Ron Paul backers succeed in guerilla takeover of some GOP caucuses
March 19, 2008 01:23 AM EDT
by Col. George W.
From the St Louis Post-Dispatch
Ron Paul backers succeed in guerilla takeover of some GOP caucuses By Jo
Mannies
POST-DISPATCHPOLITICAL CORRESPONDENT 03/18/2008
Rep. Ron Paul
Republican presidential hopeful, Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas
(Evan Vucci/AP)
The first hints were the phone calls.
Never before had St. Charles County Republican Party Chairman Jon Bennett
received so many
queries about where this year's party caucus was to be held. And Bennett
didn't recognize most
of the callers.
On Saturday, Bennett learned why. Dozens of avid sup****ters of Ron Paul, a
Texas congressman
who is running a renegade quest for the presidential nomination, staged a
political guerrilla
attack. At that caucus at St. Peters City Hall - as well as others across
the state - party
regulars like Bennett were overwhelmed.
Caucuses in Missouri, held only in presidential election years, are
typically low-key affairs
attended mainly by party diehards. But this year, the pro-Paul activists
commandeered
gatherings in the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kansas City and
Springfield. Paul
sup****ters also controlled caucuses in at least a half dozen rural
counties.
The result: Paul's sup****ters predict they have snagged roughly a third of
the 2,137 state
Republican delegates. Those delegates will determine the state GOP
platform this spring and
help select the presidential delegates to the national Republican
presidential convention in
Minneapolis in September.
The unorthodox push, which sparked shouting matches in some meetings,
reflected Paul's campaign
- an anti-establishment, grass-roots movement built on passion.
"This is a movement for change in the long term," said Ruth Carlson, a
24-year-old secretary
from St. John who helped organize Saturday's push in the St. Louis area.
At many of Saturday's caucuses, the Paul contingents also won approval for
some of their man's
key positions, including resolutions for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq
and Afghanistan, and
against the federal Patriot Act and warrantless wiretaps.
But the most politically explosive resolution called for repealing the
Missouri Republican
Party requirement that all of the state's 58 GOP presidential delegates
back the victor in the
Feb. 5 primary: U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., now the presumptive
presidential nominee.
In Missouri's presidential contest, Paul obtained less than 5 percent of
the statewide
Republican vote.
Missouri leaders of Saturday's pro-Paul effort insist that they're not
driven by a quest to
resurrect his chances for the White House.
Carlson and other Paul sup****ters say their aim is to force the Missouri
Republican Party to
embrace Paul's principles.
"We're not holding out an illusion that Ron is going to win the
nomination," said Debbie
Hopper, Paul's national field director. "This is about calling the
Republican Party back to its
roots."
Hopper - who lives in Fenton and was herself elected a delegate Saturday
at a caucus in St.
Louis County - cited other caucus successes by pro-Paul sup****ters in
other states, including
Nevada, Colorado and Wa****ngton.
But Missouri Republican officials plan to fight back. State Republican
Party Executive Director
Jared Craighead said party leaders will be examining the lists of
caucus-goers, and of the
newly elected state delegates. He contends that some of the Paul activists
involved in the
caucuses were really Democrats or Libertarians who should be tossed off.
However, St. Louis city Republican Chairwoman Judy Zakibe joined Bennett
in asserting that some
of the blame lies with Republican elected officials and party activists
who stayed home Saturday.
"Our people didn't come out," Zakibe said. "That's what cost us."
But Bennett accused the Paul forces of deception. At the St. Charles
County caucus, Paul
backers did not identify themselves as such. Instead they promoted a group
of proposed
delegates they called the Conservative Values slate.
"They went out of their way not to use 'Ron Paul,'" Bennett said.
"Intellectually they were
dishonest about their reasons."
Still, Bennett had to appreciate their success: "I'll hand them kudos for
being activists. I'll
hand them kudos for being organized."
Brent Stafford, a computer analyst from O'Fallon who headed the pro-Paul
forces in St. Charles
County, gave credit to his side's stealth preparations, which included
mock caucuses.
Whatever happens, organizer Carlson said Saturday's victories should prove
that Republican
Party leaders can't ignore Ron Paul, his views or his sup****ters.
She added with a chuckle: "We're not just a bunch of people on the
Internet. We show up."
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