On Saturday, Nevada Republicans conducted what turned out to be just the first chapter of their state convention in Reno. It was supposed to be a simple process, and completed in one day; with John McCain presumed to be the party’s choice of nominee, what could go wrong?
An earthquake? Well, yes. But perhaps it was only leading the way for other unexpected shifts.
In what clearly was a surprising, organized show of support, Ron Paul supporters showed up to the event in force. They showed up in such numbers, in fact, that they were able to vote through a change of rules that favorably affected the number of delegates Paul - who placed second in the state’s caucuses in January - would receive.
The Republican Party’s reaction? Shut down the convention for a “recess”, and claim that their rental of the meeting room had run out.
“I’ve seen factions walk out. I’ve never seen a party walk out,” said Jeff Greenspan, regional coordinator for the Paul campaign.
State Senator Bob Beers, the convention chairman, received boos when he called the recess, and the shutdown prompted State GOP Chairwoman Sue Lowden to say that while the rule change wasn’t anticipated, there wasn’t any anti-Paul bias at work in the recess. She said the process to select national delegates would be a fair and open one.
According to the Las Vegas Sun, “Jeff Greenspan, Paul’s southwest director, said the Paul convention plan had been in the works for months. They dominated county conventions. And, in Reno on Saturday, they communicated strategy on the convention floor by mass cell phone text messaging, which no doubt kept them a step ahead of party leadership.”
No doubt the Paul supporters are outraged by the game played by the Nevada GOP bigwigs. And they should be. And do should the rest of the voters in America regardless of who they support.
Though no one should assume that a state or national convention is a wholly democratic process - it is, to put it simply, a group deciding its leadership in whatever method it decides upon - there is no reason why an organized, dedicated group who uses the proper channels shouldn’t be able to change things.
It won’t hurt McCain in November if Paul’s supporters claim a moral victory in Nevada. It might, however, hurt his chances with many former Paul supporters still deciding where to throw their support. Given McCain’s stance on the war in Iraq, the Nevada GOP’s shenanigans may have just pushed a large number of libertarian-leaning conservatives into the welcome arms of Barack Obama or even Ralph Nader.
In this election cycle, what we should have learned more than anything is that no vote may be taken for granted, no outcome is a sure thing, and that people seem ready to support efforts which don’t reek of traditional, dirty, bullying politics as usual.
