I voted for Ron Paul in the '12 republican primary. He is the only person to ever inspire me to vote.
Anyway I followed the entire '12 primary fairly closely and it is exactly as you say. There is some crazy system in place where its all about delegates and not so much votes. There was a lot of evidence at the time that things were rigged..especially the New Hampshire primary. I know because of that the libertarians were trying to take over each states republican party. Last i heard they succeeded for a time but many have been forced out through legal maneuverings etc. But I dont follow it anymore.