Here is an interesting little screed by a declared Santorum supporter who is claiming it really isn't about supporting Santorum, but of giving Texas a bigger voice in candidate selection. Yeah, right.
Also, in today's email inbox arrived this from the Chairman of Harris County Republican Party:
Texas' Role in Choosing the PresidentThe Santorum campaign believes - or wants supporters to believe - that they are closer to Romney's count than publicized results show and that they can flip non-committed delegates to their camp. It's a fantasy from a desperate campaign trying to raise enough money to stay in the fight until the August GOP convention.
We in Texas know that we are a significant force in national conservative politics. After all, we have the largest Republican congressional delegation of any state, and ours is a conservative delegation!
We also have 155 delegates at stake in the presidential primary - that's more than the famous first five primary states combined (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, and Nevada). Those five states are considered to have set the tone for the entire presidential race, but Texas has not spoken yet - and we can speak with a louder voice and with more impact than all of those states!
Under our winner-take-all system, our 155 delegates have a significant impact on any presidential race. But this year, the Republican National Committee was poised to penalize Texas for holding our primary in March (as we always do) by imposing on us a proportional delegate count, so the Republican Party of Texas moved away from our normal presidential procedure. But then the federal courts got involved and delayed the Texas primary until May. So Texas now has an opportunity to regain its unified voice by going back to a winner-take-all primary.
Contrary to what you may have heard from the national media, the race for the Republican presidential nominee is far from over. After all, only 37% of delegates have been assigned so far; and the media has been completely wrong on the number of delegates that separate Romney from the others (particularly the oft-repeated Associated Press count) - the actual count shows the gap to be much narrower than claimed.
Texas can therefore have a clear and powerful voice in selecting a conservative Republican nominee for president by moving back to a winner-take-all system. All it takes is for the State Republican Executive Committee (SREC) to call a meeting and make the rule change before the Texas primary vote. Please contact your SREC member and ask them to convene and make that change; and also contact the Republican Party of Texas and let them know that you want to see Texas regain its national voice.
Please act on this as quickly as possible - Texas, as the biggest conservative state in the country, should be allowed to speak with the loudest voice!! Thanks for all you do to keep Texas a conservative state!
God bless!
David Barton (former Vice Chairman of the Republican Party of Texas, 1997-2006; National Delegate 2008, 2004, 2000, 1996)
Paul Bettencourt (Former Treasurer, Republican Party of Texas, Former Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector)
Kelly Shackelford (National Attorney; National Platform Committee member 2008, 2004, 2000)
Michael Quinn Sullivan (President, Empower Texans*)
*For identification purposes only
Sincerely,
Jared Woodfill
Chairman, Harris County Republican Party
The Santorum campaign believes the delegate race is far closer than what is being portrayed by the media and campaign of GOP front runner Mitt Romney, according to a memo obtained by CNN. But top Republicans say Santorum's characterization of the race represents more wishful thinking than actual progress in the hunt for delegates.
In the memo, Santorum's delegate strategist John Yob says that a number of considerations nor currently factored in media projections show Santorum trailing Romney 571 delegates to 342 delegates. But CNN's current projection shows Romney with 657 and Santorum with 273.
This is all a distraction that the GOP does not need. Any honest broker in the truth knows that Romney will be the GOP candidate to go up against Obama in November. We all may not have chosen him as our first choice but that is the reality of the race. It is time to take the fight to Obama, as he has begun in full force against the GOP and Romney. Polling shows that the GOP has suffered in support from the extended primary nastiness between the candidates.
We can agree that Romney has benefited from the primary battle. He is a stronger debater and candidate. Ann Romney will be a huge asset to the campaign, too.
For the record, I have not endorsed any candidate in the GOP presidential primary. I have no dog in this fight. I do, however, have a huge desire to get Barack Obama out of the Oval Office and usher in a GOP replacement.
It is unlikely that the RNC would approve a change at this stage of the primary for Texas.
The Republican National Committee would have to approve the last-ditch move to change the delegate selection process because of the late date of the request, officials say. And an RNC official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that would be highly unlikely. The change might also require approval from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Texas has a total of 155 delegates. Of that, 152 are awarded to the candidates based on the primary vote. Another three are "superdelegates" — party honchos who can vote for the candidate of their choice. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the party's presidential nomination.
Several members of the State Republican Executive Committee are pushing the party to hold an emergency meeting to consider the rules change to go to a winner-take-all GOP primary in Texas. If 15 of the 62 members ask for a meeting, party chairman Steve Munisteri will honor the request and hold one, GOP spokesman Chris Elam said.
It is time to focus and gather together to defeat Barack Obama in November.
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