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BREAKING NEWS: Texas primary moves to winner-take-all?

By: barrypopik (Diary)  |  April 6th, 2012 at 02:16 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

“Winner-take-all” would make the May 29th Texas Republican primary perhaps somewhat relevant. The RNC must get it done right now.

On Wednesday, I posted here “I’m a Republican in Texas and I’d like to cast a meaningful vote in a presidential primary.”

One comment was titled “100% agree nomination process is messed up.” Another comment was titled “Re: Non Republican states end up picking our nominee.”

One comment cut right to the point: “Texas delivers more electoral votes for the GOP nominee in every Presidential election. Texas has a lot of clout, why they don’t use it baffles me. If I lived in TX I would be calling for the heads of the GOP party leadership. How much more incompetence do GOP voters in TX have to put up with.”

Texas Republicans are so worthless that we don’t even have a Republican debate. It’s over! Vote for the Massachusetts liberal because others have selected him for you!

From the Austin American-Statesman:

Effort would change Texas primary to winner-take-all, benefit Santorum
By Chuck Lindell
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Published: 10:00 p.m. Thursday, April 5, 2012
Trailing badly in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, Rick Santorum is banking on a fast-moving effort to change the Texas primary into a winner-take-all affair, sending all 152 eligible delegates to the state’s top vote-getter.

Weston Martinez, a Santorum supporter and Texas Republican Party official, said Thursday that he has lined up enough support to call the party’s executive committee into an emergency session to consider the change.

Martinez said a winner-take-all format could rescue the Texas primary from potential irrelevancy after delays caused by redistricting lawsuits pushed the election to May 29.

From the Houston Chronicle:

Could Texas be big player with winner-take-all GOP primary?
Posted by Peggy Fikac on April 5, 2012 at 7:30 pm
(…)
Changing the Texas rules – which now provide for a candidate to get delegates based on vote percentage in the primary – first would require a petition signed by 15 of the 62 Executive Committee members for an emergency meeting, which would have to be held in 14 days.

From the Texas Conservative Republican News:

Thursday, April 5, 2012
Urgent: Texas GOP “Winner Take All”
Emergency SREC Meeting
Now it is time to take it to the next step. Now it is time to do something that we should have done a long time ago. Now is the time for Texas Republicans to have a voice and be relevant. It is time to go back to winner take all!

We need 15 members of the 62 Texas Republican Party State Republican Executive Committee members to sign a petition in order to call for an emergency meeting of the SREC to change the Texas GOP rules back to us being a Winner Take All state instead of being proportional.

We already have 15 or more members ready to sign the petition to call this emergency meeting.

SUMMARY
It’s pathetic that Texas Republicans can’t pick a Republican nominee for president. Why? Because Virginia knocked everybody but Mitt Romney and Ron Paul off the ballot? Because Romney won a few blue states? No one cares about Texas?

“Winner-take-all” is the least the RNC can do at this point.

If the RNC doesn’t do it, it will only show that the process is rigged.

Either way, Texas wuz robbed.

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COMMENTS

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  • texastaxpayer

    We need to mount a campaign to see this through to success. We need our voices heard and our votes counted. We are after all the largest most powerful red state its time we act like it. Contact the Texas republican party @ WWW.texasgop.org and demand we get our chance to cast a “meaningful” ballot….

    • http://redmerrimack.blogspot.com/ charliebravoNH

      or run for Chair yourself in the caucus following the Primary. Unfortunately most party leaders listen to voting members of the party before anyone else.

  • quill67

    Regardless of what they do in this year’s primary. Texas needs to act as a counter-balance to California’s winner take all (and New Jersey and Utah) This is kinda crazy, liberal places have winner take all so liberal wins all delegates but conservative places are proportional so even if someone only get 20% of the vote they get a bunch of delegates. That makes no sense.

    Hopefully, Texas will do it immediately. I would love there to be one more debate.

    • morrigan

      California is not a true “winner take all” state. The ten “at large” delegates go to whoever wins a plurality of the state-wide vote. The other 159 delegates are tied to individual congressional districts. The winner of each CD wins that districts delegates.

      At least that is the case at present. If Texas is going to change it’s rules in an effort to help out Santorum, perhaps California will change it’s rules to counter that move.

      • drothgery

        between winner take all by district and winner take all by state. They only vary when the election is very close or very regionalized.

        • JSobieski

          A state like California has areas within it that are very red.

          In a winner take all by state, LA and SF overwhelm those red areas.

          In a winner take all by district, there are red areas where conservatives do well.

          CA has not gone R in a Presidential election for decades. However, the Congressional delegation includes Rs.

          Different regions of a state can vote differently even if the issues are all national.

          • drothgery

            but in practice that doesn’t happen. McCain got almost all of California’s delegates in 2008 (155 to Romney’s 15, with none for anyone else) by beating Romney by a much smaller margin statewide than Romeny’s leading Santorum in the most recent polls (about 8% vs about 20%). Also see Santorum picking up very few delegates in winner-take-all by district Wisconsin and (effectively winner-take-all by district) Illinois.

          • JSobieski

            Ohio is an excellent example of this.

            I believe Romney also did well in Atlanta against Newt.

            McCain and 2008 are not analogous to the matchups of 2012. Moreover, didn’t Romney suspend before California in 2008?

          • acat

            Romney won Cook County and the Collar Counties. Santorum won a bunch of farmland.

            The GOP candidate, in November, will win the Collar Counties and that same bunch of farmland. The only question is by how big a margin…

            This is not a dig at farmers. It is, instead, something to pay attention to as we try to piece this coalition back together for the general.

            Mew

  • vastrightwingconspiracy

    …Romney is going to get the nomination, let’s make Texas, not only winner take all, but also give the winner a billion delegates and disqualify candidates who hail from MA!!!!

    Ex post facto rule-making is awesome.

    Keep moving the goal posts fellas.

    This move would still have to be ratified by the RNC and that’s highly unlikely. This is such a transparent attempt to keep one candidate in the race its not even funny. Else, why would it have been acceptable when the rule was made, but all of the sudden, it’s no longer okay?

    In my mind, there seems to be only one way to make all state primaries relevant – have a long, national, pre-primary campaign, with numerous debates in many locations and then have all states vote on the same day.

    • honoraryintern

      The redistricting judges kept TX from rolling on Super Tuesday.

      It’s their primary to restructure as they see fit. The RNC will have major issues to not accept the change.

      Wait you said there were a billion deligates available? Where do we sign up? Ohh, not really only 152. Exageration vs facts. In or out? I’m a proud menmber of the vast right wing conspiracy and I wonder, which side of the VRWC do you stand?

      If I could ban the instigater of Romboma-care, I would. I can’t but he still has to earn his way. 1144 is a big number on his current trajectory.

      As the Left Wing Media hangs up their Mitt Wing Media hat, it will only get worse. Are you surprised about the press turning on your guy these last 3 days? Just wait, all the ‘it was ok as a state, but not as a nation’, comentaries are just starting.

      You will shortly be wishing he WAS John Kerry .

      • vastrightwingconspiracy

        …in the sense that under the current rules, the race is essentially over.

        As to your question about a billion delegates, if Texas is simply allowed to make it up as they go, what would be the problem with arbitrarily assigning a ludicrous number of delegates? You’re simply trying to change the outcome of the primary anyway, why hide behind the pretext of wanting to be relevant. It’s clear you simply don’t like the nominee.

        The press has not been kind to Mitt at all through the entire process. Only myopics can’t see that. They will try and ratchet up the pressure, sure, but he will manage to stay on message, unlike the other candidates, including Obama.

        If Barry wants to engage in a Statist v. Federalist argument, go right ahead. One law is constitutional, one is not. This isn’t for a governorship, this is for the POTUS.

    • bk

      The Texas primary is irrelevant because of litigious Democrats who think anything and everything except ObamaCare should be overturned in court.

  • morrigan

    >”Martinez said a winner-take-all format could rescue the Texas primary from potential irrelevancy after delays caused by redistricting lawsuits pushed the election to May 29.”

    “Delays caused by the redistricting lawsuits”. That doesn’t really square with your anger at “the GOP’ or your complaint that “Texas Republicans can

  • SoFiMil

    As a non-Rom,, I hope the RNC fights against Texas’ power-grab.

    I have nothing against winner-take-all primaries. But if Texas wanted to do this, they should of done it before the primary season started. Putting aside the legal aspects of this,it’s also unfair (and unethical) to spring this on the candidates. Their strategies considered a whole different set of alternative outcomes, not to mention financial spending and saving.

    • garfieldjl

      Due to Virginia changing their rules in November, among other reasons.

      • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

        All you’re doing is piling on to the fact that you’re ignorant.

        • garfieldjl

          You’re not a Democrat.

          • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

        • gekster

          Tribbles must go tribbleing. ;)

    • Scope

      Virginia did in fact change their ballot access verification rules late in the signature gathering process. It had all of the appearance of working in favor of Romney. The state LT GOV was Romney’s state campaign chair. The RNC never uttered a peep with the debacle. They also were willing to break their own rules with allowing Fla. and AZ to award their delegates on a winner take all basis, even though their own rules state that all states going before April 1 must proportionally award their delegates. Prebius said that he could not go back and give the delegate lose to Fla. and AZ. because he could not break the rules. So he allows them to remain winner take all states?

      With the RNC coming out recently saying they will be doing co-fundraising with Romney, even before the primary season is over, and while there are still 4 candidates remaining on the stage, it is/was a premature announcement.

      The RNC is without question making or breaking the rules as they go along. They have not earned any respect or credibility. With the RNC leadership, we seem to be going from bad to worse.

  • damianvincent

    Good, the establishment has done everything it can to take delegates from anyone but Romney, it’s how he’s winning, even after losing every GOP state in the nation. It would be great to see a Conservative state asserting itself, as usual we look to Texas to lead the way.

    • vastrightwingconspiracy

      …”the establishment?”

      Names please. As a Romney supporter, I would like to send them “thank you” cards as, apparently, the “establishment” is the only reason Romney has experience even a modicum of success.

      • damianvincent

        yep and the reason we’ll lose this election. What sense does it make to nominate the grandfather of government mandates, who signed the nations first carbon tax, or cap and trade scheme. Who signed permanent gun bans, while raising taxes, and defending how minors could get abortions without parental consent or notification.

        Quite frankly the only reason Romney’s even a Republican is because Ted Kennedy was to entrenched a Dim to unseat in a primary, so he went GOP. Although he governed like the Dems he voted for at the time. This guy isn’t even a Republican, and now he’s leading the GOP, what it disintegrate over this hypocrisy. Hypocrites is what we are nominating someone who grandfathered government mandates, signed cap and trade, pretty much everything obama has done that we’re supposed to be so up in arms over.

        • vastrightwingconspiracy

          …dodging the question.

          Names please?

  • hayekwasright

    Seem to be quite parallel.
    http://www.bartel.org/calvinball/
    We should fix that before the next election cycle, but for now, let’s do what we can to give Texas voters a chance to matter.

  • http://www.timothy-bladel.com/ center77

    which would have really embarrassed him.

    • http://908StraightSt.wordpress.com/ mbecker908

      And the momentum was all in Romney’s favor. Over the last month he went from -25 to +2. Santorum was about to be toast.

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