Ah, "Paul Supporters"
I need to knock down a rumor: Ron Paul's campaign is not challenging any results from Ames. Jonah Goldberg links to an IHT story that reports:
The voting machine delay may have added fuel to the fire of some Ron Paul supporters who had sought to block voting at the event because of the machines. They filed a federal lawsuit on the constitutionality of the voting process this week and argued that the vote-counting machines had fundamental weaknesses.
The key phrase is "some Ron Paul supporters." Those supporters are members or affiliates of VoteFraud.org and Vote In Sunshine. Vote In Sunshine members typically voted for Paul and wore yellow t-shirts that looked a lot like the regular Paul shirts, but they had little to do with the campaign. Rep. Paul, whom I spoke to today, confirmed that the campaign is not worried about the vote count, asked "vote fraud" watchers to drop a pre-vote lawsuit, and has nothing to do with any post-hoc challenges.
Still, Goldberg:
Usually, candidates can tell their supporters to stop this sort of action, so I wouldn't surprised if Paul winked at the effort.
This clashes with the obvious irritation Paul and his staff displayed when I asked them about the vote lawsuits and it doesn't really make sense independently of that. What's the secret plan supposed to be? "If I can tie up my party in a pointless fight about a poll I definitely didn't win, I'll gain instant credibility!"
