Kansas Libertarian Candidate Changes Name to Thomas Jefferson July 24, 2012

Politico:

Thomas Jefferson never served in the House of Representatives. A Kansas man is hoping to change that.
A Libertarian candidate running against Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) has legally changed his name to “Thomas Jefferson” as a way to garner attention for his candidacy and pay tribute to the Founding Father.
“When people see that Thomas Jefferson’s on the ballot, half will think I’m committed to the Libertarian Party, and the other half will probably think I should be committed,” the candidate formerly known as Jack Talbert told the Topeka Capital-Journal. “But whether you think it’s crazy or not, hopefully it gets people thinking about the Founding Fathers and Thomas Jefferson in particular and whether we have that form of government still.”
While his name honors Jefferson, his platform owes a more direct debt to Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a libertarian icon. Jefferson wants to return to the gold standard and is concerned about increased presidential power in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Jefferson acknowledged he had little chance to unseat Pompeo, a freshman. “Essentially, when you’re running against Mike Pompeo, you’re drawing straws to see who’s going to lose to him,” he said.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78886.html#ixzz21YR46wHx

Minnestoa’s Ron Paul Delegates Want Change–Including More More Affordable Tampa Hotels June 22, 2012

While establishment Republicans aren’t quite sure what to expect from the contingent of Ron Paul delegates at the national convention in Tampa, they’re beginning to get a taste.
In the Minnesota delegation at least, where a majority are delegates for the Texas congressman, there’s much rumbling about the high cost of convention hotels. And there’s a desire for less big-name speakers at delegation events and more authorities on issues such as economics and the debt.
From a Minnesota Public Radio report:
[Republican National Committeewoman for Minnesota Pat] Anderson has been to three Republican National Conventions and says she has never seen such demand for alternate accommodations. She thinks there’s more than just saving money behind the new batch of delegates’ desire to chart their own course.
“There’s a little bit of independence, more independence in this group where, you know, they aren’t going to do exactly as they’re told, you know by the original layout,” Anderson said. “And they want some options.”
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Ron Paul, Not Romney or Santorum, Wins Iowa June 17, 2012

The Iowa Caucus process is finally finished. Ron Paul won.
The Republican nomination process,of course, started in Iowa. The eventual nominee, Mitt Romney was declared the winner in a tight contest on night of January 3. Then-candidate Rick Santorum actually won the caucus’ first round with a razor-thin, after-the-fact victory.
This weekend, however, the Iowa GOP delegate process was completed with district and the state convention.
In that, Ron Paul won 11 of 12 delegates at the district level. Paul also won 10 of 13 contested delegate slots at the state convention. That gives the Paul campaign a majority of Iowa GOP delegates in a swing state.
“We thank the many Iowa Republican activists for working tirelessly toward this meaningful victory, in particular the work they performed in the service of constitutional government and personal liberty. This win is a real validation for our campaign and its many supporters in Iowa and across our great nation,” said Ron Paul 2012 National Campaign Chairman Jesse Benton.
The campaign has been working to elect as many delegates as possible in hopes of influencing the GOP Party platform at the national convention in Tampa later this summer.

Romney Wins Missouri GOP Convention, Ron Paul Troops Put Up a Fight June 3, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won a majority of Missouri’s delegates Saturday, finally concluding the state’s complicated four-month selection process just days after he clinched his party’s nomination to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama.
Republicans who gathered at their state convention in Springfield approved a slate of delegates to the Republican National Convention in late August that includes 19 people bound to support Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, and six pledged to support former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who already has ended his presidential campaign.
When combined with the results of Missouri’s eight congressional district conventions in April, Romney now has received a total of 31 delegates from Missouri, compared with 13 for Santorum, four for Texas Congressman Ron Paul and one for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Missouri’s delegate vote was somewhat anticlimactic because Romney’s victory in the Texas primary on Tuesday pushed him past the national threshold of 1,444 delegates needed to secure the Republican nomination, according to a count by The Associated Press.
Yet the Missouri Republican State Convention was not without contention. The slate of Romney and Santorum supporters — dubbed the Show Me Unity Slate — defeated an alternative championed as the Grassroots Life and Liberty Slate that would have allotted 16 delegates to Paul, nine to Santorum and none to Romney. The vote was 1,025-781, with the Romney-led slate carrying support from all regions of the state except from St. Louis and the Kansas City area, which went for Paul.
Romney was expected to prevail at the state convention, largely because he already had emerged as the likely Republican nominee. But Santorum carried every Missouri county during its non-binding primary in February, for which Romney did not campaign and for which Gingrich was not even listed on the ballot. Santorum’s Missouri primary victory helped boost his national campaign for a while, and both the Romney and Paul camps were dependent on Santorum supporters in order to put together a coalition at the state convention.

Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/romney-wins-majority-of-missouri-s-convention-delegates/article_ff829bce-ad00-11e1-b19e-001a4bcf6878.html#ixzz1wjkd0Kdh

All Done: Paul Suspends Balance of Campaign May 14, 2012

Politico:

Ron Paul announced Monday that he would no longer campaign in states that have yet to hold their presidential primaries, effectively putting an end to the last remaining primary challenge to Mitt Romney.

"Moving forward, however, we will no longer spend resources campaigning in primaries in states that have not yet voted," Paul said in a statement released by the campaign Monday afternoon. "Doing so with any hope of success would take many tens of millions of dollars we simply do not have."

The move comes two weeks before Paul’s home state of Texas – which awards 155 delegates – is scheduled to vote in its GOP primary. Paul had been airing television ads in the Lone Star state.

Other big states left on the calendar include California and New Jersey on June 8; the final presidential primary will be Utah’s on June 26.