A Conspiracy Against Ron Paul?

This is an interesting article, even though it contains some errors. In my view, there's no Grand Conspiracy against Ron Paul, despite the opposition to him of most of the Republican powers that be. The rules for voting in primaries are established by a combination of state law and party bylaws. In closed-primary states, e.g., each party decides whether independents may vote in its primary. And the deadlines for registering are set by law.

The October 12 deadline in New Hampshire is for now-registered voters to change their affiliations. That state has same-day registration for new voters, meaning that an unregistered voter may register at the polls and vote on election day. Independents have their choice of either party's primary.

In California, the Republicans are not inviting independents to vote in their February 5 presidential primary. However, state law allows voters to change their affiliations up until two weeks before the election.

In Arizona, independents are not allowed to vote in either party's presidential primary. I believe, however, that both major parties' primaries are "beauty contests," and that the presidential delegates will actually be chosen in party caucuses.

The Ron Paul site that Jennifer mentions has an excellent chart with primary dates and voter registration links for each of the 50 states. I took a cursory look at it, and it appears to be quite accurate.

by Jennifer Reynolds | October 2, 2007

Ron Paul's popularity bridges the gap between all groups. He is truly a bi-partisan politician. Republicans like him, Libertarians like him, independents are supporting him as well as many Democrats who see his small government, anti-war stance as attractive.

Ron Paul is the first person in decades to have so many diverse groups support him. It is easy to see why: he believes in freedom and liberty for all. That includes the liberty to not have to go to war and the liberty to keep your entire paycheck. Only days ago he introduced the Tax Free Tips Act because by taxing tips, the IRS punishes workers for "doing a superior job." People in this country are fed up with being lied to and stolen from. They want the war over with and they want it ended NOW.

Ron Paul is fast becoming the only candidate in either party to pledge to end the war. People in general are sick of having no power to do anything and the majority of Americans believe that things are going to get worse for them in the coming years, not better. But Ron Paul offers hope to change all of that. He is truly the only man for the people. What is so amazing that so many Democrats, independents and Libertarians are planning on voting for him. For those of you that fall into that class, the established Republicans do not want you to do that and are changing rules as we speak to try to shut you out at the voting window.

Many states, in an effort to shut out Ron Paul, are now closing their primaries. That means that only Republicans can vote in the Presidential primaries for a Republican candidate. Many states are doing this quickly and quietly and giving people very little time to learn about the new rules. For example, New Hampshire decided only a week ago that you will now have to change your party affiliation by October 12, 2007, or it will be too late to do so. New Hampshire also has a [semi-]closed primary and only Republicans and... independents will be allowed to vote for Ron Paul.-->-->-->-->--> Read more... (Jennifer's article starts about a third of the way down the page.)