In football there is a term called "Garbage Time" to refer to a score by the losing team, late in the game, after it has already been decided. For example,a sports writer will may say: Oregon State scored a late touchdown in "garbage time" against the Oregon Ducks. Well, on Saturday Rick Santorum may score a late touchdown against Mitt Romney in "garbage time" in the Louisiana Primary.
On March 15, 2012, on this blog, I showed how Mitt Romney will get to the needed 114 delegates by the end of the Primary Season. I projected he would have by the end of March "563" delegates after Louisiana the last primary of the month. Well, even before Louisiana he now HAS 563 delegates so everything he gets on Saturday will be pure gravy. He only needs to get 25% of the vote to get his proportional share of delegates.
According to the various news organizations Mitt's totals are as follows:
CNN: 563
Real Clear Politics: 560
The Green Papers: 558
The Politico: 563
New York Times 563
Washington Post 563
While Louisiana has 46 delegates to the Republican Convention only 20 will be picked on Saturday in the primary. The rest will be picked at a state convention and not be bound by the primary.
According to The Green Papers:
20 National Convention Delegates are allocated proportionally to those Presidential candidates receiving 25% or more of the statewide primary vote. Fractional delegates are rounded to the nearest whole number (rounding rules to handle too many or too few delegates are unknown).
If no candidate receives 25% of the vote, the 20 delegates will attend the Republican National Convention officially unpledged to any candidate. These delegates will be elected at the State Convention where the participants at the State Convention will alone determine if presidential preference is to be a factor in such choice and, if so, how it is to be applied.
As to the rest of the delegates according to The Green Papers:
18 National Convention district delegates-- 3 from each of the state's 6 Congressional Districts are elected in the Congressional District meetings. The participants at the State Convention alone determine if presidential preference is to be a factor in such choice and, if so, how it is to be applied. These delegates are official designated as uncommitted. [Rule No. 19. (c) and 20. (a)]
20 National Convention At-Large delegates are elected according to the results of the primary. [Rule No. 19. (d) and 20. (b)]
5 National Convention delegates are nominated by the Executive Committee. These delegates are official designated as uncommitted. [Rule No. 19. (e) and 20. (b)]
So get the popcorn and sit back for the results on Saturday. Polls close a 6 pm PST. Again, the magic number for Romney is 25% of the vote in order to get some delegates.
For political junkies, such as myself, there will be 10 loooong days till the next primary on April 3 when we will have the District of Columbia, Maryland and Wisconsin with a total of 98 delegates. Romney was projected by me to win easily in D.C. and Maryland and I had projected him to run close in Wisconsin but to lose. The latest Rasmusen poll has Romney up by 13 in Wisconsin. What did I say about "Garbage Time"!
(Click on the title for a link to The Green Papers a virtual "gold mine" of information for political junkies.)
PS Some people like to leave a game during "garbage time" but I like to stay till the very end.
