After the Maine Republican Party announced Mitt Romney’s victory in its 2012 presidential caucus, most news reports focused on Romney’s renewed status as front-runner of the race. This did not last. After an unexpected string of victories in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri, Rick Santorum pulled ahead in the nomination contest. A February 15, 2012 report by Real Clear Politics put Santorum ahead by 3.1 points.
To the dismay of one faction within the Republican Party, it seemed the ink had dried on the narrative of the Maine caucus. Ron Paul’s supporters had been energized by his popularity in Maine. Despite respectable showings in previous primaries, Paul was yet to secure a victory. A win in Maine, supporters hoped, could give Paul momentum enough to vie for frontrunner status.
The reported results of Paul’s 35.7 percent to Romney’s 39.2 percent were a disappointment to Paul supporters hoping to leverage the headlines of a victory. Still, the race was tight. Supporters emphasized that such a close second place finish should at least secure Paul’s place as a serious contender. The coverage focusing mostly on Romney’s frontrunner status dealt a second blow of disappointment. The campaign continued, though it seemed the possibility of a rally based on the Maine caucus had passed.
Allegations of Fraud
Yet the chapter on Maine may not be closed after all. If there is any truth behind recently surfacing allegations of fraud in the Maine caucus, it may be that Paul actually beat Romney.
A Maine resident and blogger on the Daily Paul going by the username ‘hutteto’ reports a dispute with Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster regarding the caucus votes from Washington County. GOP officials canceled the Washington County vote because of a severe snowstorm, though apparently the caucus had already been under way and votes had been cast. Because of the cancellation, those votes were not counted. The Washington County caucus was not rescheduled, however, so residents were not able to vote toward state results at all.
It should be noted that it is unclear how the state results would have been affected by either the inclusion of the already-cast votes or the results of a rescheduled county caucus. Further, though the matter may be in dispute, Maine’s GOP Chairman has stated that the decision to cancel the county caucus because of the snowstorm without rescheduling was in accord with party rules.
Other allegations of a darker nature have also emerged. Another blogger for the Daily Paul identifying himself as the Chairman for the Belfast caucus, Matt McDonald, reports that the results announced by the state GOP office were “not even close” to the correct numbers for Belfast. If there is indeed such a discrepancy in the case of the Belfast votes, which were publicly counted, it would be a much more serious matter than the contested cancellation of Washington County.