County GOP picks delegates, votes down Iraq motion

Cape Girardeau County Republicans voted down a call to set a deadline for removing troops from Iraq as they gathered Saturday to choose delegates to state and congressional district conventions.

The vote came during discussions of the state GOP platform, a document setting out party principles on state and federal issues. A small contingent of party members supporting U.S. Rep. Ron Paul's bid for the Republican presidential nomination warned that overseas military commitments were draining the U.S. Treasury at a time when the nation needed the money at home.

That vote, as well as a discussion of the way party rules allocated all the GOP national convention delegates to the statewide winner of the Feb. 5 primary, U.S. Sen. John McCain, were the highlights of the gathering of 30 party members at the County Administration Building in Jackson. The group wasn't big enough to fill the 35 slots allocated to Cape Girardeau County for the 8th Congressional District convention April 19 in Van Buren and the Republican state convention May 30 and 31 in Branson.

To make a full delegation, party members nominated absent activists and elected officials in hopes they would be able to attend the meetings.

The call to amend the platform to end to war commitments in Iraq failed on an 18-5 vote. "I can't support open-ended military operations in Iraq," Paul supporter Tom Morris said. Instead, Morris said, the U.S. should prepare for a "staged withdrawal" from the ongoing war.

Other party members, however, argued that a unilateral U.S. withdrawal would invite chaos. If the U.S. pulls out as was done in Vietnam, "we will create a travesty that will make Pol Pot look silly," GOP state committeeman Tom Cox said, referring to the Cambodian dictator who directed the slaughter of more than 1 million civilians after the 1975 communist takeover.

At the Republican National Convention in August, all 58 Missouri delegates will be pledged to McCain because state party rules direct that the winner of the statewide primary receive all the state's delegates. McCain, however, was not the first choice of voters in the 8th Congressional District -- former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee received 44.4 percent of the vote in the district -- nor was he the first choice in Cape Girardeau County, where former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney was the winner.

The GOP needs a more representative system that apportions delegates based on vote shares, Morris said. "We've got a candidate that not too many people are happy with," he said.

Despite misgivings, many Republicans at the meeting said they will remain loyal and support McCain in November. Former county GOP chairman Fritz Sander said he is satisfied with McCain, but "he wasn't my first choice. I will certainly support him over any choice the Democrats are considering."

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

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