Stealing Delegates, Stealing Nominations by John Armor

Guest Commentary

Stealing Delegates, Stealing Nominations

By John Armor

The first state results to be reported on Super Tuesday came from the Republican Caucus in West Virginia. The result was that Mike Huckabee got all the delegates from that state to the Republican Convention. What makes the story really interesting is, HOW he got those delegates.

From the report I have, here’s how the delegates voted in round one:
* Romney 464
* Huckabee 375
* McCain 176
* Paul 118

Ron Paul, who got the fewest votes, was dropped from the ballot for the next round of voting. The results then became:
* Huckabee 524
* Romney 479
* McCain 11

Anyone who can count to twenty without removing his socks can see what happened. McCain’s operatives saw that they were going nowhere in West Virginia. So they instructed their people to give the state to Huckabee. And most of their delegates obeyed that order.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review ran this title on the story: “Wild and Wonderful Win for Huckabee.” That title is false. This was a “Down and Dirty Win for McCain.” Huckabee is going nowhere. Eventually, at the Republican Convention if not before, Huckabee’s candidacy will fold like a cheap lawn chair. At that point, who will get those West Virginia delegates?

If you guessed Mitt Romney, I’ll allow you another guess. John McCain has just stolen the votes of West Virginia by giving them, temporarily, to his ally in the theft, Mike Huckabee. By the way, national convention delegates must vote as they were pledged when elected, depending on state laws. I understand that none remain bound beyond the third roll-call vote.

As the saying goes, politics ain’t beanbag. What was just done in West Virginia is entirely legal. But it smells as bad as a dumpster full of day-old crab shells behind Phillips Crab House in Ocean City, Maryland, in mid-July. Believe you me, that is REALLY rank.

If the delegates from West Virginia are enough to put McCain over the top, then McCain has just stolen the nomination. Right in front of God and everybody.

Well, has anything similar happening among the Democrats? Just by coincidence, it has.

In order to preserve the special status of the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, the Democratic National Committee required that no other state conduct its Democrat primaries before a certain date in 2008. Democrats in Florida and Michigan decided to move their primaries up in violation of that limit.

The DNC then “stripped” the delegates from both states for the Convention. No delegates were then elected in the “beauty contest primaries” in those two states. Democrat candidates had also pledged not to campaign in those states, and in Michigan, Hillary Clinton was the only major candidate to leave her name on the state ballot.

Well, Hillary Clinton won both of those states. After those non-delegate elections, she wrote a letter to the DNC demanding that delegates for her from those states be seated at the Convention. The rest of this discussion is somewhat obscure, but I guarantee it is correct. I speak as the former Parliamentarian for a national political convention. (The convention was for Ross Perot’s Reform Party. But the principles of operating a convention are the same, regardless of the candidate’s chance of winning the coming election.)

When the Democrats meet in Convention in the summer, initially no delegates from Florida or Michigan will be seated. But let’s say at that point that Hillary Clinton has a majority of the seated delegates, but not the absolute majority of all authorized delegates which is required for nomination. You with me so far?

Who gets to decide whether Hillary Clinton delegates from Florida and Michigan get seated? Why, it’s the delegates who are already seated, that’s who. In that circumstance, Hillary can use her plurality on the floor to steal the delegates from those two states. Having done that, she will have stolen the nomination. Right in front of God and everybody.

In short, there is a possibility that the 2008 presidential election may be unique in American history. Before 2008, nominations have been stolen. Elections have been stolen (recall the Hayes-Tilden race of 1876). But never before have two candidates, both of whom stole their nominations, faced each other in a general election.

If the vote tallies are tight at both the Republican and Democrat national conventions, it is possible we might see that unique circumstance, two election thieves facing each other with one guaranteed to win, between John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

Sorta makes you proud to be an American, don’t it?


John Armor is a GOP Candidate for the NC-11 Congressional District.

Visit Armor For Congress to find out more about this candidate.