Ron Wins Iowa!: Paul Supporters Changing the GOP With Ron Paul officially winning in Iowa, the Los Angeles Times notes the impact the Iowa win, our delegates and our movement stands to make in Tampa and on the GOP in general, moving forward.
PoliticalNews.me - Jun 19,2012 - Ron Wins Iowa!: Paul Supporters Changing the GOP
I posted a story from The Associated Press about how our people were changing the Republican Party in significant ways including getting elected to leadership positions. With Ron Paul officially winning in Iowa, the Los Angeles Times notes the impact the Iowa win, our delegates and our movement stands to make in Tampa and on the GOP in general, moving forward.
Rick Santorum won the Iowa caucuses in January, with Mitt Romney a close second, but neither was the true winner this weekend when the delegates who actually will vote at the Republican National Convention were selected.
That would be Ron Paul.
The congressman from Texas finished a distant third in the Iowa caucuses more than six months ago, but of the 28 delegates selected to head to the national convention, 23 are Paul supporters – and they are not bound to support the victor of the state’s first-in-the-nation voting contest.
It’s part of a quiet strategy by Paul and his backers to amass an army of supporters at the GOP gathering in August in Tampa, Fla., to push Paul’s views on liberty, states’ rights, the monetary system and foreign policy. By working arcane electoral rules and getting supporters into positions of power in local, county and state party operations, the strategy is paying dividends across the nation…
“We want to have a real big voice on the platform; we want to influence the direction of the party more than anything else,” said Joel Kurtinitis, a Paul supporter who was pleased after the Saturday vote.
He was Paul’s state director in Iowa until Paul suspended his presidential bid in May, and he said that although he would love to see Paul awarded a prime speaking spot at the convention, his followers’ efforts are about more than one man.
“We’re going to hold up our values and we’re going to bring conservatism back to the mainline of the Republican Party. That’s where my hopes are at and that’s my hope for this convention more than seeing Ron Paul do X, Y and Z,” Kurtinitis said…
But others say the move by the Iowa GOP is a black eye for the state’s caucuses and for the presumptive GOP nominee.
“Embarrassment is the word that comes to my mind,” said Jamie Johnson, who served as Santorum’s state coalitions director in Iowa…
The “embarrassment” is anyone who thinks Rick Santorum is a conservative. More on Santorum’s take on what we can expect in Tampa here. The LA Times continues:
“While this total is not enough to win the nomination, it puts us in a tremendous position to grow our movement and shape the future of the GOP!” Paul wrote in an email to supporters last week. “I hope every one of you continues the fight we have advanced so well this year. I hope you will finish your local and state conventions, and, if you were selected as a national delegate, that you will head to
