I’m a Ron Paul supporter for the R nom, but will not be voting for him in the TX primary because I will be participating in my party’s convention process. One of the things I like about Dr. Paul is that he always seems to choose his words carefully. Media can spin all they like, but to anybody actually listening, the spin is clear.

I must say, the local media seems pretty set on Romney winning the Straw Poll. A week ago at the debates here we had more than 100 Ron Paul supporters turn out for our candidate as opposed to about 8 to 12 Romney (*cough* paid staffers *cough*) people. At least we’re a motivated crowd! Anyway, so the media put up pictures of all the Romney people packed into this one tiny space and then a photo of a single Ron Paul guy with a sign and an umbrella. There was one news station that found us newsworthy, however. It’s one of the smaller ones.

After the impromptu education on Ames poll inking, I stand corrected on one point, but maintain my position on the value of Ames to candidates and vote accuracy.

I understand that the purple ink has been a regular thing at the Iowa Straw Polls. I don’t think it has anything to do with Iraq.

As for the Diebold machines and refusal to hand count the ballots, it stinks. We have volunteers to do exit polling so we can hopefully try to match numbers that way.

I have heard that the state election auditor is going to be involved in the Straw Poll, so it’s even more stupid that they’re saying it doesn’t matter and is not a real election. It can be construed as such and as such we should not have to pay $35 to vote. Oh well. I’m getting a free ticket anyway for volunteering to help out. Maybe I can keep an eye on the Diebold machines this way.

Oh, and it really is just Ron Paul’s supporters who have made a fuss over this. His campaign and staff have nothing to do with that although I am sure they are aware of the situation. As some of his supporters have been a little annoying, I would not want him to lose credibility because of that.