Paulbots Exploiting the Process

In 2008, Rush Limbaugh announced “Operation Chaos”. The plan was to have righty voters participate in the Democrat primary process as supporters of Hillary Clinton. Limbaugh thought that it was important to make extend the Dem primary and give Hillary time to soften up Obama before he faced whoever the righties nominated.

I imagine there’s some of this going on now in the righty primary process. Ron Paul’s success in Iowa was attributed to support from Democrats (and Independents). The conventional wisdom says these voters are lefties who would vote for Obama in the general election. From what I hear from the Progs on the radio and in meatspace, I’m not sure the conventional wisdom will hold.

There’s faction of lefties who are participating in the GOP primaries not to weaken the eventual nominee, but expressly to see Paul become President:

Most of us identify as Democrats or Independents and/or supported Obama in 2008. We believe that on issues that matter most – war vs. peace (Iraq, Yemen etc.), civil liberties (Patriot Act etc.), and crony corporatism (bailouts etc.) – Obama has pursued a course similar to George Bush. Our reasoning is laid out in this article by Robin Koerner on the Huffington Post that “went viral”, coining the term “Blue Republicans” for those of more liberal sensibilities who are registering Republican specifically for Ron Paul.

Contrary to lies spread by some opponents of Ron Paul, we are a grass-roots movement, not sponsored by George Soros or any other individual, and not some clever ruse to get Barack Obama re-elected. Rather, we believe firmly in the possibility of a Ron Paul victory in a match-up with Obama, and are working hard to ensure that happens.

Ron Paul’s people understand the nomination process. They were instructing their Iowa supporters to stay after the caucus votes had been taken and participate in delegate selection. Most people not involved in a political party’s activtiy would just vote and go home. But after the votes are cast, individual people have to be picked as delegates to a convention in the next-higher jurisdiction. Those delegates are not bound to honor the grassroots outcome on caucus night.

Here’s an example of how the Ron Paul nation is working the system:

By making sure that a Paul supporter is always available to move on to the next convention, they assume more power as other candidates’ delegates drop out. It is still a longshot, but through this mechanism, Paul could wind up with a majority of delegates at the GOP’s ultimate nominating convention, even if he never wins a single State primary or caucus.

Romney has been running for five years. He is acknowledged to have a strong “ground game”. But does his team know that there is an unconventional path to the nomination? I suspect that Paul’s notoriously young and bright base of support is inside Romney’s loop.