(Chuck Muth) – According to anonymous blogger “ausscyn” at Paultard Central, an “evil voice” has spoken on the decision last week by the Republican National Committee (RNC) choosing Nevada as one of four states officially allowed to hold its presidential selection caucus early.
That “evil voice” is, of course, yours truly.
“Here’s (Chuck) Muth again, a non-Republican outsider, well-poisoner and all around bad human being attempting to determine Republican party policy for all Republican voters, inside baseball players and non-insdide baseball players.”
High praise, indeed!
What has ausscyn’s panties in a twist over the RNC’s decision is the “winner take all” option of delegate apportionment. You see, in a winner-take-all system, Ron Paul, who came in second in Nevada’s 2008 caucus, would have gotten no delegates at all because…well, he lost big time to Mitt Romney.
But as is usually the case, ausscyn has his facts all discombobulated, not to mention my position on this matter. So to clarify…
In 2008, the winner of the Nevada GOP caucus got ZERO delegates to the national convention. All the caucus did was pick delegates to attend the state convention in late April, where delegates were elected to the national convention in September.
And as you’ll recall, by the time the state convention convened in Reno, the nomination process was over and John McCain had won. Not officially. But in reality. It was over.
Now, because the presidential candidates couldn’t win any delegates at the February caucus – delegates they needed to win the nomination – the presidential candidates pretty much blew off campaign stops in Nevada. Not even one GOP presidential debate was held here.
In other words, if the purpose of holding the caucus early was to attract presidential candidates to the state, turning the caucus into nothing more than a “beauty contest” by not awarding any delegates completely undermined the overall objective since practically none of the candidates wasted any time stumping here.
That said, I don’t believe the only other option at Nevada’s disposal for 2012 is “winner take all.”
I’m not sure exactly what the rules adopted at the RNC meeting last week state, but I do know that some states award proportional delegates in their primaries and caucuses. Which means Ron Paul, who pulled in 13 percent of the caucus vote in 2008, would have gotten 13 percent of the state’s delegates….exactly what then-Chairman Sue Lowden had agreed to with the Paultards, only to be double-crossed by weasel Jeff “Chemtrail” Greenspan who tried to snatch all of the states convention delegates at the last minute.
But that’s water over the bridge and under the dam.
The point is, if Nevada doesn’t award ANY delegates to the national convention at its February caucus, there won’t be ANY reason for presidential candidates to come here because they win NOTHING. By the time delegates would be awarded at the state convention in April, the nomination fight will almost surely be over….again.
If Nevada Republicans want Republican presidential candidates to come to Nevada in 2011, they have to award at least SOME delegates at the caucus.
For the record and contrary to ausscyn’s assertion, I’ve never advocated for or against winner takes all. However, a winner take all system will likely encourage more candidates to devote more attention to Nevada than if they only win a proportional share. Either way, the most important thing is for the Nevada GOP to make sure that at least SOME of Nevada’s delegates are won during the caucus.
Otherwise, Nevada’s caucus will be about as relevant to the political process as….well, ausscyn.
