TAMUNING, Guam — The drawn-out race for the Republican presidential nomination has translated into something not often seen in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands: attention from the candidates. TAMUNING, Guam — The drawn-out race for the Republican presidential nomination
TAMUNING, Guam — The drawn-out race for the Republican presidential nomination has translated into something not often seen in Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands: attention from the candidates.
Mitt Romney’s son, Matt, visited the Northern Marianas a day ahead of Saturday’s caucus, and his father picked up the endorsement of Gov. Benigno R. Fitial, who also is the local GOP chairman. The former Massachusetts governor also called Fitial while his son was there.
After his visit, Matt Romney flew to Guam and planned to speak at the GOP state convention, where delegates were meeting Saturday to vote on a Republican presidential nominee.
The neighboring U.S. islands in the Pacific each will send nine delegates to the Republican National Convention in August. Guam’s delegates will be bound to the candidate who receives the most votes at the caucus, while those from the Northern Mariana Islands are free to back whoever they choose.
That means Fitial’s endorsement gives Romney at least one of the nine delegates.
In Guam, the only votes for the four GOP candidates will be cast by 215 delegates who attend the Republican State Convention.
Jerry Crisostomo, convention co-chair in Guam, said a recent GOP straw poll favored Romney over Rick Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator was hurt by his comment in January that the left-leaning judges on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco should be banished to Guam.
“You just don’t make those kinds of remarks in jest,” said Guam Sen. Frank Blas, a Republican running for the island’s nonvoting seat in Congress. “The good thing is he knows Guam exists. But to what context does he know our island?”
Santorum tried to make amends Friday with a phone call to Guam Republicans, including Blas. He apologized for the comment, Blas said.
In the Northern Marianas, approximately 3,000 registered Republicans in the three inhabited islands are eligible to vote in the caucus. Republicans will choose six delegates to the national convention, and six alternates. Three other GOP officials Fitial, a national committeeman and a national committeewoman also will go to the national convention as delegates because of the offices they hold.
Though residents of Guam and the Northern Marianas are U.S. citizens, they are not allowed to vote in the presidential election in November.
