SPARKS -- GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul on Sunday nearly swept
all of Nevada’s delegates to the national convention as his supporters
swamped Mitt Romney backers at the state Republican convention.
Paul won 22 Nevada delegates to three for Romney, according to vote
tallies released Sunday as the overtime convention extended into a
second day, finally closing just after noon and after nearly 17 hours of
floor action.
Another three official delegates not up for election -- the state
party chair and the current national GOP committeeman and committeewoman
-- are expected to support Romney.
As a result, 22 Paul delegates and six Romney delegates will
represent Nevada at the national convention Aug. 27-30 in Tampa, Fla.,
giving the Texas congressman a stronger voice although he won’t get more
votes on the floor.
At the national convention, Romney still will be entitled to receive
20 Nevada delegate votes on the first ballot and Paul is entitled to
eight because Romney finished first in the Feb. 4 GOP presidential
caucuses in the Silver State. So most of the Paul-aligned delegates must
cast a ballot for Romney.
Carl Bunce, the Nevada chairman of the Paul campaign, assured
convention-goers Sunday that Paul supporters will follow the rules in
Tampa because the congressman’s goal is to defeat President Barack
Obama, not divide the GOP.
“I do not want this party to fall apart,” Bunce said in a speech to
the convention after delegate results were announced to cries of joy
from the Paul crowd. “We are building a stronger party. We need to stay
united.”
The Romney campaign quietly accepted the outcome and doesn’t plan to
contest the election to the Republican National Committee, according to
several GOP sources.
“We just want to make sure that Gov. Romney gets the votes he
deserves out of Nevada,” said one campaign official, who suggested Paul
backers could help energize Republicans to vote for the eventual GOP
nominee against Obama in the fall. "We need as many people coming into
the party as we can."
Ahead of the state GOP convention, the RNC threatened not to seat the
Nevada delegation if it sent too many Paul supporters to the national
meeting. An RNC lawyer said the presidential candidates should select
their own delegates.
But the Paul contingent and Nevada GOP didn’t agree with the RNC and
said the convention had the right to elect delegates before they’re
allocated by the convention secretary to each candidate -- 20 for Romney
and eight for Paul.
Over the course of two days, hundreds of vocal Paul supporters
dominated the Nevada GOP convention, where more than 1,600 delegates
began meeting at 9 a.m. Saturday at John Ascuaga’s Nugget in Sparks.
The Paul folks were more organized, sending text messages to
supporters and using signals to direct his delegates on the floor how to
vote on every contentious matter.
Both campaigns also sent around delegate lists so their supporters knew who to vote for during the election.
Romney is expected to win the GOP nomination as he continues to win
states and pick up delegates on his way to the 1,144 needed to wrap up
the win before Tampa.
But Paul, now Romney’s only GOP opponent, has vowed to stay in the
race through the national convention. His backers want to elect a
majority of delegates in at least five states so he can be nominated
from the convention floor.
Some Paul supporters are holding out hope that there might be a
brokered convention where the nomination fight goes beyond the first
ballot, opening the way for Paul to win.
“We want to maximize our impact,” Bunce said.
The results of the Nevada delegate election showed that Paul’s strength lies in populous Southern Nevada.
Paul won 13 at-large delegates with 730 votes for the Paul slate and 560 votes for the Romney slate, the GOP said.
In Southern Nevada, Paul delegates swept the three congressional
districts, winning three delegates each in the 1st, 3rd and 4th
Congressional Districts for a total of 12.
Romney only won the 2nd Congressional District, picking up his three delegates from the northern and rural part of the state.
On Saturday, Paul's supporters ousted Romney backers from the Republican National Committee.
The vote came during a day of clashes between the two camps as Paul
backers sought to install his people in the party hierarchy and elect as
many Nevada delegates as possible to the national convention.
RNC National Committeeman Bob List, a former Nevada governor, lost
election to James Smack, the vice chairman of the state GOP and a
longtime Paul supporter from Fallon. The vote was 932 for Smack and 623
for List.
RNC National Committeewoman Heidi Smith lost to Diana Orrock, one of
Paul's backers. They have been taking control of the Clark County GOP
for the past year. Carol Del Carlo of Incline Village also was in the
running. Orrock got 902 votes to 429 for Del Carlo and 231 for Smith.
Each state has a female and male RNC representative on the committee,
which runs the national Republican Party, a key duty in 2012 when the
White House is at stake as well as control of the U.S. Senate and House
of Representatives.
The new RNC committeeman and committeewoman won't begin serving their
four-year terms until after the national GOP convention in August, when
they'll be formally installed.
But having Paul supporters at the RNC could expand the Texas
congressman's influence beyond the 2012 campaign as he promotes smaller
government and more liberties.
Contact reporter Laura Myers at lmyers@reviewjournal .com or 702-387-2919. Follow her on Twitter @lmyerslvrj.
