GOP considers caucus change

There's a Republican rumble coming this weekend in Helena, and the outcome will decide how Montana GOP voters participate in next year's presidential primary election.

Actually, the rumble is under way. Flathead County Republican Party Chairman Greg Barkus said discussions got "pretty heated" at a Flathead County Republican Central Committee meeting Wednesday night, where a proposed "closed caucus" was pitched by Erik Iverson, the new state GOP chairman, as the best method of picking who Montana Republicans will support for president in 2008.

The rule change calls for a Feb. 5 statewide, county-by-county caucus vote open only to elected precinct officials, state and county elected officials and local party officials. A major component in the new rule would require the state party's 25 delegates to the Republican National Convention to cast their votes in favor of the candidate who garners the most votes in the caucus, with a couple of exceptions.

The "winner-take-all" caucus would present a big change, Iverson and other advocates say, because the state party's delegates currently can vote for any candidate they want to at the national convention despite the outcome of the popular vote in the state's June primary election. And, they contend that the outcome of the Montana primary is historically worthless, because other states decide the winning primary candidate long before June comes around.

Iverson saiD the rule change is intended to energize the Montana Republican Party at the precinct level.

Opponents of the rule change stress that there is not a rupture in the state Republican Party. They give Iverson glowing accolades, and say there is general agreement on a vast majority of party platform issues. It's just that they consider the caucus idea to be a flawed proposal.

"They can put as much lipstick on that pig as they want to, but it's still a pig," said Kalispell businessman Butch Clark, who also says that Iverson is "the best thing to come along in a long time for the Republican Party … He's got all the things we need."

Clark said that he values his vote, even if it is cast in June and the presidential primary contest has already been decided.

"After 52 years of being a Republican and voting Republican, I don't like the idea of being disenfranchised," Clark said. "And their arguments aren't good. They don't make sense."

He dismisses the argument that Montana's delegates to the national convention can vote any way they wish as irrelevant. Past delegates have cast votes for the candidate who gets the most support of Republican voters in the June primary.

"They can't point to a time when that hasn't happened," Clark said.

Clark resents the idea of "elite" precinct bosses deciding how Montana throws its 25 votes at the national convention.

Barkus, who also serves as a state senator from Kalispell, sees things differently.

"The difference is that we want to bring meaning and purpose to the precinct committee position," he said. "And I think that will energize the party to first of all increase the grass-roots participation at the precinct level. And I think it will create a new level of interest in grass-roots politics."

But Barkus concedes that he was a "little surprised at the resistance and the reluctance to look at the opportunity" after hearing opponents at Wednesday's gathering, one of several "listening sessions" being led by Iverson across the state.

"It's a hard sell to people who are blinded by this thought that their vote in the state primary for the presidential contest has meaning," Barkus said. "There is nothing binding about that vote now."

And, Iverson stresses, Montana's primary election is currently the second-to-last to be held in the nation.

"Our point is, Montana is getting left behind," Iverson said. "We are now second from last, right behind South Dakota. We've become irrelevant."

Don Loranger, a Bigfork Republican who strongly opposes the caucus proposal, sees a danger of the caucus supporting a candidate who completely fades in the primary race, or one who is completely at odds with the wider GOP primary vote, which still would be held in June.

Iverson said the proposed rule change accounts for that possibility at least in part: delegates would be required to support the caucus candidate during a first ballot, but not a second, he said.

And if the candidate supported by the caucus is trailing far behind leading candidates or has dropped out of the race, Iverson said, there is a traditional obligation for that candidate to "release" his delegates to vote for another candidate.

Clark said the best solution to the problem is to hold Montana's primary election earlier in the year, with legislation requiring both Democrat and Republican delegates to support candidates that get the most votes. Preferably, he said, Montana could join a bloc of other Western states to gain influence in presidential politics.

Early this year, the Montana House of Representatives passed legislation that would move up the primary election, but it was defeated in a Senate committee. Some observers say it lost support because of a $1 million price tag, but others say there is resistance among legislators and others to protracting the period between Montana's primary and general election for state and local offices.

Loranger said there was a mixed response to the caucus proposal at the Wednesday meeting, with most support coming from precinct officials and others who would be participate in caucus voting.

He questions whether the proposal appeals to the GOP rank-and-file. The caucus would involve about 3,000 voters statewide, while about 105,000 people voted on the Republican ticket during Montana's last presidential primary election.

If the party chooses the caucus, Loranger wonders how it will affect independent voters.

"If they are trying to appeal to 29 percent of Montanans who say they don't have a party affiliation, this is a poor way to do it," he said.

The caucus rule change will involve a select group of voters Saturday in Helena, many of whom would be eligible to participate in caucus voting as well.

The State Central Party meeting will be attended by four party officials from each county: the chairman, finance chairman, and precinct committeeman and committeewoman.

Representing the Flathead County Republican Central Committee will be Barkus, chairman; Harry Lattin, finance chairman; and precinct representatives Ron and Anita Hoye.

Iverson said the rule change requires a two-thirds majority.

"I think because they have to have a two-thirds vote, it will be awfully, awfully close," Clark predicted.

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com