Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
Peter Robinson ·
March 13, 2012 at 8:25pm
Although I'm a couple of days late in getting to it--I'm still digging out from my recent travels--Ricochet member Tristan Abbey has an article online over at The Atlantic. Tristan's argument? That American islands, from the U.S. Virgins to Guam to the Northern Marianas, account for a lot more GOP delegates than you might have supposed, that Romney's poised to win them, and that, in this increasingly protracted primary struggle, the island delegates will matter.
For Romney, these territories amount to low-hanging fruit. If he can also garner Puerto Rico's 23 winner-take-all delegates, this archipelago of islands offers a delegate prize as rich as New York.
As we await the results from down South, a fascinating read.
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Comments:
Jan '11
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
Thanks, Peter! Just to preempt any "fuzzy-math" slams from the Ricochetoise, the comparison to New York needs a little more extrapolation:
We shall see American Samoa and Hawaii very soon...
Edited on March 13, 2012 at 8:42pmJun '10
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
Romney: "I feel very close to the Islands. Some of my friends own islands."
May '10
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
Some newsreader pronounced it "Marinara." Gotta love it.
Apr '11
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
The problem with winning contests like Idaho, Wyoming, the islands, etc., is that while they help with delegates, journalists are highly dedicated to avoiding the complicated work of following large numbers of contests.
Thus, for many, Romney's blowout on Super Tuesday (225 delegates to Santorum's 89, Newt's 80, and Paul's 21) was close, because the first step was to simplify the race by pretending that Ohio was the only contest that day, the second step was to spot that Ohio was close, and the third was to write the story saying that Super Tuesday was close. Likewise, Kansas as the only race this Saturday.
Thus a day on which Wyoming + Islands + Kansas (7+25+7) netted Romney 39 delegates, while Wyoming + Kansas (3+33) netted Santorum 33 delegates (and Islands netted Paul 1, with Newt getting none anywhere), was a "landslide" for Santorum.
This is doubly irritating given the good odds that today will actually be a landslide for Santorum, even counting Hawaii and Samoa.
May '10
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
It gives one hope that his people will be as crafty against The One.
Apr '11
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
What I want to know is, why are we letting these territories select delegates to the Republican convention in the first place (excluding Hawaii and Rhode Island, of course). They (especially Puerto Rico) have had the option to become states for a long time, and have declined it. If they don't want full self-governance, why should the parties treat them any differently?
Jan '11
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
Hmm, I'm not sure tonight will be very good for Santorum. I would bet he wins at most one state.
Aug '10
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
That, my friend, is the Ricochet post of the week - and darn hilarious to boot!
Aug '10
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
I wonder if Gingrich and Santorum even knew about these delegates? (Yes, I know they did - they sent letters, although Ginrich's didn't make it in time - I'm being snarky).
Got campaign organization? Mitt does.
Oct '11
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
"What ever," says ABR. "Only the establishment has campaign organization."
Mar '11
Re: Who Needs Mississippi When You've Got the Northern Marianas?
Just goes to show how corrupt un-republican and un-democratic the establishment is in the Republican party. Florida has 4.5 times more population than the terrotires yet the terrotires get 18% more delgates. Florida is a swing state Republicans have to win to get the presidancy. Terrotires don't matter. Florida has a population 50 times larger than the four small territories.
thegreenpapers.com
What that means is a Guam voter was 1454 times MORE powerful than a Florida voter and a American Saom voter 4300 more powerful (1,672,634 republican voters in Florida this year).
Edited on March 14, 2012 at 5:40pm