Tagged: Ron Paul

There’s an elderly lady in Royal Oak who has sharpened and repaired my razors and table knives for years.

She has spent her life in business for herself, and does excellent work. She also isn’t shy about expressing her political opinions. She now works out of her home, and since the campaign started, her home has been decorated with Ron Paul signs.

More than 100 thousand people voted for Ron Paul in Michigan’s Republican presidential primary in February.    But after what happened yesterday at the Republican National Convention, it appears some of them may not be voting Republican in November.

The Michigan Republican Party holds its convention in Detroit today.

The state GOP is choosing delegates to the party’s national convention in Tampa-Florida this summer.

Supporters of Ron Paul say they were denied delegates they deserved.

Paul failed to win a single committed delegate in Michigan’s February 28th presidential primary. But Paul supporters hoped to lay claim to a large share of the state’s officially uncommitted delegates. They got six out of 30 voting delegates headed to Tampa. But Paul supporter John Ettinger of Linden in Genesee County says they deserved more.

"It was a completely rigged numbers game no matter what," says Ettinger.

Matt Frendeway is the Michigan Republican Party spokesman. He says Paul supporters simply failed to win enough delegates to the state convention to get what they want.

“That’s what campaigns are about," says Frendeway.

Frendeway says the party followed long-established rules for allocating national convention delegates. Most of Michigan’s delegates went to Mitt Romney, who won the state’s GOP primary.

A new report from the Michigan Campaign Finance Network shows Super Pacs outspent the candidates in Michigan’s Republican president primary.

It should be no surprise that a lot of money was spent in the days and weeks leading up to Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary. It’s probably also not a surprise that much of the money was spent by third party groups.

Winner Mitt Romney’s campaign spent one and a half million dollars on TV ads during the primary campaign. A pro-Romney Super Pac spent nearly two million dollars during the campaign.

Runner-up Rick Santorum spent just under a million dollars, while a pro-Santorum Super Pac spent over a million dollars.

Third place finisher Ron Paul spent less than 60 thousand dollars for TV ads in Michigan.   Paul had no support from Super Pacs.

"Money prevailed in the end as it usually does," says Rich Robinson of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network.

Breaking down the numbers, Mitt Romney and his Super Pac spent about $8.45 for each vote the former Massachusetts governor received in the primary.

Rick Santorum and his Super Pac spent about $5.81 per primary vote in Michigan.

Third place finisher Ron Paul spent a relatively frugal 48 cents per vote.

Mitt Romney has won the popular vote in Michigan.

Precincts Reporting - 96%

• 41.0%   Mitt Romney - 395,360 votes
• 37.9%   Rick Santorum- 366,146 votes
• 11.6%   Ron Paul - 112,232 votes
• 6.5%      Newt Gingrich - 62,858 votes

As we reported earlier, Michigan's 30 delegates will be awarded by the popular vote (2 delegates), and for winning each of the 14 congressional districts (2 delegates for each district).

As of 11:55 this evening, the Michigan Republican Party is still determining the final delegate count.

10:34 p.m.

NPR has projected that Mitt Romney has won the popular vote in Michigan. The delegates for the 14 congressional districts in Michigan still remain to be tallied.

10:13 p.m.

Rick Santorum has taken the stage in Grand Rapids, saying they've put up a good fight in his opponent's backyard.

"The people of Michigan looked into the hearts of the candidates in Michigan... and all I have to say is, I love you back," said Santorum.

10:05 p.m.

The New York Times reports that "Mitt Romney has received a larger share of the vote than in 2008 in 62 of the 76 Michigan counties to have reported at least some results so far."

A good sign for Mitt Romney.

More from Mark Memmott at NPR.org:

• From NPR's Don Gonyea: "Santorum crowd's hope for knock-out punch in MI fading as incoming vote totals now trending wrong way for them." (link) 3 minutes ago
• Here's how the AP is characterizing the race in Michigan: "Mitt Romney ... is pulling ahead of Rick Santorum." 4 minutes ago
  

Election Day is here

After weeks of counting down the days, Michigan's presidential primary has arrived. Polls open this morning at 7 a.m. and Michigan voters will find eleven Republicans on the GOP presidential ballot and President Obama, uncontested, on the Democratic ballot. Votes for President Obama won't really count in today's primary, as the state Democratic Party will hold a caucus on May 5th.

Campaign finale

Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul were the three major GOP candidates who spent the most time campaigning across the state over the past few days (if you're wondering where Newt Gingrich has been, you can read more about some political theories for his absence here). Here are just a few of the stories that came out of the candidates' campaign stops yesterday:

• Ron Paul speaks out against undeclared wars at campaign stop
• Santorum makes final campaign stops in Michigan
• Romney's last day on the campaign trail in Michigan

And, Michigan Radio's political analyst Jack Lessenberry; Lansing Bureau Chief for the Michigan Public Radio Network Rick Pluta and I have been keeping an eye on the race:

• Michigan gets some lovin' from the Republican presidential candidates
• Huh? A vote for Santorum is actually a vote for Gingrich?
• Should you vote tomorrow?
• Michigan primaries, fascinating and bizarre

Voter turnout

Election officials are, "expecting between 15 percent and 20 percent of the state's registered voters to cast ballots in the presidential primary election. About 21 percent of the state's registered voters participated in Michigan's 2008 presidential primary, when Republicans had a contested race but Hillary Rodham Clinton was the only major Democratic candidate on the ballot," the Associated Press reports.

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul spoke out against undeclared wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Federal Reserve system and the federal war on drugs to a packed auditorium at Michigan State University this afternoon.

"We still have enough freedom to wake this country up and change the direction, but it has to come from the people. It won’t come top down. It has to come from the people because government reflects the values of the people, so if that’s what you want and you speak and you do your job, Washington will change."

The Paul campaign says he has a good chance of picking up some delegates in Michigan’s primary tomorrow.

Paul says Michigan and other states should have the right to enact medical marijuana laws without worrying about interference from the federal government.

The Obama administration has taken a hands-off policy on enforcing drug laws against most medical marijuana users.

Some Democrats hope they can play a decisive role in Michigan Republican presidential primary.

Robo-calls and e-mail blasts to Democrats are encouraging them to vote for Rick Santorum to help him beat Michigan native son Mitt Romney. Other party activists say Democrats should vote for Ron Paul.

David Doyle is a political consultant and former Michigan Republican chairman. He said it is possible for voters who are not Republicans to swing the primary results.

“Well, as close as this primary appears to be, it may be decided by one or two points. Very few Democrats and independents could have an impact. The problem is, right now, the Democrats seem to be very divided.”

But Doyle said that impact would be diluted if those voters split their votes among the Republican candidates.