2012 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses explained

Election Name:2012 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses
Country:North Dakota
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2008 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses
Previous Year:2008
Next Election:2016 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses
Next Year:2016
Candidate1:Rick Santorum
Party1:Republican Party (United States)
Home State1:Pennsylvania
Delegate Count1:6
Popular Vote1:4,510
Percentage1:39.7%
Party2:Republican Party (United States)
Home State2:Texas
Delegate Count2:2
Popular Vote2:3,186
Percentage2:28.1%
Party4:Republican Party (United States)
Home State4:Massachusetts
Delegate Count4:20
Popular Vote4:2,691
Percentage4:23.7%
Party5:Republican Party (United States)
Home State5:Georgia
Delegate Count5:0
Popular Vote5:962
Percentage5:8.5%

The 2012 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses were held on March 6, 2012.[1] North Dakota has 28 delegates to the Republican National Convention;[2] despite Rick Santorum's nominal win in the preference poll conducted during the caucuses, the majority of the delegates elected by the state party convention later in March said they supported Romney.[3]

Results

2012 North Dakota Republican presidential caucuses[4]
CandidateVotesPercentageDelegates
Rick Santorum4,51039.7%6
Ron Paul3,18628.1%2
Mitt Romney2,69123.7%20
Newt Gingrich9628.5%--
Unprojected delegates0
Totals11,349100.0%28

Convention controversy

North Dakota Republican Party had its state convention from Friday March 30 to Sunday April 1 where twenty-five unbound National Convention delegates were elected. Rick Santorum had won the strawpoll at the Legislative Districts caucuses on Super Tuesday with a large margin to Ron Paul in second place and Mitt Romney in third place. The state party's national delegate nominating committee recommended a slate of delegates based on participation in the party. There was no requirement that the delegates personally support any particular candidate. The slate was merely a means for the party's nominating committee to place names into nomination at the convention based on criteria that weighted previous participation in and financial support for the party. Additional names were nominated at the convention itself and the national delegates and alternates were elected by the state convention delegates. State Party rules only required that the national delegates chosen at the state convention caucus before or at the national convention and determine whether or how to reflect the previous strawpoll result. In August, 2012, the national delegation caucused in Tampa, Florida, at the Republican National Convention, and allowed each national delegate to vote their own conscience. According to Santorum and Paul supporters the slate placed into nomination by the party's nominating committee should have lived up to the strawpoll result, but instead gave Romney a large majority of the delegates. This misunderstanding of state party rules and procedures lead former NDGOP Chairman Gary Emineth to call the vote undemocratic and a railroad job.

See also

External links

for North Dakota

Major state elections in chronological order

Notes and References

  1. Web site: North Dakota Republican Delegation 2012 . The Green Papers . 2012-04-08.
  2. Web site: . Romney Could Win Majority of Super Tuesday Delegates . FiveThirtyEight. March 4, 2012. March 5, 2012.
  3. http://wtop.com/?nid=278&sid=2817738 Santorum delegate plan hits wall in North Dakota
  4. Web site: Live Caucus Results . NDGOP Presidential Caucus Information . 2012-03-07 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120306200148/http://www.northdakotagop.org/caucus/ . 2012-03-06 .