Politics has eternally involved the battle of the upstart against the status quo and the reported uniqueness of Bernie Sanders getting “screwed” in 2016 and again in 2020 by the Democratic establishment, evokes memories of Ron Paul 2008, and Ron Paul 2012.
On Tuesday, January 3, 2020, Ron Paul took third place in the “Presidential Preference Poll” portion of the Iowa Caucus. Results from that night were all over the news.
Months later, at the Republican National Convention, on August 28, 2012, Ron Paul won a decisive supermajority of 79% of Iowa’s 28 delegates. This did not make the news.
In 2012 Ron Paul resoundingly won Iowa.
The Iowa 2012 Presidential Preference Poll vote totals cited in the most excellent electoral resource The Green Papers are as follows:
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Rick Santorum 29,839 – 24.56%
Mitt Romney 29,805 – 24.53%
Ron Paul 26,036 – 21.43%
Newt Gingrich 16,163 – 13.30%
Rick Perry 12,557 – 10.33%
Michelle Bachman 6,046 – 4.98%
If you really had to come up with a delegate estimate, you could argue that the preceding vote totals provide the following delegates: Santorum, Romney, Paul – 6 delegates each, Gingrich – 4 delegates, Perry – 3 delegates. Those “if I really had to come up with a number because you are holding a gun to my head” estimates from Iowa are often referred to as “soft delegate count.” But that’s not at all how the process works. The very mention of soft delegates in reference to Iowa is a contrivance.
You don’t “need” to come up with a delegate estimate on caucus night. You don’t “need” to pretend that the Presidential Preference Poll is very meaningful. The media could just fairly report that the process doesn’t work that way. The media could also fairly report that in most elections, the media is able to steamroll the electorate so well that the process doesn’t really matter. That would be honest reporting.
Every four years we are told that Iowa is a vital election and that the non-binding Presidential Preference Poll means everything. It means little. It’s an opportunity for the media to promote their favorite candidates, while downplaying others, with the media’s full level of deceit on display. As such, caucus reporting provides an opportunity for a transparent view of how duplicitous these conniving, “objective” journalists can be with their role in society.
ITDS – It’s the Delegates Stupid!
Democratic strategist James Carville came up with key messaging for Clinton 1992 as they took on incumbent President George H.W. Bush who had lied about tax hikes – “read my lips, no new taxes” – and was dealing with a sluggish economy. The point Carville impressively kept as the focus of the very distracting, uber-scandal-prone Arkansas governor’s campaign: “It’s the economy stupid.”
Ron Paul 2012’s messaging was one of greater liberty. His state strategy was largely built around the delegates. It could be a strategy described as “It’s the delegates stupid!”
The Iowa Caucus (or Iowa Caucuses, as some like to say), in both parties, has two parts: 1.) the straw poll or Presidential Preference Poll and 2.) the delegate selection process.
The Presidential Preference Poll is what the media reports on, and is of no actual consequence on the nomination process, aside from the claimed importance that media falsely attributes to it, in order to manufacture support for a favored candidate or candidates.
The delegate selection process, in contrast, is how Iowa caucus-goers procedurally contribute to the choosing of a presidential candidate.
Ron Paul’s campaign figured he wasn’t going to beat the media at their game. The media was just too entrenched and interested in maintaining the status quo. Eventually Donald Trump 2016 won at exactly that game with a media savvy candidate. Ron Paul was a different candidate.
The Ron Paul 2012 campaign figured out how to “hack” the electoral process by seeking delegates instead. This strategy by the campaign is often credited to Deb Hopper.
The night of Tuesday, January 3, 2012 – the night of the Iowa Caucus, played an important role in the Iowa presidential nomination process, but not for the reason the papers reported. It was significant because of the handful of delegates elected that night from each precinct, amounting to thousands of delegates in total.
Ron Paul Won Iowa at The County Conventions & Congressional District Conventions
In contrast to caucus night, what really mattered in 2012 in Iowa is what happened on Saturday, March 10 at the Iowa Republican Party County Conventions – where state convention delegates are chosen, what happened on Saturday April 21 at the Iowa Republican Party Congressional District Conventions – where state district convention delegates are chosen, and then on Friday, June 15 at the Iowa State Republican District Convention and Saturday, June 16 at the Iowa State Republican Convention – where 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention are chosen.
Ron Paul won Iowa decisively at all of those venues. Not only did he win at pressing his campaign toward national victory in Iowa in 2012, he also won by getting more supporters of his on the State Central Committee and in various other state party roles than any other candidate, which promised lasting impact on the functioning of the Iowa Republican Party. Ron Paul won Iowa decisively from caucus night forward and kept winning in an increasingly virtuous spiral.
The only thing Ron Paul did not win out of Iowa was the nearly meaningless Presidential Preference Poll that the media likes to spin into a big thing. That was won by Rick Santorum whose campaign did not have longevity in this process. He suspended his campaign on April 10, 2012, a day short of a year after he announced his candidacy on April 11, 2011.
Ron Paul Won Iowa at the State District Convention
Friday night, June 15, 2012, district conventions were held. Ron Paul won 11 of 12 delegate spots.
Nine of the 12 below were Iowa residents who publicly declared their support for Ron Paul. Two of the twelve below were on the slate passed out by Paul supporters, meaning that they were either privately Paul supporters or were in some way seen as allies in the political process. Only one of the 12 chosen by convention delegates was neither a Ron Paul supporter nor seen as a preferred ally to work with. This 92% success rate that night is impressive.
• Congressional District 1
-
- Kelly Schoen (Veterans for Ron Paul)
- Brent Oleson (endorsed Paul)
- Jeff Luecke (endorsed Paul)
- Congressional District 2
- Ani DeGroot (Paul staff)
- Bob Anderson (Johnson County GOP chair; publicly neutral, not on the slate passed out by Paul supporters)
- Ed Kelenyi (Jefferson County central committee member; publicly neutral; on the slate passed out by Paul supporters)
- Congressional District 3
- Gopal Krishna (on the slate passed out by Paul supporters)
- Nancy Bowery (Campaign for Liberty)
- Glen Massie (State Representative; endorsed Paul)
- Congressional District 4
- Dusty Juhl (Campaign for Liberty)
- Brian Kraft (Paul supporter)
- Jeff Taylor (Paul supporter)
On Friday night, June 15, 2012, Ron Paul secured 9 of the 28 delegates from Iowa and possibly as many as 11 of the 28 delegates from Iowa. Seventeen more remained up for grabs. This is considerably more delegates than the papers announced on January 3, 2012, when they went to press and subverted the Iowa electoral process by lying about it and claiming that the Presidential Preference Poll won by Rick Santorum played a significant role in the way caucus-goers in Iowa choose the presidential nominee.
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The Ron Paul campaign did not stop there. It had another round of delegate selections to go.
Ron Paul Won Iowa at the State Convention
1,624 delegates attended the Iowa Republican Party State Convention on Saturday June 16, 2012. Thirteen delegates chosen were at-large delegates. Ron Paul won 10 of 13 at-large delegates at the state convention.
Three delegate spots are filled by those with specific state party roles. Elections for those roles were also chosen at the state convention. The roles and election winners were:
National Committeeman: Steve Scheffler (Paul)
National Committeewoman: Kim Pearson (Paul)
Republican Party of Iowa Chairman & Republican National Committee Member: A.J. Spiker (Ron Paul’s state co-chair)
This is an incredibly lengthy and resource intensive process that requires significant commitment not only from a campaign, but more significantly from thousands of residents in Iowa. It is far more important than what took place for an hour or two on the night of the January 3, 2012 Iowa Caucus.
The final 25 delegates and their 25 replacements were (http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P12/IA-R):
Delegates:
Dr. Drew Ivers, Delegation Chairman, Hamilton,
Steve Anders, Pottawattamie,
Robert Anderson, Johnson,
Andrea Bie, Allamakee,
Nancy Bowery, Page,
Governor Terry Branstad, Boone,
Michelle Bullock, Polk,
Ani DeGroot, Johnson,
David Fischer, Polk,
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley, Butler,
Mark Hansen, Pottawattamie,
Will Johnson, Dubuque,
Dusty Juhl, Story,
Ed Kelenyi, Jefferson,
Brian Kraft, Boone,
Gopal Krishna, Polk,
Roger Leahy, Jefferson,
Jeff Luecke, Dubuque,
State Representative Glen Massie, Polk, James Mills, Floyd,
Lexy Nuzum, Madison,
Brent Oleson, Linn,
Kelly Schoen, Linn,
Margaret Stoldorf, Montgomery,
Jeff Taylor, Sioux.
Alternates:
Chelsy Askren, Clayton,
Jennifer Bowen, Dallas,
John Bowery, Page,
Buddi Brooks, Pottawattamie,
Chris Canny, Johnson,
Sam Clovis, Plymouth,
Jonas Cutler, Polk,
Therese Davis, Guthrie,
Aaron Dowdell, Marshall,
Benjamin DuBois, Story,
Mike Gresham, Fremont,
Eric Grote, Franklin,
Dr. Cody Hoefert, Lyon,
Jeff Jorgensen, Pottawattamie,
Tracee Knapp, Ringgold,
Titus Landegent, Plymouth,
Gabe Lanz, Polk,
Ruth Long, Union,
Lt. Governor Kim Reynolds,
Clarke, Lisa Smith, Wapello,
Sarah Stokes, Black Hawk,
Chet Swanson, Jefferson,
Kurt Whalen, Scott,
David Wiederstein, Cass,
State Senator Brad Zaun, Polk.
This list is overwhelmingly composed of Ron Paul supporters.
Conclusion: Ron Paul Won Iowa At the Republican National Convention
The 40th Republican National Convention was held Monday, August 27 to Thursday, August 30, 2012 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
On Tuesday, August 28, 2012, a roll call vote took place during which time, Governor Mitt Romney received 2,061 votes from the 2,286 delegates in attendance to make him the Presidential nominee of the Republican Party.
The Romney campaign had not been able to make nice with Ron Paul, and by the opening of the convention, had largely failed to win over Paul’s most ardent supporters. Notably the appearance of Senator Rand Paul on the dais during the Republican National Convention may indicate some level of cooperation between Ron Paul’s national campaign and the Republican National Committee. Nonetheless, a great divide remained between Mitt Romney and Ron Paul publicly.
With the two remaining Republican candidates not yet allied with each other, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus in coordination with the Romney campaign was not willing to let the Ron Paul supporters use the floor to show dissension in front of the national media. Consequently, relatively little attention was given to the actual roll call vote, which is often a media centerpiece of any convention in our contemporary era.
Tremendous pressure had been put on state delegations to show unanimous support for Governor Romney. And the drama that preceded that August 28 vote, and the irregularity around voting that took place during that verbal and public roll call vote, could fill a book.
This all points to the fact that votes cast by the Iowa delegation were, by no means, fair-weather support. Against great pressure, the Iowa delegation voted from the floor with overwhelming strength in favor of Ron Paul with 22 of the 28 delegates supporting him. Those 28 votes are the culmination of the entire months long party nomination process in Iowa. Ron Paul had, most certainly, won Iowa in 2012.
This was a very different outcome than the inaccurate media portrayal of who “won” Iowa on the night of the Iowa Caucus – January 3, 2012. Though he was not the national party’s nominee, Ron Paul won Iowa on January 3, 2012, and he won Iowa all the way through to August 28, 2012.
Ron Paul was Iowa’s choice in 2012.
