New Delegate System Being Considered

BATON ROUGE -- The way the state Republican Party awards delegates to the GOP's national nominating convention might be overhauled by the national party but not before the fall elections, the state party's newly re-elected chairman said Saturday.

Roger Villere, a Metairie businessman, said he is aware that some factions in the party are unhappy that even though White House hopeful Mike Huckabee beat national front-runner John McCain 43 percent to 42 percent in the Louisiana Republican primary two weeks ago, Huckabee came away with none of the state's committed delegates to the fall convention.

State party rules required the winner of the primary to get 50 percent of the vote to win at least 20 of the state's 47 delegates. Because Huckabee missed that target, he didn't win any delegates. Last week, party officials corralled at least 44 of the delegates for McCain, adding to the frustration of Huckabee supporters.