Ron Paul winning in Maine

Boston Herald reports that Ron Paul has won. Source Overall, Paul has won the majority (uncomfirmed that he won all 15 delegates at large) of delegates. Note that they are unbound (see below).

Also note that Charles Cragin, who lost the vote to chair the convention, says the Paul delegate violated the rules of procedure and therefore may not be seated at the national convention.

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Bangor Daily news Article

According to Google, as of Feb 11, 2012, with 87% of the precincts reporting (why is this not 100% yet), Romney had 39% of the vote and Paul 35%. Note though, that this gap is suspected to have shrunk with the remaining precincts. However, this does not mean anything at all, this is a mere straw poll of opinion. Maine delegates are not bound by the straw poll.

Maine has 24 delegates who will go to the RNC. These delegates are unbound and may choose whomever they want to be the republican nominee.

• 3 delegates are the state party's national committeeman, national committee woman, and the Republican Chairman (Webster).
• 15 delegates are selected at-large, this vote was done on Saturday May 5th.
• 6 delegates are chosen at district votes

The 3 delegates by position (called super delegates) are Romney supporters. Note that at the delegate convention, in a narrow and highly contentious vote, in which sitting Chairman Webster called Ron Paul supporters "wingnuts", Ron Paul supporters managed to elect to Chairman a liberty supporting candidate, Brent Tweed (although Webster will still be going to RNC). Also, Ron Morrell was elected Secretary, another Paul supporter. These candidates that won were obviously not the endorsed establishment candidates.

I have read unconfirmed reports that Ron Paul supporters managed to elect all 15 of their liberty delegates in the at-large vote. 

I do not know the current situation of the smaller regional votes for delegates as of now. I would be guardedly optimistic that Paul will do well in these contests as well. They are supposed to be held today (May 6).

OVERALL, Paul will win ME, and also will have managed to change the leadership of the republican party at the state level in electing a State Chairman who supports Paul. Romney backers and the establishment are not happy about the results. Webster did not say that the Paul supporters were breaking the rules, but did say this situation was emblematic of why they should switch to a primary vote instead of a caucus process for choosing delegates. The establishment's anger and frustration in losing control were exemplified by David Sawicki, in the picture below, who made a motion to halt the delegate confirmation process. His motion was ruled out of order. Source 

I am so proud of Maine and all those people who sacrificed their entire day to be there to support Paul. I admire the state for their dedication, respect for others. NH should listen to Maine and live up to their creed, "Live Free or Die."

UPDATE: Governor LePage was elected one of the 15 delegates at-large to represent the state of Maine. Gov. LePage is a RON PAUL delegate. Go Maine.

UPDATE: It would appear that there was a fake Ron Paul slate of delegates made by a Romney supporter to split up the Paul vote, this was caught on video. Also note in this video that Gov. LePage is listed as a delegate for Ron Paul.
The Video which is also below.

Also, Paul delegates kept winning so the votes were continuously "invalidated." Paul delegates kept winning though so the "strategy" did not work.

Results (Source is video below):
Republican State Party Secretary
Ron Morrell 1,119
opponent 1,085

Chairman
Brent Tweed 1,118
opponent 1,114

UPDATE:
Someone at the caucus listed several tactics used to delay the process and try to get Romney delegates elected. Source

• the convention got delayed 2.5 hours off the bat because the Romney people came late
• after the first vote elected the Ron Paul supporting candidate with about a 10% lead, Romney's people started trying to stall and call in their friends, the chair was a Ron Paul supporter and won by 4 votes some hours later (after Romney's people tried and failed to steal some 1000 unclaimed badges for delegates (mostly Ron Paul supporters) who didn't show
• everything was met with a recount, often several times
• Romney people would take turns one at a time at the Ron Paul booth trying to pick fights with a group of Ron Paul supporters in an effort to get them kicked out, all attempts failed through the course of the day
• the Romney supporters printed duplicate stickers to the Ron Paul ones for national delegates (same fonts, format, etc) with their nominees' names and tried to slip them into Ron Paul supporter's convention bags
• in an attempt to stall and call in no-show delegates, Romney's people nominated no less than 200 random people as national delegates, then each went to stage one by one to withdraw their nomination
• after two Ron Paul heavy counties voted and went home, Romney's people called a revote under some obscure rule and attempted to disqualify the two counties that had left (not sure if they were ever counted or not)
• next they tried to disqualify all ballots and postpone voting a day, while a few of the Romney-campaigners tried to incite riots and got booed out of the convention center