WASHINGTON -- The music will be rising into a crescendo, the hall glowing with red, blue and white stars, confetti at the waiting, when Utah delegates take the microphone in the nomination of John McCain for president and cast their ballots for -- Mitt Romney.It's not that Utah Republicans love Romney so much they can't bring themselves to back McCain or that they won't let go of Romney's failed presidential bid. It's the rules.As it stands, all 36 of the state's delegates are bound on the first ballot to vote for the winner of Utah's Republican primary: Romney, who nabbed a whopping 90 percent of the vote.Other states may be in a similar position. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor and head of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, won 11 states during the nominating process, while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee took eight.But several of those states do not have the same type of winner-take-all race where delegates are bound to vote for the victor.Huckabee, for example, took the first contest, Iowa, but because the results to not bind the state's Republican delegates to the winner, they can now back McCain. Colorado's GOP delegates are not pledged to a single candidate, either, but all of the delegates selected at convention personally promised to back McCain.The Colorado Republican Party's political director and in-house general counsel, Ryan Call, says there's likely to be some other votes on the first ballot for contenders other than McCain."I can certainly see, and it may be very likely in the first vote, is a split-ticket vote that someone stands up and votes for Mike Huckabee, for Mitt Romney, maybe even Ron Paul," Call says.But in the end, it may not matter.McCain has more than enough delegates to clinch the nomination, and even if there are ballots cast for other candidates, someone likely will move to approve the Arizona senator by acclamation -- or a voice vote.Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, has been to every convention since 1976 and says the organizers sometimes do a roll call of states' delegates, and sometime they don't.Since the candidate is obvious, votes for anyone else won't really count."It's a mere footnote," Sabato says. "It will give the talking heads something to talk about, but it won't matter."(tburr(at)sltrib.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
Possible Inaccuracies
http://www.dvds4delegates.com
Fact 1: The convention can still nominate Dr. Paul for the Presidency—even with the “Official Campaign Ending.”
Yes, Dr. Paul said he is closing the Campaign Organization. Now so he can put the $5,000,000+ in its coffers to better use than advertising for primary contests that are over.
But the Fact Remains: There is no law preventing his nomination at that convention, even with the campaign organization closing. We checked with our lawyers. Our chief lawyer was the actual Commissioner and Chair of the Federal Election Commission—he resigned in 2006, so it seems reasonable to trust their judgment on this question.
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Fact 2: There is no law requiring Delegates to vote for the candidate they are “bound” to.
These Delegates are Morally Bound, not to a particular candidate, but to Represent the People who supported that candidate. If they are presented with pertinent information that was previously hidden from them—they are Morally Bound to adapt to that information and make the best choice they can for their constituents.
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