Those who poo-pooed the idea that the GOP-e will try to rig the convention conveniently ignore the *fact* that the establishment has been *very* busy trying to rig the state nominations, including rewriting rules on the fly.
One of their worst offenses is to “punish” states that have their primaries early by restricting the number of delegates they can send to the convention. But the *choice* of who stays and who goes is up to the establishment. So even if 4 out of 5 delegates supports Trump or Cruz, only the 1 in 5 that supports Bush or Rubio will be allowed to attend.
And guess what? It was the establishment in those states that decided to have an early primary in the first place, knowing full well what the “punishment” would be.
Perhaps their biggest push is because of what the Ron Paul supporters did last election by trying to take over state delegations. This gave the establishment the idea to freeze out everyone but loyal establishment hacks.
In Arizona, the party censured John McCain, so his organization fired all precinct chairmen who would not sign loyalty oaths to him. He is intensely unpopular in the state, but has the money and the rage to destroy his primary opponent, not just politically, but financially and personally.
While they would never show such backbone against the Democrats, do not underestimate the viciousness of the establishment against conservatives.
I am not aware of any states going early this cycle. Do you know of any?