Rick Santorum: I might win Iowa caucuses recount

[proud2BlibKansan]

GREENVILLE, S.C. — Rick Santorum says the Iowa caucuses may not be over yet.

Eleven days after he was declared a very narrow second place finisher — behind Mitt Romney by just eight votes — the former Pennsylvania senator predicted Saturday at a town hall meeting in here that a recount could put him on top.

After a long count that went deep into the night on Jan. 3, Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn announced the results that had Santorum behind Romney.

But Santorum says he’s getting the feeling that he may still edge ahead.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71443.html#ixzz1jSqrttzC

[madmom]

1. I heard that Iowa doesn't have the recount option.

[JaneQPublic]

3. I did,too.

On the night of the Iowa caucuses, the point that Iowa had no provisions for recounts was made by someone on TV who presented himself as knowledgeable about Iowa's election rules -- I can't remember who, though.

[customerserviceguy]

5. Wouldn't that be up to the party to decide?

If I recall correctly, caucuses are run by political parties, not by the same officials who do general elections. If some credible allegation of ballot box stuffing by Mitt's buddies comes to light, they may have to do so in order to keep the Iowa caucuses in the Rethug party.

[lpbk2713]

2. As if it would matter.

Ricky-Ticky, why don't you just hop back into the clown car and ride off into the sunset?

The fact is, whoever gets the GOP nomination won't stand a snowball's chance
against Obama simply because the voters know all about rethuglicans by now.

[MadHound]

4. Pyrric victory,

Even if Santorum won, Iowa's proportional delegate split would still mean that he would remain tied with Romney.

[customerserviceguy]

6. There's still that "Romney won both Iowa and New Hampshire" thing

It's part of Mittens' strategy to declare inevitability. If Santorum starts beating the drum that a recount would mean something, it might make somebody in Iowa who knows something think about coming forward with it.

If it looks like Romney has people who will manipulate elections for him, it helps when it comes down to just him and the anti-Mitt.

[MadHound]

8. Frankly I don't think that the batwing crazy wing of the 'Pug party

Is going to have enough time to get together behind the anti-Mitt. If he pulls in SC and then Florida, that's it, he's in. Given that the official vote certification in Iowa won't go down until only a day before the SC primary, I doubt that any change of the "victor" will make a difference there, and will be irrelevant afterwards.

[customerserviceguy]

11. Time's running out, it's true

but there's still about a week to South Carolina, and the fundies are in panic mode. I expect some will openly call for Perry to just give it up, and after some further misbehavior from Gingrich, they'll ask the same of him.

I would imagine that if an anti-Romney doesn't emerge from SC, then the fundies, backed by the tea partiers will go into overdrive, to try to rescue a non-Mitt win from Florida. In any case, the contests are not winner-take-all, and an emergent anti-Mittens can still catch up in delegate count. Really, outside of Mitt's three or four 'home' states, he simply cannot get above 35%.

It may not work, but that's what we're going to see over the next month and a half. The forces that despise Romney simply don't want another 2008 to happen, and they know that's the probable outcome if they don't fight as hard as they possibly can.

[FarCenter]

7. It is not clear whether the "vote" reported by the media actually matters

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/01/how-the-iowa-caucuses-work-delegates-secret-ballots-more-details.html

What happens at a caucus meeting?

At 7 p.m., caucus-goers will recite the Pledge of Allegiance and elect officers to run the meeting. Representatives from each campaign—usually campaign staffers—will give a brief speech urging those present to vote for their candidate. After the speeches, caucus-goers will write the name of their preferred candidate on a piece of paper, and campaign representatives will watch while they are counted. The caucus will then report the results to the room, and then by phone to the Iowa Republican Party. Caucus-goers will finish the night by picking delegates and writing platform resolutions—building blocks of a party manifesto—for the county GOP convention. The Iowa GOP will announce the statewide results to the media and on its website.

What’s the point of an “unofficial” election?

It’s true that the delegates chosen at the caucuses—and other delegates Iowa will send to the Republican National Convention—don’t have to go by the preference of caucus-goers. So that makes the Iowa caucuses more like a glorified poll. But in a way, Iowans get the best of both worlds: they are the first Republican voters to express their opinion about the presidential field, and their choice is treated by the media as significant (whether it is or not is debatable). But because they vote early and their preferred candidate may be out of the race within a few months, their delegates are able to work together to decide among the alternatives. And in the meantime, the communal nature of the meetings helps Iowans get to know and be known by other people in their party who may be representing them as delegates in the future.

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According to one report that I read, Ron Paul's people were the best coached about what really mattered and the necessity to stay behind after the vote counting when the county delegate selections actually take place.

[HopeHoops]

9. Mr. Frothy is really out of touch - what the HELL difference does it make?

[zbdent]

10. Don't forget ... GOP stance on recounts is

for ... (1960)

against ... (2000)

for ... (2008) ... wait ... against (2008) ...

for ... (2012)