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In Penobscot County, City of Bangor, the GOP results which you can see here:

http://www.mainegop.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/me_gop_caucus_resul
ts.pdf

they have these numbers:

Mitt Romney: 26
Ron Paul: 36
Rick Santorum: 9
Newt Gingrich: 4
Other: 2
Total: 0

Add 'em up yourself. The total is 77.

http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/8/81922.h
tml

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Ron Paul wins first caucus, but not the delegates

Virgin Islands Republican Party speaks out

Anticipating a backlash from the Ron Paul campaign for the seemingly unfair and unjust delegate awarding, the Virgin Islands GOP released the following statement hoping to diffuse the outcry before it occurs:

“Please note in the VI our rules provide for the election of delegates in a party caucus. Everyone who votes can choose delegates (up to six) who may not necessarily be pledged to the same Presidential candidate. Since Governor Mitt Romney had only three convention delegates running under his name, that gave voters a choice to vote for other committed or non-committed candidates. It appears that out of respect for Congressman Paul’s campaign, there were extra votes to give to other candidates or non-committed candidates. Although Dr. Paul received only one delegate, his team received up to three alternate delegate slots and will be well represented in our small delegation.”

Here’s where your author’s experience kicks in. Based on the above statement, here’s what it sounds like happened.

Imagine a large ballot sheet. On the left side are the candidates – Paul, Romney, Santorum and Gingrich. Now, completely disregard it as it has nothing to do with the delegates. On the right side of the ballot is an extremely long list of names, perhaps as many as 20. These are the Virgin Island citizens running for 1 of the 6 open ‘delegate’ spots. Each voter can vote for 6 names. Some hopeful delegates are pledged to a specific candidate and have that candidate’s name printed next to theirs on the ballot. Some are not pledged to any one candidate and have the word, ‘uncommitted’ printed next to their names.

The Virgin Islands only awards 6 of their 9 delegates based on the votes (the other 3 being super delegates). Since Mitt Romney only had 3 people running for ‘delegate’, he could only win 3 of the 6 delegates up for grabs by vote. Having only 3 on the ballot, his candidates received the top 3 highest vote counts. Ron Paul, based on the VI GOP statement, had more delegate candidates on the ballot and they assumedly split the Ron Paul vote.

Based on the way the Virgin Islands GOP awarded the 6 delegates, Mitt Romney received 3 because his only 3 candidates received the most votes. One of Ron Paul’s delegate candidates came in fourth and earned a right to go to the convention. And 2 delegate candidates labeled as ‘uncommitted’ captured the 5th and 6th spots based on actual voting. And as the party official already announced, one of those immediately switched to the Romney campaign.

While Texas Congressman Ron Paul may not have won the delegates, he can officially claim to have won his first caucus. The voters of the US Virgin Islands may have split their Ron Paul votes among his many delegates, thus hurting his delegate count. But they still chose Rep. Paul over his three opponents in the popular vote. And that’s enough to put a notch in the freedom-fighting Congressman’s win column.

http://www.examiner.com/independent-in-national/ron-paul-wins-first-ca
ucus-but-not-the-delegates

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