No Convention Deal, come on...

The Romney camp was outflanked by a misuse of the rules. Or I guess we could call it the Washington interpretation of the rules, or just darn good strategy. How I know? Several people asked me for directions to room 105, where McCain supporters journeyed to and then returned from convinced to vote for Huckabee. Granted Huckabee's supporters could have simply convinced the McCain people to reconsider their positions and been overwhelmingly persuasive to 95% of McCain followers in just about an hour. However, I happened to be standing next to a McCain supporter who had refuted efforts at a conversion to Mitt Romney even quoting that his integrity would be open to question if he switched his vote for political reasons, when he was approached by one of McCain's people and told to vote for Huckabee. That settled it, the fix was implemented, and so the vote went. I have left out names, but would be happy to provide them if denials continue.

What bothers me is not the "deal". Rules allowed for such a deal, and a well timed lunch hour gave the needed break to provide organization from each side. Not to mention, that I am not sure that WV votes even matter as far as this race is concerned. What bothers me is the willingness of the Republican Party leadership to entangle themselves in a nationally publicized mess. McCain and Huckabee are denying involvement in the proceedings...executive privilege already? The leadership from the McCain-Huckabee team gets to take credit for the deal when the time is right and McCain gets the nod and can reward their courageous action. The rest of us are left looking just as bad as the democrats we bash for voter fraud and corruption from Charleston to Washington. Let's be honest, do we republicans actually want to distinguish ourselves, or do we want to keep playing the valiant underdog in each campaign? We are a conservative state, but can't get local and state Republicans elected!? I know the arguments of old school democrats that live conservative but vote democrat, but I have lived here for several years and NEVER heard a republican stand up and advocate their platform in a meaningful way.

The Republican Party is not going to out-maneuver the Democrats in WV. It's not in our blood and is contrary to the message that was on the large banner at the convention.


We advocate less government then design a convention that is so laden with political bureaucracy that we were set up from the start. The well timed lunch was announced as a time to trade horses. At the very least the McCain people could have hidden their intent a little better and wait until McCain was out of the race to dump into the Huckabee camp. But that would have left the second vote up to the delegates and that is something we can't have. So a backroom (room 105) deal was made and the convention was settled. Not to mention that some constituents didn't even know that their primary vote had been superseded by a convention until yesterday; leaving most of the spots for the usual suspects, Party loyalists, executive committee members, and a few hand-picked delegates. A slight tinge of disdain was even evident when I discussed the Ron Paul delegates who had, at the last moment, changed their political affiliation to republican and slipped into a delegate position. Consequently, Ron Paul supporters were the only group in the convention with any level of diversity in their ranks.

Republicans win elections by sharing their message, not through clever political maneuvering. In ideological battles, we win. The American spirit resonates truest in an open market with limitations on government. Those limitations allow individuals to prosper in the endeavors of their choosing, whether those are family, faith, financial, service, or other. It may be too late for this election cycle, but next cycle we might have a chance to band together and come up with a plan and an agenda for this state much like Newt Gingrich came up with in the mid-90s. A coherent message could give us the opportunity to bolster the Republican Party to a position where real change can occur in our state.