Michigan Delegate Controversy

Michigan Republican Party officials are defending their move to change how delegates were awarded in Tuesday's GOP primary, a move which will give Mitt Romney a 16-14 edge over Rick Santorum, instead of a 15-15 split.

"Regrettably, there was an error in the memo drafted and sent to the respective campaigns," said the Republican National Committeeman Saul Anuzis, who said the campaigns had been told two statewide delegates would be awarded by a proportional formula, when it should have been winner-take-all on those two delegates.

"There is no disagreement amongst the members that this was the intent of the Credential Committee and there is email traffic between the committee members and counsel discussing the same," Anuzis added.

But to some, this smacked of a power play by Republicans in Michigan who wanted to make sure that Mitt Romney wasn't in any delegate tie with Santorum.

"We've all heard rumors that Mitt Romney was furious that he spent a fortune in his home state, had all the political establishment connections and could only manage a tie Rick Santorum," said Hogan Gidley of the Santorum campaign.

"But we never thought the Romney campaign would try to rig the outcome of an election by changing the rules after the vote. This kind of back room dealing political thuggery just cannot and should not happen in America," Gidley thundered in a statement to reporters.

As the decision leaked out, Twitter exploded with accusations that Republicans in Michigan were just trying to "fix" the election for Romney.

"The good ol' boys don't want @RickSantorum. They want elitist @MittRomney," read one Tweet.

Adding insult to injury, that and more was visible on the Michigan GOP's own web site, under the heading, "Who is talking about MIGOP?"

"@MIGOP proved today that they're in need of some serious sunlight," read another.

"Either the #migop is corrupt or they are too stupid to write a press release. I suspect both," read another Twitter rebuke.

Over on the Facebook page of the Republican National Chairman, it was even more pointed.

"This is blatant bias for Romney!!" wrote one. "The RNC is making it embarrassing to be a Republican," said another.

"I find it odd that the Republican party won't enforce its own rules," added one more aggravated GOP writer.

Critics pointed to an NBC interview with the Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party from a few weeks ago, as he detailed how the two statewide delegates would not be winner-take-all.

And that's how certain web sites that track the endless details on the delegate selection process understood things in Michigan as well.

"2 delegates are proportionally allocated to those candidate receiving 15% or more of the total statewide popular vote," it says on thegreenpapers.com, one of my favorite sites for the nitty gritty on delegates.

And if you go back to the web site of Anuzis, you find that last year he said the statewide delegates would be allocated proportionally:

"The Committee also recommended using the 2008 Apportionment method to allocate delegates. That is winner take all by congressional district and proportional for the at-large delegates based on the overall statewide vote. A candidate would have to get a minimum of 15% to qualify for any delegates."

But that was also before Michigan lost half of its delegates for going before Super Tuesday.

Yes, it's only one delegate - but it's also rolls right into the argument that both Santorum and Newt Gingrich have been making, that Romney will do anything to win.

It's important to note this brush fire before we get into Super Tuesday, because the delegate rules next week will make your head hurt.