Washington GOP chair predicts Romney, Paul win
(CNN) – Ahead of his state's GOP caucuses on Saturday, the Washington Republican Party chair on Friday predicted a win for either Mitt Romney or Ron Paul.
The turnout required for a win can be bolstered by a well-organized ground campaign, and Kirby Wilbur told CNN that Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich "don't have the infrastructure, the ground game to follow up on turning the vote out."
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"You've got to have people turn out, and if you don't have people reminding them to turn them out, show them where the caucuses are, that's a disadvantage," Wilbur said.
He did not eliminate the possibility of a win by Santorum or Gingrich, and said the time Santorum spent campaigning in Washington on Thursday was not wasted.
"No, it's not a waste of time at all because if he can shore people up then he can get them out," he said of Santorum. "He's got a shot, but just the advantage rests with Romney and Paul because they have people on the ground every day calling."
All four candidates have campaigned in Washington in the last two weeks. Romney held a rally in Bellevue on Friday, and Paul held town hall meetings in Spokane, Ridgefield and Seattle.
Santorum was in Spokane and Pasco on Thursday, and held a tele-town hall meeting with voters on Friday. Gingrich went to Washington on the heels of the February 22 CNN debate in Arizona, and visited Olympia, Federal Way, Everett, Kennewick and Spokane.
Wilbur predicted high voter enthusiasm, as he could not remember a time when all of the major presidential candidates campaigned in his state. In 2008, the state held both caucuses and a primary, each choosing half of the state's pledged delegates.
"This is the most exciting time for Republicans in Washington state history in my book," Wilbur said. "We've never had the enthusiasm or the turnout. We're excited. I predict record and high levels of enthusiasm tomorrow for all of them."
– CNN's Gregory Wallace contributed to this report.
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Where do these republicans with the weird names come from??? Must be the moon colony,oops, I mean the moron colony.
Obamacare landslide coming in Nov, thanks teapublicans!!!
If Ron Paul doesnt win.. What under Romney will change?? Nothing at alll
Real winner: Paul
Winner after vote fraud: Romney
Go Ron Paul
Republicans should all go to moon colony and set up new country in their image.
Washington is a Blue state filled with better educated, more tolerant, and less hateful people. The Republicans are of course are looking for votes from everybody else... Santorum will get the crazies and Romney the Mormons. Paul might get a few votes from the anarchists but they'll need to come in from their compounds. Gingrich might at least have a chance to say something stupid and do something dishonorable. The GOP Clown Car rolls on...
If this article is supposed to be about a prediction of Romney and Paul winning, why is the picture at the top of Romney and Santorum? I will say this only once, CNN... STOP PUSHING SANTORUM! The man is a religious zealot and that's exactly what we DON'T need in the white house. The fact that separation of church and state makes him want to vomit is a clear sign that he is not fit to be POTUS. I am an atheist and while I wouldn't mind having a theist president, I certainly do not want one imposing his crack pot religious ideals down my throat.
I predict that all republicans will defecit to the moon colony after the Dem landslide win in Nov, hay, no taxes or obamacare up there!!!!
Republican clowns,no taxes or obamacare at the moon colony and no DEMS or woman's rights or health care. Let's go, I'll pay all exspenses . A Dem
Let's just hope there are no missing or misreported votes this time around.
YEAH...A ROMNEY PAUL WIN...AND WHO'S IN THE PICTURE???...FROTHY SANTORUM...WHO'S RUNNING FOR PASTOR.
NICE JOB!
RON PAUL 2012