In Washington County, Maine, snow berated the city hall all Saturday, suspending the caucus that would have taken place there until Sunday night—one day after the results of the Maine caucus would be reported. The county did not matter at the time; the Maine population is moderate, and only two candidates are commonly considered as moderate: Ron Paul and Mitt Romney. Romney, the winner of three important primaries including Florida, which was the difference between a President Gore and a President Bush, against Paul, the perennial last-place finisher. An unfair matchup, right?
But that was not the case. Just like Colorado before it, the Maine caucus showed a weakness in Romney’s campaign: Romney squeaked out the win by a grand total of three points. With the Maine turnout as low as it was, that three point margin equaled around 194 votes—similar to the small margin of victory for Rick Santorum in Iowa.
Back to Washington County. Washington County ended up having no say in the results, or at least the results that were broadcasted all across the United States on Saturday night. John Tate, Paul’s campaign manager, claimed that Washington County’s votes would have put Paul over the top, shifting the focus of the national audience from Romney to Paul.
Whether this claim is true or not, the message is simple—Ron Paul could have won Maine, but did not. Santorum could have received huge national attention had the correct results in Iowa been reported, but he did not. What is going on?
Simply: It’s a flawed system. Votes aren’t consistently being counted correctly, even in important parts of the country. The overall voter turnout has been borderline abysmal—voter turnout across the board should be on the rise, not declining. Attacks on the personality of each and every candidate have led to corrupted debates with the major focus being personalities, not important issues.
“The bigger issue here is, [Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney] are out distracting from the most important issues—we have been playing petty personal politics, can we set aside that Newt was a member of Congress and used the skills that he developed as a member of Congress to go out and advise companies—and that’s not the worst thing in the world,” said Santorum.
“And that Mitt Romney is a wealthy guy because worked hard and he’s going out and working hard? And you guys should leave that alone and focus on the issues”
Voter turnout for Republicans has also been on the decline. In Colorado, Nevada, and Maine GOP turnout was on the decline from the voting in 2008—a problem not foreseen by any Republicans.
With afore mentioned skewered voting—which was also evident in the Iowa caucus, as a recount determined the real winner to be Santorum after Romney was declared the winner the morning after—comes wrongful national attention.
News sources declared Romney the winner and he received a multitude of national attention—leading to more donations and high-end corporate sponsors. Santorum, had he won, could have been considered the conservative alternate to Mitt Romney immediately following Iowa—possibly leading to more wins and a more tightly contested race. Overall, an official recount should be speedier or the projections should not be issued until the victor is known after all votes have been counted.
What has been shown so far in the early presidential stages is that the system could be fixed. Simple things such as counting all votes correctly and waiting to make the right decision could contribute to a nominee being created or destroyed. Showing up to the polls or the caucus center as well as keeping ideas focused on the politics—not the personalities—would ensure a cleaner process in which the Democratic ideals that this nation was founded upon, would rule.
