Tara and Jeff Report From The Story County Political Conventions

Tara blogging from the Story County Democratic County Convention:

Today is the day of our county party  conventions here in Iowa. Jeff is at the Story County Republican Convention, and I am at the Story County Democratic Convention. He reports that just under half of the delegates at his convention are there for Ron Paul. At mine, fewer than 10 of the delegates are not here for Obama.

We have moved through a significant chunk of our agenda, and are now listening to debate on the only two controversial platform planks...making Election Day a public holiday and reducing US aid to Israel. The latter plank was just defeated by a slim majority. Debate on the former is friendly...and it's been voted down.

Jeff's summary after the Story County Republican County Convention:

The Story County Republican convention was a longer affair than Tara's convention, because of a phenomena I call, "invasion of the Paul people!"

To review: the Iowa caucus is basically a statewide straw poll. Despite the results, delegates go to the district and state convention and vote for their own personal favorite for president.

If there are TWO things at which Ron Paul supporters excel, it is winning online polls and showing up for stuff. And since the world is run by people who show up, the Paul campaign is attempting to get as many delegates elected to the state convention as possible...thus winning the official Iowa delegate count despite the fact that Santorum and Romney finished first and second in the Iowa caucus, respectively.

A friend told me at the Story County GOP convention that he believed just under half of the attendees were Paul supporters. And a delegate that was identified to me as a Paul supporter was literally reading suggested motions off of her iPhone. Whether you love the Paul campaign or not, they have their act together.

The Paul supporter made motions to seat delegates as they arrived (even if they were late), then motioned that any Republican sitting in the room could vote (because county parties rarely fill their allotted county convention seats this was an ingenious move).

A counter motion by another candidate's supporter stated that county delegates must be proportioned according to the county caucus results. This motion HAD to be voted down...because one county can't change a statewide process. Quite simply, delegates are free to vote for the candidate of their choice at state convention.

That may not be the most perfect process in future contests (especially given the caucus night debacle) but it is what exists currently, and the Paul people are taking advantage of it. I wonder how many Paul delegates are headed to the district, and state, convention, and if Ron Paul will be able to pull off an Iowa surprise.

Finally: a Santorum supporter at the Polk County convention posted on Facebook that she was experiencing a "Ron Paul supporter freakout." So the phenomena was not restricted to my county.