Ron Paul finishes second

Mitt Romney Wins Montana GOP Caucus

By Dillon Tabish, 2-05-08

	Amalia Otoupalik recieves her ballot at the Republican caucus in Missoula on Super Tuesday. BELOW: Ron Paul supporters hold signs for their candidate. Photos by Emily Haas. BOTTOM: Austin Evans celebrates after Romney won in Gallatin County. Photo by David Nolt.

Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, won Montana’s GOP caucus Tuesday, beating both Ron Paul and Arizona Senator John McCain by more than 13 percentage points. Romney will take all of the state’s 25 delegates. But it may mean little nationwide as John McCain is, by all accounts, Super Tuesday’s big winner, claiming a handful of key states around the country.

Romney finished with 625 votes in Montana, or about 38 percent. Ron Paul finished strong in second place with 400 votes, about 25 percent. And McCain came in third with about 22 percent of the vote.

The caucuses—the first in Montana—took place in all of Montana’s 56 counties, and more than 1,600 Republicans voted, including local party leaders and statewide elected officials. For full county-by-county results from the Montana Republican Party, click here.

In Missoula County, with the third-most voters in the state behind only Gallatin and Yellowstone Counties, voters of all stripes turned out in droves at the Double Tree Inn.

Will Deschamps, Chairman of Republican Central Committee and general speaker for caucus event, said the turnout was impressive. “We must have had 300 people,” he said. “Everybody was represented. I just think it’s great … This is why we instituted the caucus, to get people involved from the ground roots.”

Landon Larsen, a Missoulian in graduate school, voted for Romney Tuesday night. For him, the number one issue in this election is the economy. “Without a strong economy you don’t have a strong military, you can’t have a strong family, it puts a burden on families and stresses them out,” he said.

Mara Stark didn’t vote, but she came with her two small children, Gabriel and Sarie, and listened. “I’d vote for Mitt Romney,” she said. “I think he’s honest. I don’t think he’s trying to hide anything that he believes. I think he’s good with the economy.”

But in Missoula County, Romney didn’t win. Ron Paul did, edging Romney by three votes. One of the votes came from Richard Oliver, a professor, who said: “I’m for fiscal sanity. That’s the main reason I think government is out of control—spending. I think Dr. Paul is the right kind of a doctor we need.”

There were at least three tables of Ron Paul voters, holding signs and hooting and hollering as he spoke over the PA system about the importance of protecting civil liberties. Marji Gilbert, 32, voted for Ron Paul, too. “I voted for Ron Paul basically because he wants to go back to the Constitution. I just think he is the best candidate for the future and wanting to get things back on track.”

Over in Gallatin County, Romney won 47 votes compared to Paul’s 28.

Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback stopped by the Mixers Club in Bozeman to stump for Sen. John McCain at the Gallatin County caucus.

“I love the Montana style of holding this in a bar with cheap beer,” Brownback said. “The president, alone, does two things: foreign policy and commander in chief. We need somebody that doesn’t need foreign policy training going into the job.”

McCain received 14 votes in Gallatin County.

Austin Evans celebrated after Gov. Romney won the caucus there. “I love his economic policy,” he exclaimed. “He’s not a weak guy. He stands strong on his values.”

Chris Carter, the communications director for the Montana Republican Party, said the turnout was “absolutely incredible, and it shows the excitement the Republican party up here in Montana is generating.“

Moving the caucus up (Democrats don’t vote until June) encouraged the candidates to care more about Montana and the concerns of its residents, Carter said. “For instance, tonight we had a conference call with all four major (GOP) presidential candidates…all within forty minutes speaking to everybody in all the caucus locations in Montana, which was great.”

Romney has had a particularly strong presence in Montana. He spoke at the Montana GOP convention in June, and on separate occasions his wife and two sons stumped for him here.

And why is Ron Paul so popular in Montana?

His success has to do with that “independent, that rugged individualism-type thing that Montanans have held dear for decades and decades all the way back to the Old West,” Carter said.

Overall, as far as Carter knows, “this caucus went off flawlessly and has been an enormous success.”

David Nolt contributed reporting for this story

Like this story? Get more! Sign up for our free newsletters.