Santorum and Ron Paul cry foul

Romney declared victory in both the Maine caucus and the CPAC straw poll but little Ricky and Ron Paul aren't ready to concede so easily. Ricky says Willard bought the CPAC win.

Rick Santorum suggested on Sunday that Mitt Romney's campaign may have rigged a straw poll of conservative activists by paying the entrance fee for supporters.

"You have to talk to the Romney campaign and how many tickets they bought," Santorum said. "We've heard all sorts of things."

Of course, the losers say that just about every time. Ron Paul was accused of bussing his supporters in previous wins. And really, who the hell cares? CPAC is about as predictive as a coin toss and only reflects the views of a small subset of fringers. Suppose it matters to the candidates, since the CPACers include the so-called opinion leaders of the far right. But their adherents have pretty much shrunk to the 27%ers who are going to vote GOP no matter what.

Of more import is Ron Paul's alleged loss in Maine which smacks of establishment GOP manipulation. It's inarguably suspect that a local GOP chair decides to postpone the caucus based on a forecast of a mere 3 inches of snow. In Maine. That wouldn't be grounds to postpone an outdoor barbecue up there and indeed, it didn't scare the Girl Scouts into postponing an event in the same damn county. Which coincidentally happens to be a Ron Paul stronghold. In fact, the 16% of the precincts whose votes won't be counted just happen to be where Willard would have been trounced.

As I said earlier, it's likely Ron Paul is going to win the delegates in Maine anyway, but optics still matter to encourage his supporters elsewhere. Can't blame him for refusing to concede. [Photo via; believe it's a photoshop]

[Thanks to The Week for the name check]

[More posts daily at the Detroit News.]