McCain wins all 20 at-large delegates at stake in PR

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Boricua Master
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Subject: McCain wins all 20 at-large delegates at stake in PR
posted by BoricuaMaster on Sunday, February 24th 2008 @ 11:04 PM

John McCain wins all 20 at-large delegates at stake in Puerto Rico
by Associated Press

2008-02-24 21:54:28

TOA BAJA, Puerto Rico (AP) - Republican Party members in Puerto Rico awarded all 20 presidential convention delegates at stake here Sunday to Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has vowed to help resolve Washington's complicated relationship with the U.S. Caribbean territory.
The delegates will each cast one vote at the Republican National Convention in September, joined by three local members of the Republican National Committee who have also pledged to back McCain as party delegates.
Sunday's win gives McCain 998 total delegates, inching him closer to the 1,191 needed to secure the Republican nomination. His rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, trails with 254.
In a Feb. 20 letter to Luis Fortuno, Puerto Rico's nonvoting congressional representative and a party delegate, McCain pledged to back plans that would enable Puerto Rico to decide if it wants to remain a commonwealth or become a U.S. state or an independent nation.
«The people of Puerto Rico deserve a process of self-determination and a congressionally defined referendum that gives them a fair and unambiguous choice among status options,» McCain wrote. «That is one of the many important things that we will accomplish together.
The island, a U.S. commonwealth since 1952, is almost evenly divided on the question of its status. Islanders have voted to keep their loose affiliation with the U.S., rejecting statehood in nonbinding referendums in 1967, 1993 and 1998.
The win marked a sharp turnaround on the island for McCain, who mustered little enthusiasm in the Spanish-speaking commonwealth in 2000, when he was handily defeated by George W. Bush.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and maverick candidate Ron Paul each won 5 percent in Sunday's vote, not enough for even one convention delegate, according to local Republican Party Secretary Carlos Chardon.
Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens but cannot vote for president, and their representation in Congress is restricted to a single nonvoting member. National party conventions provide islanders a rare chance to have a direct say in Washington.
The island, which has voted overwhelmingly Democratic in general elections, holds its Democratic caucus on June 7, awarding 55 delegates to the party's national convention in late August. Eight «superdelegates» will round out the island's 63 convention votes.
Fortuno was confident McCain would work for continued federal assistance to develop the island and achieve a permanent resolution on its commonwealth status. Most Puerto Rican Republicans are also members of the pro-statehood New Progressive Party.
«The issue of the territory's political status is paramount,» said Fortuno, who supports statehood and is running for governor.
Ignacio Suarez, who backed McCain in Sunday's vote, said the all-but-certain nominee has the best sense of what's important to islanders.
«He's going to address the issues that are really important to Puerto Rico, like the economy and the status issue,» Suarez said.
On Saturday, McCain also picked up all nine Republican delegates in American Samoa, as well as the nine GOP delegates from the U.S. Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

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