Working in McCain's favor: Those state GOP leaders really hate Ron Paul activists. And they're good at changing rules at the last minute to save McCain from humiliation. Take Missouri, where Paul activists were ejected from the 2nd district (St. Louis suburbs) convention.
"It was a ramrod job!'' shouted Don Griffin, a conservative Republican activist and Paul supporter, as he confronted convention chairman Rich Magee after the session adjourned. "You should be ashamed of yourself.''My god, how can any Republican not support John McCain at the RNC? Nearly 33 percent of them backed him in the Feb. 5 primary—a full one percent more than backed Huckabee! This sort of Lemming-ism looks like an advantage right now, as Hillary Clinton plants landmine after landmine in front of Barack Obama. Even McCain archfoe Rick Santorum is knuckling under. But the ability to rig a district convention isn't going to help much when the forces of Obama storm Ohio while McCain is gasping for money and volunteers.
Magee, mayor of Glendale, said the delegate purge complied with last-minute changes in convention rules approved by the state party, which placed credentials committee business atop the agenda. That was necessary, Magee added, to protect the results of the state's Feb. 5 presidential primary, won by John McCain. As a result, McCain is guaranteed all 58 Missouri's delegates.
At issue were Paul supporters "who came in here and don't want to support John McCain at the presidential convention," Magee said. "These are not Republicans, in my opinion."
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