Free Republic

“Locked up” in the sense that more than half the delegation will be loyal to Kasich, that is, not “locked up” in the sense that Kasich is going to win the primary in two weeks. As noted this morning, Indiana will be crucial in determining whether Trump clinches the nomination before the convention or not. Thirty delegates will be awarded to the statewide winner and another 27 will be awarded to the winners of the state’s nine congressional districts (three delegates per district, of course). If Cruz were to sweep, that’s 57 delegates that would be bound to him...

Conventions were held in every Georgia Congressional district last week to choose 42 of the state’s 76 delegates to the Republican National Convention. Each district choses three delegates. In the Third District, which includes Coweta, Trump won overwhelmingly in the Presidential Preference Primary. He also overwhelmingly won Georgia. But Saturday, Ted Cruz supporters overwhelmingly were named delegates at conventions around the state. Though many of the delegates chosen Saturday are supporters of Cruz, they still have to vote for Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention on the first ballot. Under Republican party rules, the delegates are free to vote...

<p>Sean Hannity, the conservative radio and television host, laid into Senator Ted Cruz on his radio program on Tuesday, scolding Mr. Cruz for dodging legitimate questions about his approach to wrangling delegates.</p> <p>Mr. Cruz, who is trying to catch up to Donald J. Trump in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, has been aggressively trying to peel away delegates in states where he lost the popular vote. Mr. Trump has said he is exploiting a rigged system. When Mr. Hannity asked about it on Tuesday, Mr. Cruz said the issue was a concern only to “hard-core Donald Trump supporters.”</p>

“Cruz was the earliest to organize here and unquestionably had the deepest connections on the ground. His top local organizer, Bette Grande, has been supporting him for months, dating back to when Cruz’s father, Rafael Cruz, came to her house last September during a North Dakota campaign swing.” How do you not love this? Literally eight months ago, he was already having his father campaign in North Dakota. And not just doing events, but going to the house of top local organizers in, again, not Iowa, not New Hampshire, not South Carolina, but North Dakota. And it’s not like Ted...

Donald Trump's final push for the GOP nomination starts Tuesday in New York, where the front-runner is heavily favored over rivals Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. The burning question is not whether Trump wins New York — if he doesn't, it will be among the biggest polling surprises ever — but whether Cruz and Kasich can pick up enough delegates to derail his nomination before July's convention in Cleveland. Since Trump's last victory in Arizona's March 22 primary, Cruz has won a competitive race in Wisconsin, as well as a series of sweeping victories in North Dakota,...

There are three Greek words that represent modes of persuasion Ethos, Pathos and Logos. Ethos - Ethical appeal, means to convince the audience about credibility or character.Pathos - Emotional appeal, tapping into the audiences emotions.Logos – Appealing to the logic of the audience. Through my studies, I have learned that Pathos, or pandering to one's emotions, is generally the most powerful of all the arguments. You see this in most modern politics “Hope and Change” – Obama or “I feel your pain” – Clinton and so on… Neither of these statements talks about logical qualifications for public office but rather...

Weeks after his campaign vowed to turn things around in the hunt for delegates, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump is still struggling to ensure that supporters will be there to vote for him at the Republican convention in Cleveland. Trump is expected to easily win the New York primary on Tuesday and most if not all of the 95 delegates at stake, ensuring that the businessman will remain well ahead of Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

To refresh your memory: Washington State has 44 delegates, winner-take-most (majority takes all) proportional primary (20% threshold), with statewide and CD delegates. Closed primary (deadline to switch is next week; deadline for first-time voters is next month), but it’s all mail-in. …And, just think! Five months ago, I would have had to write another three or four sentences to explain all of that. Now I can just assume that most of you folks will be able to follow along. It’s an ill wind, huh? Anyway, it turns out that Ted Cruz has already done the work – before the deadline...

<p>Donald Trump's continuing onslaught against the Republican Party's nominating rules has top members fighting behind the scenes shortly before their critical meeting in Florida...</p>

If we can't pick our nominee then we should get the chance to vote for delegates. The RNC/GOP should not be able to wine/dine and cherry pick delegates. THIS NASTINESS IS NOT A REPRESENTATIVE REPUBLIC. IT IS CHERRY-PICKED AND GERRY-MANDERED ON BOTH SIDES. Democrat and Republican are just made up words to give us the appearance we have a choice. D.C. is an elite club and we ain't in it!!!!!

Cruz claims he's won 'landslides over and over' beating Trump in five consecutive states – even though only one of them held an election [Full Ttle] Ted Cruz boasted Monday morning that he has won 'landslides' in the last five states to award Republican convention delegates, even though only one of those states held a popular-vote election. 'There have been a total of five states that have voted in the last three weeks,' he claimed during a town hall event on 'Good Morning America.' 'In those states, starting with Utah, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Colorado and Wyoming, 1.3 million people voted...

TED CRUZ: TRACY FLICK WITH A D*CK April 13, 2016 Before we begin, can we stop referring to Wisconsin as "Midwestern nice"? That's all we've heard since Ted Cruz beat Donald Trump there: Wisconsinites are just so nice, they couldn't abide Trump's rough style. Does anyone remember the whole taking over the capitol thing? How they nearly recalled a sitting governor a few years ago? Remember the protesters fighting with cops, rounds of arrests in the rotunda, the drum circles and chanting? How about the midnight raids on citizens for supporting the "Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill"? Wisconsin is a lot...

It’s safe to say each of the CNN Town Halls this week painted the remaining Republican presidential candidates in a positive light and that’s a good thing for those of us who see the number one priority as the need to defeat Hillary Clinton (or Bernie Sanders) in November. Instead of #NeverTrump, we were reminded that #NeverHillary is a much more important objective than the need to settle scores, even if there’s good reason to carry grudges in the first place. Ted CruzAnd while it’s somewhat likely the Republican candidates’ favorability ratings could get a boost courtesy of CNN’s idea...

Social media posts, along with Cruz’s campaign website, reveal that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) supporters in the Colorado Republican Party were responsible for crushing an effort to give Colorado the ability to vote in a state primary. In May of 2015, four Colorado Senate Republicans killed an initiative “to create a presidential primary in 2016,” reported the Denver Post. “Under the bill, Colorado would have held a presidential primary in March that ran parallel with the state’s complicated caucus system… when it came before the Senate Appropriations Committee, four Republicans voted to kill the bill with three Democrats supporting it.”...

Donald Trump won North Carolina’s Republican primary last month, but many of the state’s GOP convention delegates elected so far prefer the second-place candidate: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. That could spell trouble for Trump if he doesn’t arrive at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July with the 1,237 delegates required to win on the first ballot. For the first round of voting, North Carolina’s delegate count must proportionately match the state’s March 15 primary results: 29 votes for Trump, 27 for Cruz, nine for John Kasich, six for Marco Rubio and one for Ben Carson. Any delegate who...

What’s up with all of this after-the-fact complaining we’ve heard from Donald Trump in the wake of his recent losses to Senator Cruz? Yesterday, Mr. Cruz romped in Wyoming. Mr. Trump charged that the Texan had bought the delegates. A week earlier after Mr. Cruz swept Colorado, a Trump lieutenant accused the Cruz campaign of “Gestapo tactics.” The crusty solon from Texas is probably the senator the Republican Establishment most likes to dislike. Yet after the Mr. Cruz crushed the New Yorker 531,000 votes to 386,000 in the Wisconsin primary, Mr. Trump called him a “Trojan horse” for the Establishment....

Donald Trump's campaign is going all out to win delegates in Nevada, offering to cover transportation and lodging costs for Nevada supporters who travel to Reno in mid May to participate in delegate elections. Trump's Nevada activities contradict his claim that he has deliberately declined to invest resources in the election of delegates to the Republican nominating convention in Cleveland because the process is "corrupt." "With overwhelming success throughout each county, we're in a strong position going into the state convention being held in Reno on May 14th and 15th," Charles Munoz, Trump's Nevada state director, wrote in an email...

The first email I opened had the subject line, “Trump Bull****.” The message was pretty simple: “You sorry mother******! I hope the worst for you and yours!” The next email had the unambiguous subject line, “Traitor of the people and what was the Conservative party/now the conjoined twin of the Progressive left.” This missive carried a religious message: “God calls me to pray for my enemies and you are my enemy. Your thinking causes you to be a traitor to the citizenry. Imagine the disgrace U R.” What was the heinous offense that I committed that made me, according to...

I’ve heard newscasters and pundits say the Trump organization just didn’t get it. Maybe they overlooked the rules. Maybe they didn’t understand them. Maybe they never read them or acted on them. But what if Donald Trump, the master negotiator, the brilliant media tactician, the unparalleled manipulator of public opinion, DID know all about the rules? What if he didn’t bother going after those delegates because he knew it would benefit him more profoundly if he didn’t – turning what was perceived by his supporters and the general public unfamiliar with the arcane rules of the GOP into a national...

Donald Trump could be in "big trouble" if he doesn't cinch the GOP presidential nomination on the first ballot at the party's convention in July, GOP pollster John McLaughlin said Sunday. In a "Cats Roundtable" radio interview with businessman and former GOP mayoral candidate John Catsimatidis in New York, McLaughlin said the front-runner "should win this on a first ballot." The remarks begin at about the 42:37-minute mark. "If he doesn’t, he’s in big trouble, because he’s been out-organized” by the campaign of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, McLaughlin said. “You’ve got the Cruz campaign putting in people that may be...