The Associated Press reports that the Republican National Committee striped five states of half their convention delegates.

The Republican National Committee has voted to strip New Hampshire, Florida, South Carolina, Michigan and Wyoming of half their delegates for violating party rules and shifting their nominating contests earlier than was originally agreed upon.

Iowa and Nevada, which also moved their contest dates, are not being punished because they have non-binding contests.

New Hampshire could lose up to 90% of its delegates if it does not move its primary.

New Hampshire potentially could lose 90% of its delegates if it does not select a date before the Republicans’ final call to convention, which has to happen by the end of the year. [RNC Chairman Mike] Duncan stressed that the scenario, posed by a reporter on the call, is a “hypothetical” and didn’t want to comment. Though he called it “interesting.”

RNC Convention | No Comments »

Colin McEnroe from the Hartford Courant posted the new logo for the 2008 Republican National Convention hosted in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota.

The Half Hour News Hour train wreck showed us that Republicans just aren’t funny. Are they terrible at Photoshop, too?

This may sound trivial but it just seems like something they recycled out of the Wendell Wilkie campaign.

Not to mention that it looks like the old Philadelphia Athletics elephant is trippin’ out on ecstasy and, literally, screwing the 2008 election.

RNC Convention | 66 Comments »

Gary Andres explains how it isn’t just Democrats who are looking at a real possibility of winding up in a brokered convention next year. Republicans may find that none of their candidates will be able to take a majority of delegates into St. Paul, though for different reasons.

The wild cards in the GOP process are the “winner take all” primaries, used by Republicans in 20 states. Andres observes that Giuliani is well positioned to work around poor showings in Iowa and New Hampshire by winning key early WTA states like Florida, California, New York, and New Jersey. Still, other frontrunners may be able to counter:

But Fred Thompson and Mr. Romney may also do well in other early WTA states like South Carolina, (47 delegates), Georgia (72 delegates), Missouri (52 delegates) and Tennessee (55 delegates), which all take place on or before February 5. And Mr. Romney’s current lead in New Hampshire and Iowa could bode well for generating momentum going into the WTA primaries. This all has the makings of a topsy-turvy end-game.

A brokered GOP convention would be a fascinating exercise in testing the relative strengths of different parts of the conservative coalition. Is it likely? Maybe not. But it’s perhaps a stronger possibility this cycle than it has been in quite a while.

RNC Convention | No Comments »