Videos- Missouri Caucus 2012: Arrests, Collusion And General Chaos

By Susan Duclos

In February Rick Santorum overwhelmingly won the Missouri primary with 55 percent of the vote, with Mitt Romney coming in second place with 25 percent. Unlike other states, Missouri's primary was labeled nothing more than a beauty contest because Missouri's delegate allotment were not to be decided until March 17-24, 2012, during their caucuses. While most were held on March 17, the state will not be finished with their process until the 24th.

There are 52 delegates tied to the Missouri caucus process.

The process of having a primary and a caucus is unusual but the events that started yesterday became more than a little chaotic as Ron Paul supporters have been arrested, Romney and Paul supporters claim they previously worked out a "deal" to nominate someone to chair the caucus resulting in one caucus for St. Charles County actually adjourning before any delegates were selected. St. Charles was to have selected the highest number of delegates than any single caucus in the state.

St. Louis Today reports of collusion between Romney and Paul supporters in an attempt to shut Santorum down:

Buddy Hardin, a Romney leader and longtime behind-the-scenes force in GOP politics in St. Charles County, alleged that Santorum supporters and caucus organizers sought to close the meeting after they realized that Paul and Romney backers had formed an alliance to share the county’s delegates.

“Once they realized they didn’t have a slate and they wouldn’t get any delegates, they tanked it,” Hardin alleged. He said the shutdown was carried out “to avoid a Santorum embarrassment and loss.”

Karen Fesler, state director for the Santorum campaign, denied that. “We didn’t give any instructions to shut it down,” she said.

Eugene Dokes, the county GOP committee chairman who said he’s uncommitted, said organizers had been trying to select a slate of delegates that reflected the relative strength of all three candidates.

One caucus participant accused Paul and Romney supporters of “colluding” to make it impossible to conduct the meeting. Adrian Boyd, an undecided Republican from St. Peters, said both groups were so loud they drowned out the public address system.

“It was descending into an Occupy Wall Street type of an event,” Boyd said.

St. Charles County caucus chaos video below, showing the reaction when the meeting was adjourned:



Video of Ron Paul Supporter Arrested Outside St. Charles County, Mo. Caucus 03/17/12


In Clay County, arguments between Paul supporters and others became so intense that the caucus chairman threatened to have voters removed by force reports The Kansas City Star.

Videos of Paul supporters causing trouble in Clay County below:






Official results won't be known until next month but the mixture of holding a primary that means nothing, caucuses that have gotten so chaotic no delegates are chosen, collusion between candidate's supporters because they know who to collude against after the results of the primary, arrests and caucuses adjourned before delegates are selected should be enough to convince Missouri that they need a new procedure in the future.

Then the procedure even after their beauty contest primary and their chaotic caucuses further confuses the issue:

Participants in Saturday’s caucuses weren’t actually selecting their choice for presidential nominee. They were selecting delegates who will appear at two larger meetings in April and June, who will in turn select delegates to the national convention in Tampa.

From the Missouri Republican Party:

David Cole, Chairman of the Missouri Republican Party, released the following statement regarding the Missouri caucuses:

“Reports coming in from across the state indicate that a vast majority of the Missouri caucuses were well-run and well-attended. While it is natural that supporters of different candidates will disagree, in most cases, these disagreements were handled in a civil manner.
“In the situations that need additional attention, the State Party is committed to ensuring the delegate selection process is fair.
“I would like to thank our county GOP chairmen for their hard work in the lead up to these caucuses, the elected caucus chairmen for their leadership, and most of all, the thousands of Missourians who attended the caucuses in support of our Republican candidates.
“While no results will be reported, today marked the start of the process that will ultimately bind Missouri’s delegates to the national convention.”

H/T on videos and all day coverage directly from Missouri to The Turner Report.

Related:

Puerto Rico holds their primary today.

(Full GOP Primary/Caucus Schedule HERE)

At Least 9 Dead, 30+ Injured As Tornadoes Roll Through Midwest- 2012- Photo Link

By Susan Duclos

Towns in Illinois, Kansas and Branson, Missouri were destroyed as tornadoes rolled through leaving dozens injured and nine dead as of the last reports.

Via CSMonitor:

A powerful storm system that produced multiple reports of tornadoes lashed the Midwest early Wednesday, roughing up the entertainment resort town of Branson and laying waste to small towns in Illinois and Kansas. At least nine people were killed.

An apparent twister rolled through Branson just before 1 a.m. and seemed to hopscotch up the city's main roadway, ripping roofs off hotels and damaging some of the city's famed music theaters dangerously close to the start of the heavy tourism season. At least 37 people were reported hurt, mostly with cuts and bruises.

"We were blessed with several things — the time of year and certainly the time of day, when people were not in their vehicles or outdoors," said Mayor Raeanne Presley, noting that during Branson's peak season, up to 60,000 visitors would have been in the city on any given day and staying in many of the hotels that were damaged.

CJOnline reports the death toll is at 10.

Gallery: Aerial photos of tornado damage in the Midwest

Track Map found HERE.

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Santorum Rolled Over Romney In Missouri, Minnesota And Colorado

By Susan Duclos

American voters watched three contests last night, a "show" primary in Missouri (the MO. caucuses are on March 17, 2012), caucuses in Minnesota and caucuses in Colorado.

Rick Santorum won in all three contests.


The surprise of the night was the Colorado Caucus results where Santorum won with a 5 percent margin despite expectations across the board of a Romney win, with Intrade even giving Romney a 97 percent chance of winning.

In Missouri, only Rick Santorum, Mitt Romney and Ron Paul were on the ballots, Newt Gingrich is on the March 17, 2012 caucus ballot didn't participate in the show primary. Santorum took 55 percent of the vote, Romney took 25 percent and Paul 12 percent.

Note-The Missouri primary is non-binding and has no impact on delegate allocation. Delegate selection begins at county caucuses on March 17. 52 delegates tied to caucus process.

In Minnesota, CNN reports on 95 percent of the vote reported and Santorum took 45 percent, Ron Paul took second place with 27 percent of the vote, Romney third place with 17 percent and Gingrich with 11 percent.

In Colorado, CNN shows 99 percent reporting and has Santorum the winner with 40 percent of the vote, Romney in second place with 35 percent, Gingrich in third place with 13 percent and Paul in fourth with 12 percent.

Note- As per previous statements in the media about focusing on Super Tuesday contests (March 6, 2012, where 10 contests occur in one day) and the Gingrich campaign's schedule, Gingrich spent his day in Ohio campaigning.

As headlines and discussions across the Internet about last night, there is no doubt that Rick Santorum was a big winner coming into this morning.

The biggest losers last night were Romney and every media outlet, every Republican establishment member and anyone else that continued to perpetrate the "Romney is inevitable" meme.

There were other winners last night as well. The anti-Romney voters. Voters that do not want to see Romney get the 1,144 delegates needed to obtain the GOP nomination for President. Voters that would rather this battle be fought right to convention rather than see Romney as the nominee.

AndyZ over at Right Pundits brings me to the next two headlines I noticed over at Memeorandum.

Andy writes:

So why did Rick Santorum win all three elections? A combination of elements contributed to the results. First, Santorum was the least tainted after a nasty dogfight between Romney and Gingrich in Florida. Mitt may have won in Florida, but he won ugly, carpet bombing Gingrich with some 13,000 negative TV ads compared to only 200 aired by Newt. Romney′s favorables have been declining nationwide since then.

He ends his excellent analysis with "Look out, Rick, because you will be carpet bombed by the Romney machine next!"

Good call Andy, because the headlines I referred to are, CNN with "TRENDING: Romney will take tougher approach to Santorum, adviser says," and WSJ with "Front-Runner Is Targeting Santorum."

The pro-Romney SuperPAC, Restore Our Future, has just been given their marching orders: Carpet bomb Santorum.!!!

Next up will be the CNN and the Republican Party of Arizona sponsored GOP primary debate on February 22, 2012, on CNN at 8pm ET held at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona.

Then on February 28, 2012, Michigan and Arizona will be holding primaries.

(Full Republican primary/caucus schedule found HERE)

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Live Blogging/Discussion- Colorado and Minnesota 2012 Caucuses, Exit Polls And Results On 2/7/12

By Susan Duclos

(This post will be bumped to the top all day on 2/7/12)

[Update] CNN reports the projected winner in Missouri is Santorum. 2nd Place for Romney, Paul in 3rd.

[Update] CNN reports the projected winner in Minnesota is Santorum. Paul in 2nd, Romney 3rd and Gingrich 4th place.

[Update] CNN reports the projected winner in Colorado is Rick Santorum.

Will report final totals tomorrow.

Once again Wake up America will be joining Right Pundits as we live blog the Colorado and Minnesota 2012 Caucuses on February 7, 2012, with live discussions on exit polls and results, beginning at 7pm EST.

The Missouri primary, Tuesday, February 7, 2012 will also be covered but that is mostly a "show" primary and on March 17, 2012, Missouri holds their caucuses.

[Update] In fact, the RNC sends out a reminder:

Colorado is a non-binding precinct caucus. Their 36 delegates will be chosen at district conventions held between March 31 – April 13, 2012, and at the state convention on April 14, 2012.

Minnesota is a non-binding precinct caucus. Their 40 delegates will be chosen at district conventions held between April 14 – 21, 2012, and at a state convention on May 5, 2012. Delegates are not bound unless the state convention passes a resolution to bind the delegates.

Missouri will hold a primary tomorrow that is not recognized as being a part of any delegate allocation or selection process.

A precinct caucus will be held on 3/17/2012 to begin the process of choosing their 52 delegates which will be chosen at district conventions on April 21, 2012, and a state convention on June 2, 2012. Candidates for delegate must state a presidential preference at the time of nomination and will be bound to support that candidate for one ballot at the national convention.

(Full Republican primary/caucus schedule found HERE)



Updates will be added throughout the day below the chat feature until it goes live with the discussion, then results will be added on top in the final updates once they are published.

[Update] According to Public Policy Polling, Santorum is headed for a big day in two of the the three contests held today.

Rick Santorum could be headed for a big day in today's contests in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri. Missouri looks like a probable win for Santorum. He's at 45% there to 32% for Mitt Romney and 19% for Paul. Minnesota provides an opportunity for a win as well. Currently he has a small advantage with 33% to 24% for Romney, 22% for Newt Gingrich, and 20% for Ron Paul. And Santorum should get a second place finish in Colorado, where Romney appears to be the likely winner. The standings there are Romney at 37%, Santorum at 27%, Gingrich at 21%, and Paul at 13%.

Santorum's personal popularity is the main reason for his sudden reemergence as a relevant player in the GOP race. In all 3 of these states his favorability is over 70%- 74/17 in Minnesota, 72/17 in Missouri, and 71/19 in Colorado. He's far better liked than his main opponents- Romney's favorability is 47-60% in those states and Gingrich's is 47-48%. While Romney and Gingrich have hammered each other in recents weeks Santorum's been largely left alone and he's benefiting from that now.

If Santorum takes two of these states as polling indicates he might, this would go a long way toward negating the "Romney is inevitable" meme from the media and Republican establishment as well as showing other states before Super Tuesday that Romney cannot fully connect with voters, and cannot close the deal across the country.


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