Romney announced as winner of Maine caucuses
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Just reported live on Fox News Channel by Charlie Webster...
Romney got 39%
Paul got 36%
Santorum got 18%
Gingrich got 6%
Romney declared as winner with 194 vote lead over Ron Paul with 84% reporting. ya think it may be to early to declare him a winner when the fat lady has yet to sing?
According to Charlie Webster, the results won't be changed after the announcement...these will be the official numbers.
That struck me as odd since the caucus here was postponed. Make me wonder if anyone will bother to show up if the results "don't count" after the announcement...
Bob, it's 95% reporting. I'm wondering if the other 5% is Washington County?
They count. They will be recorded. They will be reported. Towns have until March 20 to caucus according to the state GOP web site.
Maine GOP chairman say Romney wins caucuses
PORTLAND, Maine—Maine Republican Party Chairman Charlie Webster says Mitt Romney has won the Maine caucuses by a slim margin, giving him a much needed boost following losses in three other contests in the past week.
....
Some Maine communities have yet to hold their caucuses, though party leaders say they don't plan to count those votes.
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/articles/2012/02/11/romney_paul_in_2...
The straw poll really doesn't count. The convention is where the national delegates are picked. If the contest is not over by May, the convention will be really close. In my county, though Romney won the straw poll, it appeared to me that the delegates ended up really close between Romney and Paul.
Mitt Romney Wins Maine GOP Caucuses
by The Associated Press
February 11, 2012
Mitt Romney eked out a narrow win in Maine's Republican caucuses, state party officials announced Saturday, providing his campaign a much-needed boost after three straight losses earlier this week.
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Webster said any caucus results that come in after Saturday wouldn't be counted no matter how close the vote turned out to be.
http://www.npr.org/2012/02/11/146750527/mitt-romney-wins-maine-caucuses
The Biddeford vote went to Ron Paul by a fairly large margin. The vote totals were 35 for Paul, 20 for Romney, 17 for Santorum and 2 for Gingrich.
Dan, if I understand you correctly, all today has done is give Romney a publicity boost, and that the delegates chosen at the caucuses that go to the state convention can vote however they want to?
Exactly. The point of the straw poll was to increase interest in the caucuses; to boost turnout; to get media attention; and to get candidates to come to Maine to campaign. It was successful on all counts.
Copy, paste, file, save, print before this thread disappears.
Roger - since this is not the PPH, the BDN, nor Democratic Underground, I am not sure why you'd think this thread might "disappear."
Thank you.
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Dan Billings - thank you for the timely reminder that votes cast today are indicators; not mandates.
Why do you think this thread is going to disappear, Roger? For Pete's sake.
@BangorDailyNews Twitter
Ron Paul says Maine outcome is virtual tie bdn.to/cny7 #mepolitics
PRESS RELEASE
Augusta, ME, Feb. 11, 2012
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mike Quatrano
(207) 622-6247
Maine Republican Party
MITT ROMNEY
Winner of the Maine GOP Caucuses
Portland, ME Feb 11, 2012 - Maine Republican Chairman Charles M. Webster and Vice Chair Ruth Summers issued the following statements announcing Mitt Romney as the winner of this year's caucus process and thanking our volunteers and Maine voters for participating in the process. Romney wins Maine caucuses with 39.2 percent of the vote.
"We would like to congratulate Governor Romney on his win in the Maine caucuses, and thank Ron Paul and Mitt Romney for making stops in Maine over the past several weeks. Maine People were excited to cast their first vote against the Obama agenda and we look forward to working with our Republican presidential nominee to defeat Barack Obama in Maine," said Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster.
Maine GOP Vice Chair Ruth Summers said, "We owe many thanks and congratulations to our volunteers across the state who worked so diligently organizing these caucuses. These caucuses would not have been possible without our State Committee who promoted this concept. It was wonderful to see so many Maine people turn out to vote in the presidential straw poll and participate in the caucus business. We are truly a grassroots party and the work they started is critical to moving our Party forward and winning in November."
Maine is considered a 'beauty contest' state when it comes to caucuses. That is to say, there are no national delegates 'won' or 'bound' to any Presidential candidate in our caucus process. At the caucuses, we elect state delegates, election clerks, and in some cases town officers. What we also do is ask those participating in the caucus, to take a poll on which Presidential candidate they prefer. This is an unofficial, non-binding poll, that just simply show's a 'snapshot', or takes the current 'pulse', of which Presidential candidate has the most support at the participating caucuses throughout the state. Some caucuses decided to not participate in the Presidential poll, and will caucus after this announcement. Their results WILL NOT be factored into this announcement after the fact. Again, this is an unofficial, non-binding poll, and we will elect our actual national delegation, from the floor of the state convention on May 5TH and 6TH.
Mitt Romney has 39.2 percent of the vote with 2190 votes, Ron Paul has 35.7 percent with 1996 votes, Rick Santorum has 17.7percent with 989 votes, and Newt Gingrich has 6.25 percent with 349 votes.
-END-
###
Paid for by the Maine Republican Party
Not Authorized By Any Candidate's Committee
9 Higgins Street, Augusta, Maine 04330
Maine Republican Party | William P. Logan, Treasurer | 9 Higgins St. | Augusta | ME | 04330
It's a rare event indeed when a party chair says that the votes of a whole county and many rural towns who have until March 20 to caucus will not be counted.
"Webster said any caucus results that come in after Saturday wouldn't be counted no matter how close the vote turned out to be."
The people elected at the later caucuses will be able to vote at the convention.
The straw poll was over today. That was what was decided when it was scheduled. Everyone knew the rules.
I'm not sure how acurate the announced count is in reality. My town had 4 votes: 2 Santorum, 1 Romney and 1 other (that was me). Yet the tally in the state news release shows only 3 votes: 2 Santorum, 1 Romney and claimsthere were zero other. And I know for fact the state got our total because I was the one who called it into Michelle from the caucus. I wonder how accurate these counts were for other towns, based on the evidence of the announced tally for my town.
Yarmouth had more than 75 voters at our caucus.
50 of them voted for Romney.
Sadly only 14 people showed any interest in being a delegate, even though we get 25 slots.
This caused the out-of-town Ron Paul representatives to suspect some sort of plot against their candidate.
If they only knew, this is the Yarmouth way. Busy people, no time for silly stuff like political conventions.
Oh, and a veteran who made a wonderful speech on Ron Paul's behalf left in a huff because the chairman ruled out of order a motion to allow more time for speeches on candidates' behalf. Our chairman had established a four-minute limit per candidate (not per speaker) and even Tag Romney was held to it.
I urged the disappointed Paul people to bring their political philosophy to bear on state legislature contests.
I think they could do a world of good in Augusta, but I wonder if they can settle for an arena where audit the fed and close the bases won't be relevant.
Mitt Romney wins 2012 Maine caucuses
Notably, not all of Maine’s municipalities have held a caucus yet – tonight’s results only represent about 80 percent of Maine’s towns. According to state GOP chairman Charlie Webster, there are 505 municipalities in Maine, of which 420 have caucused. An additional 40 or so small municipalities will not hold a caucus at all, and the remaining will hold a caucus in the coming weeks.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72758_Page2.html#ixzz1m7lJnhSj
My wife and I are going to the convention for the first time. Maybe this should be in a new thread but I was wondering what to expect. Anyone care to relay any insight? Hollis had a good turnout but lacked anyone with personal experience with a convention. I read the synopsis on the ME GOP site.
Success, we look like a bunch of morons........The legislature needs to change it so we all go on the same day. I mean we total blew off one whole county and said there votes don't matter, and it was close enough that these votes may have mattered. I can't believe washington county did not caucus. We live in Maine, it snows, man up, put on some boots and go caucus? I caucused last weekend and received about 10+ calls this week reminding me not to miss it. As far as media attention, CNN had a 2 minute result spot that they showed every 15 minutes or so in between all the other inportant news.
In the rush to get the story out, Romney was declared the winner in Iowa, but when the talley was finished, Santorum won..... I'm not fan of RP, but with tallies that close, they better wait till the last boat checks in....
Florida (2000) Iowa, Maine? Come on press, instead of get it early, get it right.
Romney - Total: 123 delegates - Maine: 12 delegates - 2,190 votes
SantorumTotal: 72 delegates - Maine: 0 delegates - 989 votes
GingrichTotal: 32 delegates -Maine: 0 delegates - 349 votes
PaulTotal: 19 delegates - Maine: 10 delegates - 1,996 votes
Huntsman - Total: 2 delegate
Wv_republican, not to start an argument, but Maine has not awarded any delegates at all to anyone.
Those towns which have caucused elected delegates, and they are not committed to anyone.
The straw poll -- even if it were being run above-board -- is not binding. No one knows how many delegates support which candidate.
Even if the Maine GOP had not disenfranchised scores of the GOP "party faithful," the straw poll is not much more than a psychological boost and an opportunity to issue press releases.
The national news got it wrong most of the day. I hate to see you fall for their faulty reporting.
(In fact, not a single delegate has yet been committed to any candidate, but I'm just focusing on the misinformation about Maine.)
The weather factor is one reason why Aroostook caucused last weekend........so we could do it this weekend if need be.
Ron Paul's assessment---"a virtual tie"---sums up the straw poll result accurately. Calculate and re-calculate however much you much you wish that is the sum of the matter. Add the uncounted and and give Paul a 100 vote advantage; you still end up with a virtual tie.
Maine GOP chairman says Romney wins caucuses
By STEVE PEOPLES
The Associated Press
...Washington County [caucuses]...scheduled for Saturday were postponed until Feb. 18....
...Washington County GOP Chairman Chris Gardner objected, saying he had known his county's tally wouldn't be included in Saturday's announcement.., didn't realize it wouldn't be counted at all. He...called state party leaders and "expressed my complete...utter dismay."
Gardner, a Romney supporter, said the snowstorm...left him no choice but to postpone...caucuses.
"I trust...the party will make the right decision here."
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/nation/maine-gop-chairman-says-romney-...
Success, we look like a bunch of morons........The legislature needs to change it so we all go on the same day...
No need for the Legislature to be involved. Maine Democrats operate under the same laws, yet they caucus on the same day per party rules.
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Ron Paul is less than 200 votes behind in this preliminary tally. After Washington County and many rural towns report their results Ron Paul should win.