Posted on 04/09/2016 8:30:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In Colorado and South Carolina, the GOP's embattled front-runner had another very bad day.
Donald Trump’s struggle to win loyal delegates to the Republican National Convention grew even more desperate on Saturday, with crushing losses in Colorado and South Carolina that put victory at a contested convention further from his grasp.
Trump, who handed the reins of much of his campaign this week to strategist Paul Manafort in an effort to shore up his operation before the nomination slips away, was swept out of delegate slots up for grabs at Colorado’s state convention. Adding to his woes, he picked up just one delegate of six on the ballot in South Carolina. The most painful result, though, may have been Trump’s failure to capture two of three slots in his strongest South Carolina congressional district.
In fact, Trump lost five of the six delegate seats on the ballot in South Carolina’s 3rd and 7th congressional districts. Ted Cruz nabbed a delegate in the 7th district, while another, Alan Clemmons, remained uncommitted despite Trump’s dominant finish there in the state’s Feb. 20 primary. (The Manhattan billionaire won 43 percent of the district’s vote, to Cruz’s 20 percent and Kasich’s 6 percent.) Cruz also won two of three delegates in the 3rd district, while a third — Susan Aiken, a supporter of Marco Rubio — will go to the convention as an uncommitted delegate.
At the same time, Trump so far has been swept in Colorado, which unlike most states chooses its delegates indirectly, through a series of caucuses. Cruz, who has had a team working the state for months, received a thunderous ovation in Colorado Springs at Saturday afternoon’s chaotic GOP assembly as he announced his preliminary delegate haul while Trump’s bare-bones operation struggled to get organized.
After firing the organizer initially put in charge of Colorado last week, Trump’s team hired Patrick Davis, a GOP operative from Colorado Springs, to put together a slate in an effort to win some of the delegate slots to be elected by just fewer than 4,000 party activists at Saturday’s assembly. Heading in, Cruz had already swept the seven assemblies held in the state’s congressional districts, each of which elect three delegates, giving him 21 of Colorado’s 34 elected delegates – a majority – before ballots hit the floor at the state convention.
"We have beaten Donald Trump," Cruz told supporters packed into the World Arena.
Trump’s last-minute organizing effort did not go well. The leaflet his campaign handed out listed a slate of 26 delegates. But in many cases the numbers indicating their ballot position — more than 600 delegates are running for 13 slots — were off, meaning that Trump’s team was mistakenly directing votes toward other candidates’ delegates.
When the balloting results were announced Saturday evening, Cruz picked up the 13 statewide at-large delegates chosen during Saturday’s convention, with the final three appointed automatically by the Colorado Republican Party, giving him all 34 of Colorado's elected delegates (Trump did win six of the 34 alternate spots).
“Cruz had the crowd eating out of his hand when he spoke,” said Kelly Maher, a GOP operative based in Denver.
It’s an extension of a losing streak for Trump that threatens the mogul’s odds of winning the Republican nomination at what is increasingly likely to be a contested convention in July. Trump is close to falling short of enough support in the state-level primaries and caucuses to clinch the nomination outright, meaning his fate would be determined by delegates in Cleveland.
Yet Trump’s thinly staffed operations, even in the states he carried easily in February and March primaries, have left little organization behind to support delegate candidates. In addition to the congressional-district routs in South Carolina and Colorado, he’s been dealt setbacks in Indiana, North Dakota, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Georgia. Massachusetts is also shaping up as a delegate battleground, despite Trump’s dominance of the popular vote there.
Trump has primarily lost delegate races to Cruz, whose superior organization, months of preparatory work and resonance among the GOP’s activist base has helped him consolidate support in the insider-oriented battle for delegates. Trump has begun mobilizing for a delegate push in recent days, empowering Manafort, a veteran of past convention battles, to lead his effort, but the 67-year-old lobbyist and political consultant is still playing catch-up.
Trump dominated South Carolina’s Feb. 20 primary in a much more crowded field, earning the obligatory support of all 50 of the state’s convention delegates on the first ballot at the national convention, set to be held in Cleveland. But if Trump falls short of clinching the nomination on a first vote, these delegates will become “unbound” on a second ballot, free to support the candidate of their choice.
Trump’s lone South Carolina delegate on the day, Jerry Rovner of Pawleys Island, said he’d stick with Trump so long as it looked like he had a shot to win the convention on subsequent ballots. But he said he’s open to backing Cruz as well, though he won’t consider any other candidate, even new entrants into the contest at the convention.
“The people that put the work in, that’s who I’m gonna support. I’m going to start with Donald Trump and I’ll stay with him,” he said.
Gerri McDaniel, who won an alternate slot for Trump in the 7th District, said she was frustrated to finish just outside the top three in voting and noted that she had been sick, preventing her from actively campaigning in the delegate fight.
“If I had not have been sick — this is my fourth day out of the house — probably the results would have been quite different," she said.
Trump was always poised to struggle to win delegates in South Carolina because the process favors party insiders who typically have rejected his brash, establishment-bashing style.
Early indications in North Carolina and Iowa suggested Trump had been routed in the hunt for another 30-plus delegates there. Cruz won the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1, but Trump bested Cruz in North Carolina on March 15. Still, Trump's efforts were essentially futile in both states.
Trump's lone bright spot of the weekend came in Michigan, where Republicans were also selecting delegates on Saturday. With a little help from John Kasich's campaign, Trump's team gave Cruz a dose of his own medicine, leaving the Texas senator shut out of the eight convention committee slots.
Kasich's delegates, whose votes Cruz was counting on, ended up voting for Trump behind closed doors after Cruz attempted to win all eight committee slots. Saul Anuzis, Cruz's Michigan campaign chairman, called it a "double-cross," even going as far as to tweet that the Ohio governor is "now openly auditioning for Donald Trump's Vice President slot."
Of the 59 delegates selected Friday and Saturday in Michigan, 25 spots went to Trump, while Cruz and Kasich each took 17 apiece. But the highly coveted committee assignments, especially on the RNC Rules Committee that could revamp procedures for the nomination battle, are of heightened importance with the increasing likelihood of a contested convention. If Kasich doesn't have any supporters on that committee, his rivals' backers could draft new rules that make it harder for Kasich to compete.
Every state gets two slots on the committee. Kasich backer Judi Schwalbach won the rules slot, and Trump supporter Matt Hall won the other, a rare double defeat for Cruz.
Cruz was also boxed out by Trump and Kasich supporters from any of the other convention committees. Kasich delegate Chuck Yob won a slot on the Convention Credentials Committee, which will rule on challenges to delegates’ eligibility to be seated in Cleveland. And Kasich delegate Yavonne Whitbeck won a spot on the Permanent Organization Committee, which — among other tasks — will elect a chairman to preside over the convention.
On Friday evening, as the scope of Cruz’s victory in Colorado was coming into view, Trump seemed to recognize his plight.
“Isn’t it a shame that the person who will have by far the most delegates and many millions more votes than anyone else, me, still must fight,” he tweeted.
Oh yes. Obama never claimed to be a Christian or a conservative (well, none of them did), he was up front honest on what he would do to this country.
Hillary and Harry Reid are typical politicians, dishonest and crooked.
None of them reach the level of Ted Cruz.
In one sense of the word “bad,” Cruz is a lot like McCain, another “moderate”: Cruz is very much like, but actually worse than Obama ... as well as Reid and Clinton.
We expect bad things from Democrats.
Cruz is the kind of man who some day, when no one is looking, will reach into her coffin and steal the coins from his Mother’s eyes so he can buy flowers for a prostitute.
You hate Ted Cruz more than, say, Adolf Hitler, Fidel Castro, Osama bin Laden, Jeffrey Dahmer and every abortionist who ever slaughtered an innocent child?
Interesting.
You got that right. :)
This sorta "finders keepers, losers weepers" morality. You find someone's wallet on the ground with a thousand bucks in it, and your logic is, hey, the owner shoulda been more careful with the wallet, I'm not stealing, there's no LAW against my keeping this, this is a public sidewalk.
It is isn’t it? Yes, I believe I do.
I wasn’t around for Hitler, Fidel Castro limited himself to his own country, bin Laden was a creation of our government that got out of hand, Jeffrey Dahmer is a criminal who got what he deserved. Abortionists again are something we sanctioned - our government and while I have never voted to allow it, this country did, they are not criminals.
But none of them said to me, in my face, your vote doesn’t count. I am going to take over your government, knowing I am not eligible, knowing I’m not qualified, because I want to.
Perhaps they did and I didn’t recognize it at the time but I do now with Ted Cruz. I do hope he eventually rots in hell for this.
Cruz’s people shrug off such things as delegate bribing and cozening, adultery and selling out your country and fellow Americans.
They’ve gone full retard, but they’re conservatives ..... sure they are: full drag GOP-establishment RINO conservatives.
You speak of respect for the Constitution, respect for the Constitution is at root respect for the rules going in. Trump knew or at least was charged with knowing the rules from the day he declared his candidacy. Cruz has played entirely by the rules. Constitutionalism is not a surrender to the mob, it is a set of rules to be observed.
“I don’t understand why you are so giddy that millions of voters potentially will have their votes negated & thrown to a candidate they did not vote for or support? I know you hate Trump, but doesn’t it bother you that the political system is rigged like this? Really, it goes against what this country was founded on. Whether it is your candidate or not, you should be bothered.”
Do you understand why there’s an Electoral College, and it’s not just the straight democratic vote that elects the President?
The parties function similarly. It’s so there’s a check on the people getting tricked into making a really poor selection. That’s the situation we’re in with Trump, in my opinion. His positions on illegals and Muslim immigrants/refugees have resonated. I wish other candidates would move closer to them. But those positions and his other broad brushed slogans (Make America Great Again) don’t make up for the fact that he’s not stated any realistic plan for making them happen. Further, he is often inarticulate, has a highly questionable moral compass, has a volatile temper, and his views on many important issues have changed like the wind over the years. In fact, he’s well known for rubbing elbows with the Clintons and other unsavory types. ;-)
I think the nation could do far better for a President. Thank goodness there’s a way for it to happen. Whatever the outcome, it must be God’s will, right?
Agree.
the slithering ted was kinda the giveaway there...
< / snickers >
At least they were born here. And have 2 parents that were both citizens when they were conceived and birthed.
As to exceeding their cheating ability... well, Ted is still a newby, but he learns such things quite quickly.
It's their party, they can do what they want. HOWEVER---they offered no caveat when the PRESENTED the primary contests in each state as a democratic vote. That's fraudulent. They didn't say, "Buyer beware: the candidate you vote for in your state may not be the one your state's delegates vote for at the Convention."
Finally, IF the shoe were on the other foot, the Cruznadians would be screaming bloody murder. Whatever position is required for Cruz to win, they take it. Doesn't matter if it's morally wrong or if it's bad for the country.
I agree with everything but the cozening... is that a form of mormon prophecy or what?
Again, I don’t know they sleep at night supporting a serpent like Cruz, driven by pure ambition.
I sleep fine supporting a man who has accomplished just about every ambition a man could have, but has nevertheless dedicated the last part of his life to trying to pull America back from the brink—pushed there by apparatchik scum like Cruz and his Uniparty.
Good night.
“I don’t believe I have actively hated anyone in my live time as much as I hate Ted Cruz. “
You claim to hate Cruz more than you hate 0bama or Hilliary? (Not to mention various leaders of ISIS, Iran or North Korea for instance...)
Truly amazing.
I think Cruz is a fine human being who’s being smeared by those far beneath his moral character. There’s not been a shred of hard evidence so far.
We’ll see who’s right soon enough I think.
As if I give a **** what you think.
No, the rules have nothing to do with the Constitution.
They have to do with the Republican party, are changed like dirty socks and are put in place to subvert the American voter if the elites do not like what’s happening.
Don’t even try to tell me that the majority of the American voters are a mob.
I imagine we will.
Is Ted Cruz a natural-born citizen eligible to serve as president? [Yes! And I support him! JimRob]
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