Posted on 04/25/2016 8:15:39 AM PDT by RoosterRedux
After his resounding victory in New York Tuesday night, Republican front-runner Donald Trump looks ahead to a series of primaries in the Northeast, including Pennsylvania, where he will deploy a new strategy that includes aggressively courting delegates, a tactic he had previously and vocally panned as unnecessary and part of a "rigged" system.
The hard push for support from individual delegates is a shift for Trump who has been outmaneuvered by rival Sen. Ted Cruz, but one that has proven necessary as if he is to ensure he has the support of delegates at the Republican nominating convention in July. The effort is critical in the Keystone State, which uses a complicated and confusing process of picking 54 "unbound" delegates spread out among the state's Congressional districts who can support whomever they choose in the first round of balloting at the convention.
Trump's campaign has decided to mount a legitimate effort, using money and resources.
John Schnaedter, chair of the Allegheny Republican Party in southwest Pennsylvania, said that delegate contact from the Trump team began early.
"None of the campaigns have reached out to us other than Trump's," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
[Pennsylvania] uses a complicated and confusing process of picking 54 "unbound" delegates spread out among the state's Congressional districts who can support whomever they choose in the first round of balloting at the convention.
If this is true, one wonders why they bother with a primary.
It is a screwy system, for sure. My grandmother was an unbound delegate in 1976, the last time this all mattered, even though Ford won the state with over 90 percent of the vote. So both Ford and Reagan wooed her big-time.
If 54 delegates are truly unbound, I wonder how the campaign, the RNC, and the media can announce a delegate allocation from PA tomorrow?
These are federal elections. Whatever the state party options, voterless elections and unbound delegates shouldn’t be allowed.
Most of the delegates have either stated who they support or that they will support the winner of their congressional district. So for most delegates, the support can be estimated once the votes have been counted - but any of those 54 can change their mind at any time and for any reason. So whoever ‘wins’ a particular delegate will probably have to do some wooing and maintenance up to the convention, unless Trump’s delegate count is high enough that those delegates do not matter. In 1976, those unbound delegates made the difference in putting Ford over the top.
Thx.
That’s what I wonder.
But . . . but . . . Trump doesn’t have a “ground game” (”none of the other candidates have reached out to us”).
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