As Delaware Dem reported, the RNC voted to shorten its primary season in order to try and freeze out the whack jobs. What I recently learned is that the rules changes could put Delaware Republicans in the drivers seat when it comes to picking the party’s next Mitt Romney.
Iowa and New Hampshire have traditionally enjoyed the “first in the nation status” when it comes to primaries and caucuses. They get all the media and candidate attention, as well as the economic benefit that comes with hosting the circus every four years. However, Charlie Copeland, in his position of Acting GOP Chair, has a golden opportunity to jump in front of New Hampshire and make sure Delaware Republicans get a voice in the process and Delaware citizens get the $264 million that flows into New Hampshire every four years.
The reason Delaware has this opportunity and other states don’t has to do with the way the penalty for jumping to the front of the calendar is structured. In the recent RNC rules meeting, the brainiacs at the RNC laid down the law that any state going in front of Iowa or New Hampshire would lose delegates:
The states that break those guidelines will face increased penalties compared to previous years. The committee passed a rule drastically shrinking the number of delegates that state would get at the party’s nominating convention. States with 30 delegates or more would be cut down to just nine delegates plus the RNC’s committee members, and states with less than 30 delegates would be cut down to 6 delegates plus their committeemen.
That penalty would be devastating for a big state, but for Delaware… big whoop. Down from 17 to 7 is nothing. Neither a 17 person delegation nor a 7 person delegation would have an impact on the final outcome, but by going first Delaware Republicans could influence the outcome. Based on this “punishment” there is literally no reason for Copeland not to jump at this opportunity.
Delaware can and should be the first state. The RNC has served it up to us on a golden platter. All we need to do to “create jobs” and reap the regularly recurring economic bonanza is for Charlie Copeland to man up for a change.
Can he put Delaware first for one time in his miserable public service half-assed career? I kind of doubt it, but crazy things happen in politics.
h/t to Kavips for mentioning this in a comment.