Colorado primaries may as well be canceled.

[Bitter Clinger]

Old news but I just found out. Story here.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2016/02/2...super-tuesday/

DENVER (CBS4)– They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing. Twelve states, including Colorado, are holding caucuses or primaries next Tuesday.
But Colorado is the only one where Republicans won’t be weighing in on who the nominee for president should be after the state party’s executive committee decided to cancel the presidential preference poll.
“We’re talking about the presidency here and I think if you see what’s happening and some questions happening in other states with caucuses and straw polls that concerns me,” says Colorado Republican Party Chair Steve House.


He says the decision to eliminate the poll comes after the Republican National Committee made preference polls binding, meaning the state’s delegates are required to vote at the national convention for the candidate who wins the caucus. In the past, delegates could change their votes.
“How do you run a straw poll in a way that honors the process being done right without any shenanigans, without any issues? I still believe if you’re going to bind your delegates to candidate that may very well be the next president of United States you should do it with a voting process that we all know and believe in. That’s why we advocate that a presidential primary is a good idea,” said House.
“This is an idea both my Republican counterpart and I agree on,” says Rick Palacio, the head of the Colorado Democratic Party.


He’s worked for years on bringing back a presidential primary, but he says caucuses are still key.
“It’s democracy at its finest. I mean you’re meeting in people’s living rooms and churches and schools across the state and talking not just about who their supporting for president but the platform for the democratic party, talking about state legislative races and county commissions.”


The state Democratic Party also won’t award any delegates Tuesday night, but it will do a straw poll, and Palacio says enthusiasm is high.
“Our phones are ringing off the hook. We’ve had to call in extra volunteers just to tell try to tell people where their caucus location is.”
The poll itself is rather informal – people show up, divide into Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders groups and volunteers count them up.
But, because the results are reported to the media, both democratic candidates have campaigned here.
With the exception of Jeb Bush, who dropped out of the race, Republican candidates haven’t held public events in Colorado, yet.
“In the end, Colorado will get so much attention in the general election that it’s just going to be crazy,” says House.
The caucuses are the first of a four step process in choosing a nominee.
Typically, only about two to three percent of either party attends the caucuses, another argument for a primary.
Primaries are expensive but there are two proposed ballot measures to establish open primary elections in Colorado… meaning unaffiliated voters could participate too. Only Coloradans who registered as a Democrat or Republican as of Jan. 4 can participate in the caucuses.
Shaun Boyd is CBS4’s political specialist. She’s a veteran reporter with more than 25 years of experience. Follow her on Twitter @cbs4shaun.

Comment

[davsel]

Can the GOPe get any more corrupt?

Colorado is going to send delegates to the convention, and they will be able to vote for anyone they feel like voting for on the day.
If no candidate has the required 51% at the convention, but an outside candidate like Trump is in the lead nationwide, Colorado delegates can just bump up the GOPe candidate for the win?
The people of Colorado have absolutely no say in who the RNC candidate will be. It is entirely up to the few delegates we send to decide.

SHENANIGANS !!!!!

[blacklabel]

But hey guys, don't throw away your vote.

[Great-Kazoo]

Unlike the DNC, which is being run completely on the level.

The entire electoral process has been subverted by the few. Who for the time are publicly, without fear of retribution, manipulating the votes. In times past it was done behind closed doors. NOW, neither party gives a fuck what we care. As long as "their guy, or gal" wins.

Maybe we deserve a trump, or sanders. If so perhaps the old guard would do what investors did in 29. Jump out a tall buildings window. If only.

[davsel]

Would be interesting to see if Trump has a majority going into the convention, and the RNC ends up nominating someone else.
Wonder if it might be the start of a viable third party around Trump.
Or spark a revolution.
Either way.

[Great-Kazoo]

Would be interesting to see if Trump has a majority going into the convention, and the RNC ends up nominating someone else.
Wonder if it might be the start of a viable third party around Trump.
Or spark a revolution.
Either way.

The only thing it would spark is a guaranteed D Victory.

It's herp-derp to the max. The R party who is upset both local & national with trump and voter turn out..
Is the same party that forced Pete Coors and Scam Maes on us Stay classy RNC.

[XC700116]

Seems like it could actually be a decent idea, if used properly here's why.

Say something comes out next week, or anytime pre-convention, about Trump, and you KNOW damn good and well they are digging hard to find it (all sides, media, DNC, etc) And I'm talking something bad, that's going to guarantee a Clinton/Sanders win. So now the convention rolls around and due to binding vote, we still end up with him as the nominee. Here you go DNC here's another 4 years in the WH. Done deal.

Which if I remember correctly is pretty much exactly how we ended up with Maes being on the ticket. Post primary douchebaggery.

Granted, it's wide open for abuse, and I actually think it's being done because of Trump, but I also happen to think all these people backing trump are for the most part buying a bridge over BS harbor too, just like Ventura in MN and Schwarzenegger in CA.

[Zundfolge]

I too am angry and disappointed in the Colorado GOP (and have been for some time).

This latest BS about us not having any input into the presidential candidate is just the latest in a string of BS from the state party apparatus.

That said I'm still going to the caucus because the presidential straw poll is only a tiny part of what's going on there. Basically if we decide not to have anything to do with the caucus because of this we will continue to leave the party in the hands of idiots. And setting aside what's going on in national politics, Colorado is in dire straits right now and we need to focus on taking back the state.

Wresting control from the gun grabbing Demonrats and preventing the Socialized Medicine scheme that Dems are planning on shoving down our throats via ballot initiative are frankly more important than whether Trump, Cruz, Rubio or whoever else is the national presidential candidate (its not like Colorado has ever been the linchpin on which that decision has been made in the past anyway, in 2008 Colorado chose Romney who dropped out the next day and in 2012 we picked freakin' Santorum for the love of Christ).

If solidly conservative, grass roots tea party type Republicans don't show up at the caucus then we leave the state party in the hands of the Establishment GOP schmucks that have been mucking things up since 2002.

[jslo]

Guess they're protecting us from ourselves. After all, they do know better than us, right?

[brutal]

I vote for an instant-runoff election. Helps mask the stink.