By Doug Wead

Well, the cat is out of the bag. Saturday’s district conventions in Louisiana gave the Ron Paul campaign 74% of the delegates heading into the June state convention where the delegation to the Republican National Convention in Tampa will be finally determined. Another state, another unseen victory for the Texas congressman. And, it should be noted, another embarrassment for the apparent nominee, former Governor Mitt Romney. Now, the question is this. How many other states have their own surprises coming?

Months ago the Ron Paul campaign looked at Louisiana and decided that the best strategy was to concentrate on the caucus. The rules in Louisiana apportion 20 of the states delegates from the votes in its statewide primary, which was held last March and 24 delegates from it caucus system which elects delegates at the precinct level to go to district conventions where they elect delegates to go to the state convention where the final delegation will be chosen.

What would you do? Spend your money trying to win the 20? Or spend your money trying to win the 24? Former Pennsylvania Senator, Rick Santorum, former Speaker, Newt Gingrich, and former governor, Mitt Romney, spent their money competing for the publicity of the statewide primary, which Santorum won and which he proudly and tearfully acknowledged before a national television audience last March. Our hapless New York Times and Associated Press duly reported that the delegates in Louisiana would be awarded 15 to Santorum and 5 to Romney. Ron Paul was not even a mention. But as Lee Corso would say, “Not so fast.”

The actual delegates will be chosen at a state convention in June which Ron Paul supporters will now dominate. Not just by a bare majority but by 74%. It means what they will not only get their 24 delegates to Santorum’s 15 and Romney’s 5, but they will also decide who the delegates representing Santorum and Romney will be. Ain’t it sweet? And it is the brainchild of Jesse Benton – John Tate’s masterful delegate strategy run by our intrepid, Dimitri Kesari.

Shortly after the Newt Gingrich victory in South Carolina the hope for Louisiana seemed like a long shot. There was even talk of helping Gingrich there, to blunt Romney and Santorum. But the campaign surged and the moneybombs came through (thank you) and men and women at the grass roots refused to give up in the face of sometimes hostile party operatives.

Saturday, it all paid off and Ron Paul won majorities in contests in Congressional Districts 1, 2, 5 and 6. The decision in district 4 was close, with Ron Paul winning almost half.

What does it mean? It means you should review some of the posts written on this blog and read carefully what was predicted. As of now, the Ron Paul campaign is ahead of anything anticipated and is doing more with less than any modern presidential campaign in recent memory. It means that there are more surprises coming. It means that Ron Paul will be a factor in Tampa.

Onto Texas, where liberty may once again make its last stand on May 29, 2012 in the Texas Primary. Remember the Alamo.

Notation Update: It gets better. This from a member of our Louisiana team.

Doug can you please correct something in your post (even better than you state). Because of the allocation rules of bound delegates in the beauty contest primary – only 15 of the 20 primary delegates were awarded!! The other 5 get awarded at state convention WE now control!

So…only 10 delegates are bound to Santorum and 5 delegates bound to Romney (from Primary). No other delegates are bound.

To summarize:

-20 delegates (all can be Paul backers, 5 bound to Paul, 5 bound to Romney and 10 bound to Santorum)

-18 CD Delegates (Paul can easily get 12, could get up to all 18 if we work with Santorum/Gingrich people)

-5 by “executive committee” – no clue if we have supporters on this thing and they go to RNC as uncommitted.

-3 party leaders.