Well, to be fair, it is a little misleading to say that in a given precinct that Paul got ALL of the delegates, when the delegates haven't even been selected yet.
I believe your assertion (above) is incorrect, if I am reading (and understanding) what you are saying correctly.
You may wish to re-read the article - or expound on what you wrote above. (
Just keep in mind when re-reading it, it was probably written by someone with a fairly limited understanding of the process to begin with, and may still have some confusions)
The delegates at the precinct level (in Colorado) have been elected/selected. That's done as part of the precinct caucus process, usually after the precinct straw vote is taken. Obviously once the straw vote for candidates is done, many folks, being unwilling to commit to being a delegate, simply leave, and do not participate in the delegate election process.
The only place that may not be true AFAIK is, if during the caucus, there were not enough people who stepped forward to be elected as a precinct delegate to fill all the available delegate slots for that precinct, the remaining open (precinct) delegate slots may be filled through a different procedure (
such as being appointed by the precinct chair, county GOP, whatever)
I have not read the email from the campaign that was referenced in the article in it's entirety - since, well .... the reporter apparently didn't bother to quote it in it's entirety (....
which could be a failure to provide proper context ... and might be misleading .... 
)
Judging from the quote used, and other things mentioned in the article, the source for the article would appear to be the following campaign press release which was issued this past Wednesday, the 8th:
RON PAUL WINNING THE BATTLE FOR DELEGATES
Of course, the press release itself makes it
entirely clear that no delegates to the national convention have been awarded yet in any of the caucus states. If the writer indeed received it, one can only wonder why he might have failed to include the appropriate context ....
Those pretty pie charts, without the proper context, is very misleading to most people.
I don't know - I haven't surveyed most people
.... but it's not an entirely unreasonable assumption, given the confusion in the media.
The point of my original post (with the chart) was to simply show that contrary to what has been reported in the MSM, where delegates to the national convention are discussed as though they are already pledged/awarded/selected, the straw poll votes are not necessarily reflective of how delegates at precinct level are selected.
I was not attempting to write a definitive piece explaining the complete delegate selection process in it's entirety for all 50 states - but your criticism is fair - it would have been better had I included the accompanying text that was with the pie chart (which I have below)
However, what I provided was
accurate (in that the delegates referred to were clearly referred to as
precinct delegates).
Below is the text I (
which I elected not to post with the pie chart, since wasn't it particularly germane to the particular point I was making) - please note the portions which I have highlighted:
STRAW POLLS VS. COLLECTING DELEGATES
Last night was a good night for Ron Paul. But it was a better night than many might realize.
The desire to accumulate as many delegates as possible has long been the campaign’s primary focus. After all, this is how one becomes the nominee. But collecting delegates is not the same thing as winning the straw polls, which obviously make the headlines.
Ron Paul 2012 campaign chairman John Tate explains:
“We are thrilled with the yesterday’s results. Our campaign to Restore America continues to gain ground, and we are poised to pick up even more delegates from Minnesota and Colorado adding to our delegates in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada.
“As people across the country view the results of yesterday’s contests, it is important to consider a few facts that have not been clearly reported. Not one single delegate was awarded yesterday, instead the caucuses in Minnesota and Colorado were the very first step in the delegate selection process. And there are still over 40 states left to go. The Ron Paul campaign plans to continue to vie for delegates nationwide.”
Indeed.
Below is a pie chart created by a supporter that shows how Paul’s straw poll performance measures against collecting delegates in particular Colorado precincts. You will notice in each example, the delegates selected exceed the straw poll results. To say the least: [pie chart]
The above could be somewhat confusing to someone who doesn't understand the process - in that when John Tate says
"Not one single delegate was awarded yesterday ...." above he is correct: no delegates to the national convention were awarded - but that doesn't mean precinct level delegates weren't elected.
The Street piece, rather than being spin, merely provides the proper context.
Sorry, but that doesn't wash from my perspective - for what ought to be fairly obvious reasons. (I could point out numerous problems in the writing of the article - I'm sure it would be an interesting exercise and quite fun - but it would take a significant of T & E)
While The Street piece provides additional info about the delegate selection process beyond what I provided (
but perhaps not beyond what the campaign originally provided the writer) it doesn't just "merely" provide context - because of how it characterizes the matter.
A significant portion of The Street piece is spin (or a thinly veiled hit piece) - because of the characterizations it used to imply something nefarious or misleading was done in terms of the information supplied by the Paul campaign - without ever bothering to share the evidence (entire context - the complete email) to demonstrate that assertion.
The situation (with The Street specifically) is analogous to supplying someone with a certain amount of information, in good faith, assuming that the individual that is on the receiving end is knowledgeable and smart enough to figure out what it means in the big scheme of things, or at least ask if they don't understand - and then wind up being skewered because the recipient is either to ignorant or stupid too figure it out.
In that vein, a reading of the comments to article might be worth perusing.
As a closing thought, at the end of the piece you have the following quotes from Don Suppes, Delta County GOP Chairman:
"I don't know how they came up with that [delegate] number, because we don't have anything in our caucus process ... when we sign up our county delegates ... that says you're a supporter of this, you're a supporter of that," Don Suppes, Delta County GOP chairman, said in a phone call. "The only way that could be is if some internal person in that caucus knows who all their supporters are and they all got volunteered to be delegates."
Well yeah Don, I'm guessing they probably do have some internal person(s) .... and it's the kind of thing that absolutely drives the establishment GOP nuts .....
because it makes it much harder for them to game the system and shut people out through various (nefarious) means, if they don't know who the opposition is.
"Right after the caucus I got an email from one of [Paul's] Colorado chairman for his campaign, and they were asking for a list of the delegates and I don't know why they were so interested in that list," Suppes said. Suppes said Paul's was the only campaign to request the list.
I'm quite sure that Mr. Suppes knows
exactly why he received the above request ....
even if he isn't entirely happy about it.
