Caucus Rundown 2

The Southern Caucus

The Southern Caucus seems to be the base for the opposition. The Caucus contains 9 states firmly apart of the reform movement, 2 establishment states, and 2 neutral. Blake Harris worked to keep the opposition states in the Southern Caucus, while attempting to cultivate relationships with the two states standing neutral.

The Caucus Elections for the South started with no contested election for any race and stood as Keith Gates for Caucus Chairman, Blake Harris and Eliza Vielma for Credentials Committee, and Scott Wacholtz for Caucus Secretary.

Chairman Wacholtz, a former United States Marine, is well known not just at his school but throughout the state as a tireless conservative advocate. Expect to hear more from him in the future.

Back to the election. Credentials soon became confusing. A week prior to the elections, a third jumped into the credentials race: Lindsay Moffett. The day prior to the election there was rumor that a fourth, Andrew Lamar, would also jump into the credentials race. The night prior to the election, Eliza Vielma dropped out of the credentials race. Reasons for this voluntary bowing out are unknown at this time.

The day of election all were nominated, but Andrew Lamar declined his nomination. He had secured 5-6 states.

Bottom Line: Although some states in the south have become unpredictable, no races were contested. The reform movement still remains strong in the south holding both credentials seats.

As a side note, the College Republican Chairman of Maine, Nate Walton, has a dirty little secret. More like dirty laundry. The dirty laundry? Mr. Walton is such a delegator he has commanded College Republicans to do his laundry for him. That's right, Nate Walton has someone else do his laundry.

Another side note: One certain southern chairman - who will remain nameless - walked out on a $90.00 Hawk and Dove tab. Tsk. Tsk.

Caucus Rundown

Two weekends of caucus debauchery down. Two more to go. The news coverage has been inadequate thus far, so here's the inside scoop in both caucuses.

The Northeast Caucus

The Northeast Caucus stood 6-6 for the longest time. Mike Miltenberger had worked the caucus for more than a year cultivating relationships and slowly turning the Northeast into a place where the reform movement could be competitive.

Miltenberger easily cruised to a unanimous victory as caucus chair despite Nate Walton flirting with a run. Miltenberger earned the spot as easily the most outgoing member of the caucus.

The big battle was over credentials. Team Gourley ran the female combo of Sarah Armstrong and Liz Lewis, who whipped votes all of Friday night. The reform movement pushed Frank Luna and moderate Zach Elmore.

Luna was unable to attend the caucus meeting because of the wedding of a childhood friend. When it came to voting, Armstrong made an empassioned plea that Luna "wasn't dedicated" enough to show up. It worked, as Zach Elmore jumped ship and voted for Armstrong over Luna.

Bottom Line: Elmore's flip puts the reform movement in a tough bind. Armstrong on credentials causes unexpected problems. Miltenberger gets roughed up a bit, but remains the reform movement's star in the Northeast.

The West

The Western Caucus stood 9-4 in favor of Gourley as of April 1st. In less than two months, Washington CR Chairman Brent Ludeman quickly flipped two states and had the establishment afraid of a complete sweep in the West.

Team Gourley rounded up its core supporters (Arizona, Colorado and Nevada) and the Mormon connection (Idaho, Hawaii, and Utah) through Tom Robins, but was dealt a glaring blow. Oregon CR Chairman John Swanson had endorsed Brent Ludeman for Caucus Chairman. Swanson's defection was reeling because only weeks earlier Gourley had traveled to Oregon to help him fundraise and had been considered a loyal member of the establishment "team."

The establishment refused to let Oregon go without a fight. Gourley operatives put the pressure on Swanson day and night for an entire week. Wednesday night, Paul Gourley called again and told Swanson that Ludeman's defeat is "the single most important thing for the future of my administration." Swanson flipped.

Ludeman quickly responded to the situation and offered to run for credentials instead. Swanson turned the offer down. Realizing that a complete sweep was imminent, Ludeman went into overdrive and by Thursday night had Swanson in the undecided column for caucus chair. By late Friday, Swanson was back on Ludeman's side, but credentials was a complete loss.

Bottom Line: Despite having 7 solid votes in the West, Gourley gets credentials, but somehow loses both Caucus Chair and Secretary. Election shows Ludeman's ability to recruit and gain bipartisan support from the establishment.

National Chairman Gourley Convicted For Reckless Driving

Washington, DC - In what has been a eventful weekend with the election of the Western Caucus Chairman and the two credentials committee spot, there is has been another story in the background.

The National Chairman of the College Republicans has a criminal record.

According to documents and reports obtained by an Administration source, Chairman Gourley had been charged - and convicted - of reckless endangerment with an automobile in the fall of 2005. When his November court date came Chairman Gourley was convicted as "Guilty in Absentia" meaning that he either did not either hire an attorney to represent him nor show up to contest the charges.

It is not known whether there was an arrest or booking (mugshot). One source for this story has said that an attending police officer has the discretion of arresting on the spot for reckless driving. He was however assessed a fine for the incident and court costs.

The reader stated that Chairman Gourley was travelling over 90 mph, however this cannot be collaborated as the charge was for more than 80 mph.

Additionally, it was learned that when Chairman Gourley toured Alabama earlier this year he rented one of the most posh rides - a Lexus RX-Model Luxury SUV by national college republican funds.

Chairman Paul Gourley and Executive Director Amanda Hydro were reached for comment before publication and choose not to comment on this story.