Michigan Shocker! Ron Paul picks up more delegates

There is good news and bad news.  The good news comes out of Michigan.  But first, the bad news, let’s get that out of the way and then have some fun.

Remember my warning that there were votes in a locked box taken from the state convention in Arizona?  And that the Ron Paul victory there could be reversed if someone wanted to cheat?  Well they did, and we lost it.  I am gathering the facts and it is stunning, with 100 new ballots appearing out of the Romney ether.

Worse, there is evidence that the Ron Paul victory in Louisiana, a victory that even the media acknowledged and proclaimed to the world, may be reversed as well.  I will give you the details Monday.

Meanwhile, there is evidence of a full scale purge of any Ron Paul delegate, from any state, to the RNC.  If you are a delegate, keep your head down.  They are looking for you.  More on all of that this Monday.

Meanwhile, I like to mix my bad news with a touch of positive, and when you are riding the wave of a popular counter revolution, there are so many committed believers in so many places, doing so many wonderful things, that there is always good news to report.  And the good news is this: Adam de Angeli and the Ron Paul team in Michigan, against all odds, have secured some delegates there.  It is one of Romney’s three proclaimed “home states.”  (Remember, we also picked up some in Massachusetts.)

Here is Adam de Angeli’s report:

As you may have heard, Ron Paul won delegates from Michigan last night.

Specifically:

-We won both delegates, alternates, and one “in-waiting” delegate in the first district.  Due to the RNC penalty for having an early primary, each district elected an “in-waiting” delegate and alternate in case the RNC reverses its penalty on Michigan for its early primary.

-We won both delegates and the “in-waiting” delegate in the 2nd district.

-We won both delegates and an alternate in the 9th district.

-We won one delegate and one alternate in the 4th district.

-We won an alternate and one in-waiting alternate in the 12th district.

-We won in-waiting alternates in the 3rd, 8th, and 13th districts.

-In the sixth district our slate was defeated, the party officials admitted to running an illegal caucus where rules were broken, but on the establishment’s slate we had a Ron Paul supporter (still waiting verification whether delegate or alternate.)

-We won in-waiting alternates in the 3rd and 13th districts.

But here is the most amazing thing.  DO NOT MISS THIS:

Michigan, unlike any other states I know of, had a special party rule forbidding any precinct delegate vacancies from being filled at county conventions until after the state delegates and alternates were chosen.

In other words, countless  Ron Paul supporters attending county convention were forcibly blocked from  being able to vote or make motions, because they weren’t elected precinct delegates in 2010–long before the Ron Paul 2012 campaign began.

We faced a disadvantage no other state faced.  All the state delegates were elected NOT by Ron Paul supporters flooding into county conventions, but by Republican Party regulars.

And STILL we won 3 of 14 districts, plus a delegate in the 4th.

There’s also a fairly huge body of evidence of party tricks to disenfranchise us, including documented instances in multiple counties where county party officials “edited” the state delegation lists after the county conventions adjourned.  Egregious violations of rules (and possibly statute).

The point is: if Ron Paul can win 3 of 14 districts in Michigan:  Michigan, Romney’s home state; Michigan, where rules literally shut us out from having a voice at county conventions, then he can delegates anywhere else.

The rules were rigged against us in Michigan.  But still we won national delegates.

If we could win anything here, we can win everything everywhere else.

Update:  This from Adam just mintues ago:

The e-mail I sent last night was accurate about the delegate counts, but the most important point that must be made is that Michigan has a party rule unique to us that prevented us from having a majority of state delegates.

Rule 5b, passed in 1988 in response to Pat Robertson’s campaign running a similar convention strategy as ours, states that “no precinct delegate vacancies may be filled in county conventions until all the state delegates have been chosen.”

What this means is that the state delegates were all elected by the precinct delegates elected in 2010–nearly a full year before Ron Paul announced his candidacy.  There was no way for Ron Paul supporters to take over their county conventions by filling precinct delegate vacancies.

Not to mention, in many counties the party used shenanigans to deny our delegates.  In Genesee County, for example, 42 precinct delegates and 100 Ron Paul supporters attended county convention to elect 66 delegates and 66 alternates–but rather than let the Ron Paul supporters in convention have the available seats, they filled them with their friends and family who weren’t even at the convention.  In other counties, state delegate lists were modified after the county convention was adjourned–a major violation of party rules.

So the state delegates, by and large, were NOT Ron Paul supporters.  They were ordinary Republicans.

And still, we won numerous national delegates.  In Romney’s home state.

The critical message, then, is that if Ron Paul could win this many national delegates in Michigan, with its unique party rule that kept us out of the convention, then he can win national delegates everywhere.

This report from Matt Collins:

We just elected 11 more delegates from MNGOP Convention to RNC who are Ron Paul supporters. That gives us 32 out of 37 delegates from Minnesota who are Ron Paul supporters!Or you could say that Ron Paul won Minnesota at 86%!!!!