Minnesota and Colorado Caucuses End

By Dan

 

The caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado have ended. The results show Paul with a strong second in Minnesota and an improved showing in Colorado compared to 2008. What is important to remember in these caucus states is that the selection of delegates to the Republican National Convention will not happen for several months. The caucuses will progress to the county, district, and finally the state level; Colorado holds their state caucus on April 14th and Minnesota holds theirs on May 19th.

 

Sen. Rick Santorum’s campaign exploded after Iowa but these recent successes will be his downfall. Santorum was a bottom tier candidate and has mostly slid by while the media focused on Gingrich and Romney. His answers during debates were in line with most neo-con principles though he is notable for his emphasis on removing civil liberties as well as his particularly hawkish stance on Iran. With his recent wins there will be an increased level of scrutiny on him and his tarnished past. He was named one of the top three most corrupt Senators by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington  and in 2006 he suffered one of the worst losses in Senate history. Contrary to this tarnished past and hastily thrown together campaign Ron Paul and his supporters understand the process and do not carry this kind of baggage.

 

The caucuses and primaries are all about being able to make the numbers work in your favor. In the case of a caucus merely showing up to vote for a candidate is not enough. The most important thing that must be done is to stick around after the initial vote and become a delegate for the next step in the caucus process. This is something that Paul supporters learned from 2008 and I would be surprised if when the state caucuses are finished Paul doesn’t end up in a much more advantageous position than these results show.

 

Going forward from here it is time to look at what you are doing to help win this election. Earlier we covered effective activism tips but to recap, effective activism results in at least one of these three things: a vote, a volunteer, or a donation. There is a time and a place to explain to someone how the government is taking over and we need to restore liberty, or how our monetary policy is terrible, or how our foreign policy leads to more wars and perpetual conflict BUT the days leading up a caucus or primary is not that time. Spreading the message is important but if Ron Paul is going to get into the White House everyone needs to take a page from the establishment and target likely Republican voters with calls, door to door literature distribution, and followups.

 

There are 2079 delegates left to be taken. Mitt Romney, the current front runner, has less than 10% of delegates required to win the nomination. Despite what the main stream media says this race is far from over. It is time for everyone to redouble their efforts and get our fellow supporters of liberty out to vote and win this for Dr. Paul

 

Colorado:

 Santorum 40.2% 26,375 votes

 Romney 34.9% 22,875 votes

 Gingrich 12.8% 8,394 votes

 Paul 11.8% 7,713 votes.

 

Minnesota has 98.0% reporting:

 Santorum 44.9%

 Paul 27.1%

 Romney 16.9%

 Gingrich 10.8%

 

Source: RevPAC. Photo Credit: Hyoung Chang, The Denver Post