On Hope

First, I have to say that I am biased for Ron Paul.  He is my hero.  Well, if it is possible for an anarcho-capitalist to have a politician for a hero, he is it.


Now, of course, everyone knows he hasn't won any of the beauty contest for the GOP nomination for president.


That is okay, however.  Because getting delegates is the name of the game.  And, he has been succeeding in doing that.  According to thereal2012delegatecount.com, which tries to count the delegates that have been chosen at the state conventions, instead of randomly guessing what the delegate count is based on the percentage of votes in the state primaries (yeah, looking at you, moronic AP), here is the "real" delegate count (6/8/2012):


Romney: 1013
Paul: 229


1144 delegates are required for the GOP nomination on the first ballot at the national convention.  Romney still isn't there.  Even though, he "official" won when he took Texas a little more than a week ago.


Now, of course, it still doesn't look good.


But, let me just do some wishful thinking for a minute.  Imagine, that some (perhaps more) of those Romney delegates are actually a small, tireless group of the minority.  These Ron Paul supporters are dressed in wolves' clothing or even dressed in his own clothing.  


Romney supporter: "Hey, this delegate over here is a Ron Paul supporter, but, heck, he is a nice guy and wants a free ticket to Tampa in the summer.  Let the guy go as one of us.  He is, after all, bound to vote for our guy."


Imagine that this happened enough times to make the race competitive, but stealthy.  But, Ron Paul needs just a few more votes to make it more comfortable for him.


As various sources have shown (just to mention one: Doug Wead's, a Ron Paul campaign advisor, blog, http://dougwead.wordpress.com/), there have been a lot of underhanded tactics used to deny delegates to Ron Paul.


So, how do you continue to get delegates and take the enemy's guard down?  You surrender.


June 6th, 2012: As reported by USA Today, Ron Paul conceded by an email message that he doesn't have enough delegates.


June 7th, 2012: As can be seen on Youtube, Sen.Rand Paul (Ron Paul's son) endorsed Mitt Romney.


June 7th, 2012: As Politico says, "File this under signs the Ron Paul campaign is really, truly over: Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul threw his support tonight to Mitt Romney."


And, here is where my wishful thinking thinks this is the greatest of political moves.  You can only pull this move once in your life (at least on a major stage).  And, I am not sure the timing was exactly right, but do you know what event begins on June 7th?


June 7th, 2012: The Texas GOP Convention begins.


How many delegates does Texas have?  155


Is it possible that 155 delegates can be won by playing possum?  No.  Not all of them.  But, is it possible that enough can be?  Maybe.

This is my blog about hope.  It is just to prove that sometimes (just sometimes) I am an optimist.