Time to vote for delegates; The Pat Anderson delegate mystery

The Republican delegates just spent about 20 minutes voting for 14 slots at the Republican National Convention. This vote is where the Ron Paul campaign has placed the most focus.

Moments ago, speeches from the proposed delegates concluded. Marianne Stebbins, a leader of the state Paul campaign, explained why their people came out today. She says that the party has strayed from its core principles of limited government. They're hoping to recreate the 1964 Goldwater movement, as she put it. Goldwater "won the party back," laying the conservative foundation for decades to come. She also objected to how all their candidates were not going to be allowed to speak.

The party establishment is basically represented by the "Minnesota Conservative Delegate Team" effort, featuring plenty of signs and glossy pamphlets, a group formally put together for the convention but not a part of the party. That slate consists of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Tony Sutton, Diane Johnson, Herry Paar, Brandon Sawalich, Ron Schutz, Michael Brodkorb, U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, Chris Jacobson, Carleton Crawford, Midge Dean, Pat Anderson and House Minority Leader Marty Seifert. The Team also sent out a few anti-Paul mailings to delegates recently.

Former State Auditor Pat Anderson is prominently featured on one of the large Minnesota Conservative Delegate Team banners, which are hung from the ceiling, flanking both ends of the front of the convention center. However, we heard from one of the Paul people that she's also supported by them, as well. According to our source, Anderson was not happy with GOP Party chair Ron Carey's recent emailed statements about their movement, and went to the Paul campaign's in-state leadership with an olive branch.

The counterpart is to the established list is the Conservative Conscience Coalition, who distributed pamphlets on the floor. Their national delegate candidates were GOP-endorsed CD5 congressional candidate Barb Davis White, Marianne Stebbins, Twila Brase, Ken Lucier, Tom Conlon, Rudy Takala, Craig Bishop, Rick Weible, Peter Gerads, Tom Gieble, Greg O'Connor, Tim Kinley, Dave Mathias, and... Pat Anderson. The pamphlet was paid for by the slate, including Anderson.

Initially, we heard that Ron Paul signs were forbidden within the arena, but within about 90 minutes of the convention getting underway, oversized Paul signs got placed alongside the others.

In remarks in the press area, GOP party chairman Ron Carey said that he appreciated the Paul people showing up, but that it was clear they hadn't been able to delay or dramatically alter the convention's course, because they didn't have the numbers. That must have been a relief for Carey, since party conventions in states like Nevada have gone quite differently.

Earlier, from the floor, grassroots Paul delegates raised objections over convention "Rule 7," which specifies that anonymous handouts, such as the ones attacking Paul, cannot be distributed on the floor. However, the Paul faction lacked enough votes to seriously affect the setting of the convention rules, or forcing resolution in their favor.

Whether or not they win national delegates will be determined by the voting which just concluded.