Could the Virgin Islands Give Ron Paul His First Win?

Much of the Republican Primary attention this Saturday will be focused on the Kansas Caucuses, which will award 40 delegates based on the results.  However, off the mainland, 3 island U.S. territories — Guam, Northern Marianas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands — will also be caucusing to decide how to award their 9 delegates each for a total of 27 delegates.

While U.S. territories have no electoral votes in November, each Presidential cycle they send delegates to the Republican National Convention.  I had a chance to sit beside a delegate from Puerto Rico on the plane ride back from the convention in St. Paul in 2008.  It was interesting to hear him talk about how important this process is to many people in these territories as they feel it is the only influence they have on choosing the U.S. President.

This election cycle as candidates battle for every delegate in what appears to be a long primary fight, the territories are actually getting some attention.  Mitt Romney sent his son, Matt Romney, to personally appeal for delegates in Guam and Northern Marianas this weekend.  Santorum hosted an hour-long conference call with Republicans in Guam.

However, one of the more interesting notes tomorrow could be from the U.S Virgin Islands, where it appears Ron Paul might have an inside advantage.  According to the VI caucus rules, candidates for delegates have to file with the Party by February 10.  They can file as pledged to a particular candidate or as uncommitted.

According to a listing sent to me by the Virgin Islands Republican Party, Ron Paul has the most pledged delegates with 6, Mitt Romney has 3, and Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have 2 each.  In addition, 9 delegates filed as uncommitted.

Two caucus sites will meet on Saturday with voting taking place from noon to 6:00 pm local time to elect 6 of the Virgin Islands’ 9 delegates.  This means that Ron Paul is the only candidate to field a full slate of committed delegates although enough uncommitted delegates could potentially win to prevent him from winning the caucus.  It does appear however that Paul has strong support among some of the caucus goers.

Here is what the Virgin Islands Republican primary ballot will look like.

Could this be Ron Paul’s first win?  I am not going to pretend to be an expert on intra-party Virgin Island Republican politics, but if Talk Business editors find it in the budget to send me there for the weekend, I would be more than happy to do further research.

Editor’s note:  I would be thrilled to see Tolbert more thoroughly cover the Virgin Islands GOP caucuses and am pleased that modern communications technology will allow him to do that via e-mail, Skype, and social media for FREE from the comfort of his own living room in Benton.  I recommend wearing a swimsuit and sunglasses to enhance the virtual experience. – Roby Brock, Talk Business Executive Editor