Quote:
Originally Posted by armourereric
Thank you, but does anyone know what was the nature of the credential issue. I only ask because of reports over the years from California, Nevada, Arizona, Oregon and such of last minute orders form the RNC to the effect of: Do whatever you can to disallow Paul supporters into the room, or only allow pro-Ronmey people in. That kind of thing.
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There were several different credentials issues. One was the number of the different county's total number of convention delegates; there's a fixed quota that is based on a county's population and the voting registration rolls, but the number has been laxly enforced in the past, and some counties haven't changed much in population, while others have lost or gained population.
The Ada county delegate number was never sent to the convention committee at all, and Ada is the fastest growing county in the state. There was a fight over how many delegates would be allowed from Ada.
Another is the way the delegates were chosen by the individual county GOP central committees. Many of these committees have members and chairpersons who have run the committee for a long time and hand out delegation passes to cronies, family members and friends, while other committees often have a turnover in their central committee and fixed rules as to who qualifies for a delegate pass or not.
Still another is a long ongoing fight between the far right and the establishment.
The tea party and others who are at the far right have taken over some committees, and their leadership does not reflect the general beliefs of their local Republican constituents, who may be more mainstream, while in other counties, it's just the reverse; the committee is more moderate than it's local Republican constituency.
Each central committee can write planks for the platform independently of the state organization, and submit them for inclusion at the state convention. Some of the planks may be too extreme for other counties, and sometimes several different local committees from neighboring counties will adopt a plank that was written by one. This can create regional disputes within the convention.
All of these were at work at the same time during this convention. The tea party conservatives have made inroads in counties all over the state here and there, and are trying to pull the long established, more moderate Republicans rightward, to advance the more extreme agenda. The pushback is equally strong.
A non-credentialed delegate's vote doesn't count in these matters, so who had proper credentials played a much bigger factor than usual, as the Idaho Republican party is deeply divided right now, and the primary had a lot of contention between establishment and far right candidates. Neither side is willing to allow the other to have it's way, so the procedural fight completely took over the event.
The primary voting results showed the moderates won more races than the extremists, but that wasn't true everywhere. Since Idaho is so one-sided, a primary win is often a win in the general, as many elected officials have no Democratic opposition in much of the state.
Counties with small populations send fewer Representatives to Boise, but they form caucuses, and the leadership is often partisan. A committee chairman will stack his committee with others who will follow his lead. This is just as true on the local level, where committee chairmen stack their committees with their followers and shut out those with differences from running for office sometimes.
It's not unusual to see 3-5 competing Republicans on a primary ballot and no Democratic opposition at all for the contested position. Who rules the local committee often determines how a county's politics will swing. Sometimes the dog wags the tail, and sometimes the tail wags the dog.
Your mention of Ron Paul was interesting. He campaigned here in Idaho; he held rallies in Ceour d'Alene in northern Idaho, and in Boise, Twin Falls and Idaho Falls in southern Idaho. All were well attended with large enthusiastic turn-outs, and came very shortly before the 2012 election. But on election day, Paul only got about 2% of the vote.
Much of Idaho is heavily Mormon, and Romney won the state by a huge margin. he is still extremely popular here.
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