Ron Paul Wins Maine
As backers of Ron Paul have been predicting for months, the organization of the Texas Congressman has not given up, as Paul chalked up his first outright victory of the 2012 race in Maine on Sunday, winning 23 of 24 delegates to the GOP convention.
But, wait a second you say - Romney won Maine back in February, right?
Romney won a non-binding caucus back then, but this past weekend was when the delegates - who are technically unbound - were actually elected.
And it wasn't the only place where Paul was seeing his delegate strategy bear fruit.
Also on Sunday, Paul's forces won 22 of the 25 delegate slots in Nevada, but as in Massachusetts a week earlier, most of those delegates must support Mitt Romney on the first ballot at the GOP convention.
So what are Paul's backers trying to achieve? Well, they could still demand certain concessions in the party platform, push a certain candidate for Vice President or even try to louse things up at the GOP convention.
Romney's team has been outmaneuvered in a number of other states in recent weeks, like Missouri and Minnesota, even as national party bigwigs have threatened not to seat some of the Paul forces at the convention in Tampa.
One letter to Republicans in Nevada from the national GOP said that "any action to “un-bind” Nevada’s delegates to the 2012 Republican National Convention would be impermissible under the national party rules."
The letter ended with a not-so-subtle threat that contrary action might be seen by the GOP as "jeopardizing the seating of Nevada’s entire delegation" at the convention.
Some Paul backers want their delegates to "abstain" at the convention, an effort to create a situation where any candidate might be able to defeat Romney on a second ballot.
But Romney backers say any delegates who refuse to vote would simply be replaced by alternate delegates who would then cast a ballot for the former Massachusetts Governor.
So is this all about nothing? Or does it portend some real trouble down the road for Romney?
