reegs; mkjessup; PA Engineer
No, reegs was quite the prolific poster back in 98, and during the impeachment wars.

He actually posted an article for his very first FR post. That took some stones, back in the day.

You weren't exactly the shy and retiring type, reegs. :)

BTW - I'm one of the vile, detestable Trumpkins, reegs. :)

94 posted on 04/11/2016 7:36:20 PM PDT by kiryandil (.)
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To: grey_whiskers; stephenjohnbanker; reegs; mkjessup; PA Engineer
Troll status *confirmed*.

Nah. He's just another p*ssed-off 98er. They learned how to give it with the best back in those days.

95 posted on 04/11/2016 7:42:46 PM PDT by kiryandil (.)
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To: cookcounty
But then, Donald has been ignoring rules his whole life. Now we find out his kids can't vote because they failed to register, the family seems to be a bunch of bumblers when it comes to following the rules. A commonly-seen hazard of being filthy rich is that they begin to think the rules don't matter.

Oh, come on. That's just sniping.

96 posted on 04/11/2016 7:46:58 PM PDT by kiryandil (.)
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To: kiryandil; PA Engineer; stephenjohnbanker; reegs; mkjessup
No, reegs was quite the prolific poster back in 98, and during the impeachment wars.

He actually posted an article for his very first FR post. That took some stones, back in the day.

You weren't exactly the shy and retiring type, reegs. :)

BTW - I'm one of the vile, detestable Trumpkins, reegs. :)

Point taken: however, it seems that every four years, there seem to be an awful lot of posters who suddenly wake up from dormancy (like cicadas) only to push some establishment, GOP-e, or liberal candidate.

97 posted on 04/11/2016 8:07:06 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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To: cookcounty

Yes I think you are correct. I’ve gone back and re-read the sources and it was the county caucus/convention that he skipped out on.

Reading his fb page, he also said on March 1 that he had participated in the precinct caucus and was a delegate for the state convention, which isn’t possible since the county caucus and voting for the delegates to state had not even occurred yet. He also stated that it was the first time he had ever participated in the caucus/convention process.

I think what we probably have here is an inexperienced guy who was confused. He thought (and I base this on his own fb post) that he thought that he had already been elected as a state delegate when the only thing that had happened was that his name had been placed on the ballot as a candidate to be voted on at county. He failed to show up at county and was done at that point and showed up at state not realizing that.


98 posted on 04/11/2016 8:13:37 PM PDT by RedWhiteBlue (Mama tried)
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To: grey_whiskers

Yes, your group has been doing some nice takedowns. I think I might have one star on that wall, myself. :)


99 posted on 04/11/2016 8:16:24 PM PDT by kiryandil (.)
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To: JohnBovenmyer
Ah, yes, Grasshopper.

If you read the article, it points out that the other candidates' competitors dropped out -- as opposed to say (Kasich) who held on to deny Trump an important WTA state in which Trump skunked Cruz, and Cruz, who is going back and nickel-and-diming in states Trump already won, and engaging in shenanigans in caucuses all over the country.

Not to mention the hundreds of millions in attack ads against Trump, and Fox News jumping on Trump's ass. And sitting GOP officials openly trying to undermine their own party's leading delegate and vote getter.

Nice try, though.

100 posted on 04/11/2016 8:26:29 PM PDT by grey_whiskers (The opinions are solely those of the author and are subject to change without notice.)
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