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Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said there's "potential" for House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to be drafted as a presidential nominee at a Republican convention because he is the one person who could unify the party. "I think it's just natural that that speculation would happen because he's one of the great leaders here on Capitol Hill and one of the people who brings both sides, all sides together, I should say," Hatch told reporters Thursday.

Posted Apr 7, 2016 by Martin Armstrong Inside sources have relayed that from the outset, Cruz is very much disliked behind the curtain. His entire strategy from the beginning has been to be the last man standing against Trump assuming the Party will install him despite the fact most really dislike him.All the exit polls have shown that more than half of voters in this Republican primary were merely “dissatisfied” with government, compared to one-third who were simply outright “angry.” The voters in Wisconsin seem to be more in never-never-land and said for the most part they want someone with experience....

Donald Trump’s campaign will soon announce the hiring of several “seasoned operatives” and “well-known, established names” to help the Republican front-runner quickly grow his operation and prepare for a likely contested convention, his campaign manager said Wednesday. The burst of new hires will have to navigate a political organization unlike that of any modern major presidential candidate, where loyalty is valued above all else and advisers seldom challenge Trump’s vision. Over the past two months, Trump has been growing his campaign staff to deal with a series of unforeseen or underestimated problems, including the need to better monitor delegates to...

In July of this year approximately 50,000 people will attend the Republican National Convention at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Current Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is presently leading his opponents in the race to get enough delegates to secure the party nomination.However, many have expressed concern over the controversial Trump becoming the nominee and have looked for an anti-Trump to get the nomination in spite of lacking a larger share of votes and delegates.As a result, there is a chance that this year's GOP Convention will resemble the party's 1880 convention, which had a brokered result. In the...

"Rule 40(b) - Each candidate for nomination for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States shall demonstrate the support of a majority of the delegates from each of eight (8) or more states, severally, prior to the presentation of the name of that candidate for nomination. Notwithstanding any other provisions of these rules or any rule of the House of Representatives, to demonstrate the support required of this paragraph a certificate evidencing the affirmative written support of the required number of permanently seated delegates from each of the eight (8) or more states shall have...

But even if an almost best-case scenario shakes out for Cruz, this is a suicide mission whether he realizes it or not. Because a brokered convention needs two — not just one — sacrificial lambs. Coming within 100-150 delegates of Trump will do a lot to convince any remaining delegates not that Cruz is the answer but that Trump really doesn't have any chance of getting enough Republican support to even remotely challenge Hillary Clinton in the general election. . . . Ryan's chances of winning are a different discussion, as is the crucial decision of who would be his...

Not so fast, everybody. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, Wisconsin will not be the end of Donald Trump. It will not even be the beginning of the end. But it might be the end of the beginning. To be sure, Trump had a terrible, horrible, atrocious week. But imagine the worst-case scenario for him: He wins none of Wisconsin’s 42 convention delegates in Tuesday’s primary, while his nearest rival, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), wins them all. Even with that improbable result, Trump would have a huge lead over Cruz in the delegate race, 736 to 505. A Wisconsin shutout would make...

As Capitol Hill aides have explained, amongst Washington’s GOP political class Ryan is regarded as the “Republican Jesus.” Indeed, National Review, which helped put the third world migration enthusiast Paul Ryan into the Speaker’s office, seemed to embrace the idea of nudging him into the Oval Office. National Review’s deputy managing editor penned a piece entitled, “Paul Ryan for President!” writing: “One can imagine a case where Trump and Cruz control 60 to 70 percent of the vote between them, and neither one will budge, and no other candidate or boss will consider helping either one. Then it will be...

Republican presidential candidate John Kasich said he thinks he has a good chance at a contested convention this summer. "I believe that a convention will look at somebody like me, and that’s why I think I’m going to be the nominee," the Ohio governor said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. Kasich said he expects to continue gaining momentum and picking up delegates until the convention. Kasich then touted his poll numbers in head-to-head match-ups against Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, saying he beats Clinton in "virtually every poll." "I'm the only one that does it on the Republican side,"...

In recent weeks, there has been increasing discussion about the possibility that House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI)could emerge out of a brokered convention as the Republican nominee if the donor class is successful in denying Donald Trump the requisite 1,237 delegates. Just as Paul Ryan’s ascension to House Speaker represented a total repudiation of the GOP electorate by GOP lawmakers, Ryan’s selection as the Party’s nominee would similarly represent the donor class’s silencing of voters and voters’ views on immigration, trade, and foreign policy that have transformed the country and its role in the world. Regardless, many in the...

Sen. Ted Cruz is making the case that GOP presidential rival John Kasich and his pesky campaign cannot win the party nomination unless he has top showings in eight states -- an argument that could help Cruz in the upcoming Wisconsin primary and the GOP White House race. Cruz in recent interviews has repeatedly cited a Republican National Committee rule that states candidates can be nominated only if they've won the total delegate majority in eight or more states, as reported first by The Washington Post. Trump has 736 pledged delegates, followed by Cruz with 463, then Kasich with 143...

I write this blog in light of the lasting discussion of a possible contested Republican convention in 2016 election. While historically common, a contested convention has not occurred 40 years. The following is a brief history of each contested Republican national convention from the past. After reading this, how do you feel the convention if 2016 might play out? 1856 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, PABallots: 11Leader on the first ballot: Rep. Nathaniel Banks of MAUltimate Nominee: Fmr Sen. John C. Fremont of CA-snip- 1860 Republican National Convention in Chicago, ILBallots: 3Leader on the first ballot: Gov. William Seward of NYUltimate nominee:...

Only a hundred? Politico’s Kyle Cheney and Ben Schreckinger talked with delegates coming to Cleveland in July and estimate that the exodus from Donald Trump’s legion of bound delegates will get decimated on a second ballot, as something north of 100 will look for an alternative. However, that number may not be as dramatic as some have assumed: The reality of a contested convention has become more real than ever, with Donald Trump facing the risk of losing Wisconsin next week, meaning he’d have to win roughly 60 percent of the remaining delegates to win the Republican presidential nomination...

On Greta last night, RNC chairman Reince Priebus suggested to Fox News viewers that even the vice presidential nomination could be contested at the GOP convention in Cleveland later this year. GRETA: The convention. Tell us for planning purposes. If it is a "open/brokered/contested" convention, will it last longer than we expect? PRIEBUS: No. GRETA: It's gonna just be those days? PRIEBUS. That's right. GRETA: You think it's gonna be put to bed? PRIEBUS: We will put whatever systems in place, we will have meetings however long we need to have them... In order to make sure that we not...

Okay, we know that Ted Cruz needs to win 84% of the remaining delegates to reach the magic 1237 to win the nomination. Since that won't be happening, his ONLY hope is to win after the first ballot at an open (brokered) convention. For him to win you need to believe that the GOPe would be cool with a Cruz nomination. Sooooo... On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being a complete impossibility of a Cruz nomination and 10 being an absolute certainty that Cruz will be nominated, numerically rate Cruz's chances of a nomination after the first...

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A newly launched website from the Republican National Committee is the clearest sign yet that the GOP is preparing for July's Republican National Convention in Cleveland to be contested. The new site, conventionfacts.gop, broadly lays out the party's rules for nominating a presidential candidate, including walking through the ground rules for the possible multiple rounds of voting at an "open convention." (This is the party's preferred terminology — it lacks the air of controversy of a "contested convention," the more commonly used phrase.) By explaining the GOP's arcane rules, Republicans hope to tamp down the inevitable controversy...

Armed with newfound, if tepid, support from unlikely sources over the past few weeks, Ted Cruz has touted himself as a Republican uniter whose campaign represents a broad and ideologically diverse spectrum of the party. But with the GOP aiming for a contested convention in July, there are mixed signals as to whether Cruz is the consensus choice in that scenario or simply the party’s vehicle to Cleveland, only to be ditched later. While Donald Trump still has a viable path to securing the 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, a loss to Cruz in Wisconsin next week would...

I could not find an online source for this, but it was just announced on Fox News. Trump is meeting with the Republican National Committee. The topic is unknown.

Marco Rubio is moving to lock down his delegates until the Republican convention so no one else can claim them just yet, in an unconventional move that represents the latest bid to stall Donald Trump’s front-running campaign – and perhaps give the Florida senator and ex-candidate a bigger role to play in July. A Rubio spokesman confirmed the push Wednesday, while suggesting it’s more an effort to thwart Trump by denying him the necessary delegates than to somehow get Rubio back in the game in the event of a contested convention. "Of course, he's no longer a candidate and wants...

Despite suspending his campaign, Sen. Marco Rubio is attempting to keep every delegate he won while running for president. The unusual move reflects preparations for a contested convention this summer — and comes as Donald Trump backed away from an earlier pledge to support the Republican party's nominee if he is treated unfairly after winning more delegates than his rivals. Rubio aide Alex Burgos told MSNBC that while the Florida senator is "no longer a candidate," he "wants to give voters a chance to stop Trump."