State GOP riven by divisions over same-day registration for presidential caucus

Friday, Sept. 23, 2011 | 8:06 p.m.

UPDATE BELOW

Democrats and liberals and aliens -- oh my!

That seems to be the fear of many activists who are hectoring GOP Chair Amy Tarkanian about a proposal to allow same-day registration for the Feb. 18 presidential caucus. The Democrats allowed same-day registration in 2008 and registered tens of thousands of voters to build a cushion that helped Barack Obama win by 12 percentage points and build the foundation that helped save Harry Reid last year.

But this is what happens inside parties at times -- the inmates want to run the asylum.

Here's one email alert, from the nevada Federation of Republican Women:

The following message is from NvFRW Legislative Chair:

Tomorrow, Sept 24, the Nevada Republican Party Executive Board will be consider3ing the use of 'same day voter registration' for the 2012 Feb 18 Caucus.

Please send immediately, an email to Amy Tarkanian, Chairman Nevada Republican Party, at [email protected] stating your opinion.

In the Subject Line, please use - 'AGAINST Caucus Same Day Voter Registration' or use - 'FOR Caucus Same Day Voter Registration'.

In the text of the email, you can explain why you say 'AGAINST' or why you say 'FOR' to using same day voter registration for Nevada's Republican 2012 February 18 Caucus presidential ballot vote.

Your emails will let the NRP Executive Board know the opinion of NvFRW members.

Thank you for your attention to this matter,

Linda Bronstein

Legislative Chair NvFRW

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Said one apoplectic GOP insider:

"How unbelievably dumb it would be not to take advantage of this. We actually have a rare chance to take advantage of a President that people can't wait to boot but the lunatics actually think Democrats, illegal aliens, actual outerspace aliens and the lamestream media will steal the election by voting for the Republican they think is easier for Obama to beat."

And somewhere, Democratic strategists are smiling.

UPDATE: It seems this isn't the only controversy over 2012 politics inside the GOP. Seems the current caucus rules indicate the state party will assign delegates who to vote for rather than the campaign getting to choose their national convention delegates.

As one insider put it: "Long story short, this means that all 31 "delegates" will be voted on from the floor, the Ron Paul campaign will have a slate card, and could potentially elect 31 RP delegates. The state party would then tell them who they have to vote for with NO guarantees that they actually vote for that candidate."

So we potentially have a similar scenario for the GOP as in 2008, when then-GOP Chair Sue Lowden had to shut down the state convention because the Ron Paul delegates threatened to take over and send many delegates to the national convention. (Paul finished in second beyond Mitt Romney in the 2008 caucus and his supporters never forgave Lowden.)

So in 2012, this is the possible scenario if these rules stick, as this same GOP operative explained:

"Because these rules assure that the Ron Paul campaign will have delegates going to DC and will most likely have a larger portion of the delegates than the percentage of the vote. Yet again, Nevada Republicans are setting themselves up to be a laughing stock rather than a National player and instead of hurting Harry Reid, potentially hurting Dean Heller. They can blame Reid, the Dems, and unions all they want, but at the end of the day, it's their own fault."

Did I mention the Democrats are smiling....