WALL STREET JOURNAL | Danny Yadron | April 30, 2012
National Convention this summer.
This weekend, Mr. Paul’s backers effectively captured the Alaska GOP, won the Louisiana caucuses and beat out delegates picked by Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, the presumptive nominee’s home state.
None of this, of course, is expected to alter the outcome of the GOP primary, but it is a notable illustration of the movement Mr. Paul built this election season, despite failing to win a single state’s nominating contest. It’s a network another Republican with libertarian views, such as Mr. Paul’s son, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.), could tap in future elections.
Mr. Romney needs to amass 1,144 delegates to mathematically clinch the Republican nomination. He currently sits at 847, according to the Associated Press, while Mr. Paul has 80.
In Alaska on Saturday, Republicans voted a pair of Paul supporters as the state party’s chairman and co-chairwoman. While Rick Santorum won Louisiana’s GOP primary last month, Mr. Paul won the state’s party-controlled caucuses Saturday. That means Mr. Paul will have a majority of the delegates at the state party’s convention in June, which, in theory, would lead to more delegates at the Republican National Convention this summer, local TV reports.
In Massachusetts, where Mr. Romney won with 72% of the vote in last months’ primary, the Boston Globe reports that less than half of Mr. Romney’s delegates won spots this weekend.
Once again, it may not matter much for Mr. Paul. Since Mr. Romney overwhelmingly won the Bay State’s primary this month, even the delegates supporting Mr. Paul will have to back the former Massachusetts governor at the national convention this summer, though they will be able to shape the party platform, the Globe noted.
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