Ron Paul, Rick Santorum Suggest Foul Play From Romney Campaign

Mitt Romney scored two minor but symbolically important victories on Saturday -- a first-place finish in the CPAC Straw poll and a win in the Maine caucus -- each of which set off accusations of foul play from the second place finisher.

In an appearance on CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) suggested that Romney had doctored the results of the CPAC contest.

"I don't try to rig straw polls," he said. "You have to talk to the Romney campaign and how many tickets they bought... We've heard all sorts of things."

Meanwhile, late Saturday night, Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) sent an email to supporters that essentially alleged collusion between the Romney campaign and the Maine Republican Party without actually mentioning Romney by name. A portion of the email is below:

In Washington County -- where Ron Paul was incredibly strong -- the caucus was delayed until next week just so the votes wouldn’t be reported by the national media today. Of course, their excuse for the delay was "snow." That’s right. A prediction of 3-4 inches -- that turned into nothing more than a dusting -- was enough for a local GOP official to postpone the caucuses just so the results wouldn’t be reported tonight. This is MAINE we’re talking about. The GIRL SCOUTS had an event today in Washington County that wasn’t cancelled! And just the votes of Washington County would have been enough to put us over the top.

The Romney campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. And it's hard to imagine that they will take the accusations all that seriously, at least with respect to the CPAC result. Santorum, after all, could have bought tickets just like Romney allegedly did. He didn't.

As for Maine, the real story there is not that Romney won but that Ron Paul and his campaign have been left so aggrieved. The Paul and Romney campaigns have been in a détente since the campaign started, with each candidate expressing admiration for the other. It's unclear whether that changes now, but it certainly doesn't help Romney to have Paul's legion of backers believe that he stole a caucus, no matter how minor, from their still-bare win column.

UPDATE: The Romney campaign does, in fact, choose to engage Santorum, with the following statement from spokesperson Andrea Saul.

Rick Santorum has a history of making statements that aren’t grounded in the truth. Yesterday Mitt Romney won the CPAC straw poll and won a separate nationwide survey of conservatives conducted by CPAC organizers. Also, Mitt Romney won the Maine caucuses. Conservative voters recognize that in order to change Washington, we need someone who isn't a creature of Washington.

Comments

[Joe Goforth]

10:30 PM on 02/14/2012

Why don't I trust them? Let me count the ways..

[dave1111]

09:29 PM on 02/14/2012

Romney: "Foul play?, Ok, but this time, I get to play the rooster!"

[onlyonecandor]

06:36 PM on 02/14/2012

No one will stop the corrupt politicians. No one will repeal the Patriot Act. No one has a plan to balance the budget. No one understands the economy. No one but Ron Paul.

[baileywick]

05:05 PM on 02/14/2012

In other news:
Mitt Romney and Ron Paul suggest foul play from Santorum campaign,
Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney suggest foul play from Paul campaign,
Mitt Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum suggest foul play from Gingrinch campaign.

[eriksgarden]

08:25 AM on 02/14/2012

Romney has more money than them and will buy the Election. Do they actually want the Election to be about issues??? LOL

[Pastori Balele]

01:56 AM on 02/14/2012

GOP had terrible candidates - Romney shipped his money to be used by Swiss people and unconcerned with very poor; Gingrich with his wives' abuses, Santorum calling Blacks and the poor as welfare suckers; Ron Paul affiliation with KKK groups. As a whole GOP and TEA Party are dead after November 6. Please join me voting for President Obama in November.

[reciprocat]

06:30 AM on 02/14/2012

Will do! :-D

[JPOD]

12:07 PM on 02/14/2012

Hope you like you indefinite detention! Oh and the whole assassinating US citizens without trial and just happening to kill 3 other people around said citizen including a 16 year old child. Ya, what a noble man we have in the White House. Just another war criminal.

[baileywick]

05:06 PM on 02/14/2012

Then go vote for Gingrinch.
Or Stephen Colbert.

[Boston 019]

10:00 PM on 02/13/2012

I can't say I'm surprised. Our elections are a joke.

[Kermit Blackwood]

04:42 PM on 02/13/2012

GOP= CHEAT TO WIN!

[Boston 019]

10:01 PM on 02/13/2012

Even when competing against themselves. Hilarious.

This country is very ill, and Ron Paul is the cure. Unfortunately, nobody will realize this until unemployment (true unemployment, counting the people who exhausted 99 weeks) reaches 25%.

[karim banned]

06:34 PM on 02/14/2012

F&F

[blissnsmiles]

10:54 AM on 02/15/2012

f &f :)

[jerich4]

03:31 PM on 02/13/2012

I wish the GOP would stop refering to themselves as conservatives, becasue by any streatch of the imigination they are anything but conservative, what they are is up for debate, but these people are not conservative by any loose or broad definition of the word.

[JohnDellas]

09:03 PM on 02/13/2012

"Rabid, Radical, Extremists"(?)

[aquarius254]

03:01 PM on 02/13/2012

It's becomming clear to me as the GOP goes through their Primary process that none of their candidates is electable (unless the unemployment rate goes back to 9%). So, the idea is to have a brokered convention where they will trot out a candidate that has not gone through the Primary. Someone who hasn't been exposed for what they are by their fellow GOP'ers. Someone like Christy or Jeb Bush.

[IamChicago]

09:57 PM on 02/13/2012

Totally agree

[Cappy Cap]

10:27 PM on 02/13/2012

Christy said no and Jeb doesn't want to run either.

[Equinator]

02:43 PM on 02/13/2012

Cry babies. They wanted massive money in the election, now they are crying about it? Cry me a bucket of crocodile tears.

[ninjacb]

02:35 PM on 02/13/2012

i am wondering why hp has decided not to include grover norquist's speech from cpac in their political section. norquist said yesterday that the repugnant party is not looking for a president to have any ideas or plans on how to govern. that is the job of congress. congress will create and pass the bills the president just needs to have strong fingers to hold a pen to sign those bills. he said romney will "do as he is told". if hp would bother to publicize this tihs perhaps some people might have the veil lifted from their eyes as to just how thoroughly despicable the repugnant party really is. i cannot wait for november. to be done with all of these felonious buffoons. enough. FOUR. MORE. YEARS.

[cutesky]

02:35 PM on 02/13/2012

Now, Now boys...play nice.

[edgySF]

02:47 PM on 02/13/2012

yeah, boys -- you're all pretty.

[Cappy Cap]

10:29 PM on 02/13/2012

Petty would be more like it !

[Oonagh]

02:29 PM on 02/13/2012

Isn't there a show on tv .... Bad Actor.. Romney should run for a part like that, every day he looks more and more like a sham... definitely not authentic. Flippidy .. Floppidy..

[lglj]

02:27 PM on 02/13/2012

The irony in this claim - that Mitt and the state RNC - worked to suppress the vote is stunning. After all, it's the Republicans who've really sharpened their knives and axes in an ongoing effort to limit who can actually vote. Should we be surprised to find that they've turned their well honed weapons onto themselves? What great entertainment! With this self-immolating trajectory of the Ameriban right, maybe Nancy Pelosi's declarations about retaking the House aren't as loopy as some seemed to think.

[Oonagh]

02:30 PM on 02/13/2012

I am your second fan

[p c r]

02:46 PM on 02/13/2012

#3. Well said.