The (#NVGOP #TrainWreck) "Revolution" Is Still Being Tweeted

While we were sleeping, they were still fighting.

Balloting for the national delegates didn’t begin until after 7 p.m., pushing the marathon convention into the early morning hours of Sunday with neither side willing to abandon a process rife with arcane rule fights.

A debate over whether to vote by hand, by two hands, by standing or by voice, for example, took nearly a half-hour to resolve.

But Paul’s supporters, driven by four years of planning and persistence, vowed to outlast the so-called Republican establishment that is trying desperately to close ranks around Romney — the likely nominee who is planning to face President Barack Obama in November.

Their hope: to elect enough Paul supporters to influence the national convention in August despite the fact Paul came in third in the Nevada caucuses. [...]

“It’s not over yet,” said Eugene H. Cushing, a Paul supporter from Reno. “These decisions are made at the national convention by the delegates there.”

Adam Ballner, a Paul supporter from Las Vegas, echoed the point, noting that the Republican primary has been marked by sudden spikes of popularity for a succession of candidates.

“Those (caucuses) were a gauge of where everyone was at that moment in time,” he said. “But this is the process we go through to determine the best candidate, and it doesn’t end until Florida.”

Oh, yes. That's right. The train wreck continues!

So where are they now? Well, at least they finally have new RNC committee representatives... Albeit pro-Ron Paul RNC committee representatives!

And now that it looks like at least some of the folks who showed up yesterday left, it's at least a little more likely that Ron Paul now has a majority in Sparks. And since the Paul troops successfully blocked a quorum requirement yesterday, they may yet succeed in hijacking the Tampa bound national convention delegation today.

So stay tuned for even more insanity. I'll be joining in on the Twitter #NVGOP madness @atdleft throughout the day, and I'll update this blog as soon as we have a better idea of what's to become of Nevada's Republican National Convention delegates.

UPDATE 9:45 AM:

It's now official. The Ron Paul brigade has finally secured a GOP national convention delegate majority, and a full supermajority at that! It looks like the Paul troops have won at least 22 delegate positions. I guess Team Romney indeed collapsed overnight.

So now, the Nevada GOP is assured of another fight with the RNC. This time, they're set to violate RNC guidelines calling for pledged and bound delegates. Under the guidelines, Romney is supposed to have 14 pledged delegates. Now, he may not even have 4.

So the Ron Paul brigade has finally succeeded in fully hijacking the Nevada GOP. I can't wait to see what they do in the general election!

UPDATE 10:15 AM:

Now, it's really official. The Ron Paul campaign won 22 delegates to Romney's 6. So Ron Paul has emerged as the final winner of the Nevada Republican Caucus...

Or has he? Not so, say RNC and Mitt Romney campaign lawyers. Since the Nevada Republican Party had agreed last year to bind national delegates to the caucus results, at least 14 of those delegates must still vote for Mitt Romney in the first (and likely only) round of balloting in Tampa.

So is this all for naught? Perhaps not. Ron Paul's campaign has already hinted that it wants to influence both the Tampa convention schedule and the party platform, so now it's in a better role to do that. And even though Ron Paul Nevada director Carl Bunce is saying he won't challenge the binding requirement, he still won't say whether he'll require at least 8 of his delegates to vote for Mitt Romney in Tampa.

So the suspense continues...