Nebraska and Ron Paul's Last Stand

[CeeKay]

it's his last shot at being able to implement Rule 40:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/09/12642257-ron-pauls-last-stand?lite

Nebraska Republicans will select delegates on Saturday to send to the national Republican convention, a process that could amount to Ron Paul's last stand as a presidential candidate.

If Paul wins a plurality of delegates in Nebraska this weekend, his name will be put forth as a nominee versus Mitt Romney in Tampa. If his team can't secure enough delegates on Saturday, his longshot bid for the Republican presidential nomination is formally dead.

Nebraska is the last state to hold a convention and its 32 delegates are not required to match the May 15 “beauty contest” primary, where presumptive nominee Mitt Romney won 70 percent of the vote.  However, prospective delegates must indicate their presidential preference and are bound to vote for that candidate for the first two ballots at the August Republican National Convention.

According to RNC Rule 40, Paul needs a plurality of delegates from five states for his name to be put forth for nomination at the convention. The Texas Congressman has won a majority of state delegations in Iowa, Maine, Minnesota and Louisiana. If he is nominated, Paul will be allotted fifteen minutes to deliver a speech at the convention before the first round of balloting.

Local reports say both Romney and Paul supporters have been “burning up the phone lines” making calls to delegates to assess who they’re voting for before the state convention in Grand Island.

[CeeKay]

looks like Ron Paul didn't make it:

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/16/12769516-romney-staff-helps-stamp-out-pauls-longshot-hopes-in-nebraska

Mitt Romney’s campaign had a heavy presence this weekend in Nebraska to help ensure that Texas Rep. Ron Paul would not have the chance to have his name put forward as a potential GOP presidential nominee at next month’s convention in Tampa.

At least five staffers, including campaign lawyer Ben Ginsberg, attended the Nebraska state convention this weekend, where the state’s Republicans were formally selecting delegates to send to Florida. Paul needed to win a majority of the delegates in Nebraska to add to the four other states he had won, and meet the five-state threshold he needed to at least maintain his longshot bid for the Republican nomination.

When all the votes were counted, the Texas congressman only won two of Nebraska’s 35 national slots – despite rallying supporters the night before on a conference call.