January 31, 2008 - 1:12pm
New Jersey's beauty contest could prompt a credentials fight in Minneapolis
By Wally EdgeWhile John McCain is now the favorite to win New Jersey’s February 5 winner-take-all GOP primary, supporters of Mitt Romney believe New Jersey could still be in play in June -- if the Republicans have not yet selected a presidential nominee.
New Jersey Republicans are not electing delegates next week; delegates will run in the June 3 primary, and according to state party rules, are obligated to vote for the winner of the February 5 primary on the first three ballots.
But a key Romney backer in New Jersey notes that Romney could still file a slate of delegates to run in the June 3 GOP primary. That could create the possibility of a legal challenge to the New Jersey winner-take-all plan, since the Romney supporter says Republican National Committee rules don’t recognize the binding of delegates.
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Mitt the used car salesman
Mitt the used car salesman will not win New Jersey. He won't even come close.
Ronald Reagan actually DID amnesty. I think he would be in one of Mitt's negative commercials! - Rudy Giuliani
So no delegates are at stake
The real New Jersey primary will be June 3. There is no legal obligation that the delegates elected in June vote the way they are allegedly "pledged."
Interesting thought....
So the idea is that Romney will stick his middle finger up the backside of the party organizations all over the state and run his own slate? Unless he wants that slate in siberia on the ballot, he'll have to recruit freeholder candidates to give him a shot at one of the first two ballot positions, which seems pretty unlikely.
I can only assume their decision to put up a slate against the organizations means his Nov. strategy includes totally walking away from NJ in the general then. I recognize that having the organizations with you is no guarantee of success, but I bet Bret Schundler would tell you that it more or less sucks to have them sitting it out in November. And what local officials or folks remotely connected to, and somewhat dependent on, the GOP are going to put their names on slate that is opposing the one that runs on the county lines? You'll end up with nobodies because anyone who is somebody will want or need organization support for the thing they most care about - their own campaign. Mitt will have to spend the rest of his money running a campaign that says "vote for Jim Jones for Delegate" and those who put their names up opposing the county organization
Whoever leaked this plan from the Romney camp should be taken out to a field and shot. What good comes of putting this out there now?
Why Not Proportionality?
Wait a second! Over the past several cycles, as of the filing of the petitions for delegates, it was already known who the candidate was going to be. So there was never any issue over slates.
But as of the holding of this "beauty contest" we do not know who the candidate is. And we may not for a while.
Why, therefore, should there not be some opportunity for proportional representation?
Reportedly as of just a few months ago, the McCain folks, along with the Romney backers and the Fred backers all were in favor of proportional representation. Only the Giuliani backers were opposed because they anticipated winning.
Now that Rudy's campaign has collapsed, and McCain may end up being the beneficiary and win in NJ tomorrow, are the McCain backers suddenly all in favor of "winner-take-all."
by Trochilus