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May. 01, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Campaign: Paul backers among delegates elected

But recessed GOP convention leaves questions

By MOLLY BALL
REVIEW-JOURNAL
More Info

Four of six national Republican delegates chosen at Saturday's failed state convention in Reno are supporters of presidential candidate Ron Paul, the Paul campaign said Wednesday.

"The Ron Paul campaign is confident that the Nevada state Republican Party will ensure that the votes cast by all of the delegates at the April 26 (convention) will be respected," the campaign stated in a news release.

The convention was recessed before Nevada's delegation to the Republican National Convention could be elected. But votes were cast for nine of the 31 elected delegates in hastily improvised elections Saturday afternoon.

Those nine delegates are assigned to Nevada's three congressional districts, three per district. At Saturday's convention, the room was split into three separate gatherings and residents of each district scribbled names of their favored delegates on handmade ballots, with party officials marking convention-goers' badges to note that they voted.

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    • With observers present from Paul's campaign and that of presumptive nominee John McCain, ballots were counted for District 1 and District 3 and about half the ballots were tallied for District 2, which includes rural and Northern Nevada, before the convention was recessed by its chairman, state Sen. Bob Beers, who said there wasn't time to finish holding delegate elections.

    According to Paul's campaign, the national delegates who received the most votes from District 1 were Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., Danny Tarkanian, a former Republican candidate for state office, and Chris Dyer, a Paul supporter.

    In District 3, the delegates picked were Arden Osborne, Carl Bunce and Elizabeth BelCastro, all Paul supporters, according to the campaign.

    The ballots for District 2 were sealed and locked in a safe at Reno's Peppermill Hotel Casino when the convention went into recess. According to the Paul campaign, the ballots that were counted showed Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., in the lead, followed by several Paul supporters.

    "We just want to get this information out there so everybody can move forward with all the facts," Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton said of releasing the names. "We're hopeful and confident the Nevada GOP will make sure all these votes stand."

    State Republican officials, working with the campaigns and the Republican National Committee, are discussing how to resume the convention and finish electing delegates. Whether the votes cast in the elections for the first nine delegates will be accepted or thrown out is not known.

    "No official decision has been made," party Executive Director Zac Moyle said Wednesday, declining to comment further on the situation. He said he could not confirm the Paul campaign's claims about who had the most votes in the initial elections.

    Officials are concerned that the congressional district delegate elections were marred by irregularities, including convention-goers voting in the wrong congressional district or in more than one election.

    The party hopes to announce later this week a date and venue for the convention to resume.

    Contact reporter Molly Ball at mball @reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2919.



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    Brian Kominsky wrote on May 02, 2008 09:32 AM: Working with the campaigns? "Campaigns" would imply that we are involved in some planning or process. In fact, the Ron Paul campaign is being told what is happening, and only in bits and pieces after the fact. Can we assume the McCain campaign is being dealt with this way? I think not. And the list of delegates promised at the convention Saturday has now been unpromised. Got that? The list of delegates promised to me as a campaign representative will not be given to me or the campaign. Please quote me. I was informed by Senator Beers last evening.

    Brian Kominsky
    Southern Nevada Coordinator
    Ron Paul 2008


    Chris Dyer wrote on May 02, 2008 02:12 AM: I'm also running for Congress in CD1. They left that out. Go to www.ChrisDyer.com


    Dane McCarthy wrote on May 01, 2008 06:20 PM: Who does this guy Beers think he is kidding? Life is too short to put up with this kind of crap. Apparently, the masters of this pathetic country think citizens of America will take this lying down. We have to power to force this issue under the noses of mainstream media. And you know we'll have to, because Nevada plans to cheat Ron Paul.


    RealRepublica wrote on May 01, 2008 02:02 PM: More details here, incl. vote counts

    http://people.ronpaul2008.com/campaign-updates/2008/04/30/details-from-jeff-greenspan-on-the-nevada-state-republican-convention/


    FastTracker wrote on May 01, 2008 09:02 AM: Below is the 'official' Nevada GOP link to the unnamed 'officials' mentioned in the article, complete with email addresses:
    http://www.nevadagop.org/About/Default.aspx?SectionId=292

    Below is the link to Nevada Republicans holding state or federal elected office:
    http://www.nevadagop.org/Officials/


    bertram wrote on May 01, 2008 08:37 AM: keep it going people!...ron paul is the only real candidate! hopefully people will wake up and realize beers and the RNC cronies are trying to force feed us a candidate that is bought and paid for by big business/big government. go ron!