Free Republic

LAS VEGAS — Mike Bloomberg is privately lobbying Democratic Party officials and donors allied with his moderate opponents to flip their allegiance to him — and block Bernie Sanders — in the event of a brokered national convention. The effort, largely executed by Bloomberg’s senior state-level advisers in recent weeks, attempts to prime Bloomberg for a second-ballot contest at the Democratic National Convention in July by poaching supporters of Joe Biden and other moderate Democrats, according to two Democratic strategists familiar with the talks and unaffiliated with Bloomberg. The outreach has involved meetings and telephone calls with supporters of Biden...

DES MOINES — Nearly a full week after the Iowa caucuses, the state Democratic Party on Sunday released results indicating that Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was the winner after it updated data from 55 precincts. But errors in the result tabulations have led several news organizations, including The New York Times, to refrain from calling the race.... The Associated Press, which historically verifies election results and makes calls on the outcome of races, has not allotted the final delegate to Mr. Buttigieg because of the errors in the caucus results-counting, nor has The A.P. declared...

"There is a petition for Marshall [University] to end their contract with the restaurant" CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WOWK) - A State Delegate and his business are under fire after a Facebook post made after a Vigil in Huntington. Del. John Mandt Jr, (R-Cabell) wrote in the Facebook post in part "Anything Muslim is going to be associated with Democrats. It's better to stay away than be associated with them." Mandt was talking about a vigil held in Huntington to honor the lives lost in a mass shooting in New Zealand. "No matter your beliefs but to come out so publicly and...

A federal court gave final approval Thursday to the redrawn Virginia House of Delegates map that a court-appointed expert created to resolve the state’s long-running racial gerrymandering case. In a 2-1 opinion, judges for the Richmond-based Eastern District of Virginia ordered the state to adopt the map created by University of California-Irvine political science professor Bernard Grofman. The map could boost Democrats’ chances of taking control of the House later this year by tilting six GOP-held districts toward Democrats and imperiling the re-election campaigns of two top Republicans. Republicans had called Grofman’s map “legally indefensible,” saying it “attempts to give...

Corey Lewandowski blamed the FBI for not informing the Trump campaign about former campaign manager Paul Manafort's shady business deals.

Democrats voted Saturday to drastically scale back the controversial superdelegate system that gives elected officials and party insiders an outsize say in the party’s presidential nominating process, delivering a significant victory for Bernie Sanders and his supporters ahead of 2020.

Trump: North Korean delegates are coming to Washington to deliver a letter from Kim Jong Un President Donald Trump said Thursday that North Korean delegates want to deliver to him a letter from Kim Jong Un, the latest sign that a summit between the two leaders may indeed happen after all. The president, speaking to reporters, said he believes the delegates will be coming to Washington on Friday. "We'll see what happens," he said Mike Calia | @Michael_Calia President Donald Trump said Thursday that North Korean delegates want to deliver to him a letter from Kim Jong Un, the latest...

One of Michigan’s 16 electors who will be called upon to cast a vote validating the election of Donald Trump in the Electoral College has testified on video that he and others in the state are receiving “dozens and dozens of death threats” from Hillary Clinton supporters urging them to switch his vote to Clinton. . . . The Detroit News verified one message containing a death wish and another containing a death threat, in which the person told Banerian he would “put a bullet” in his mouth. Banerian said he deleted the rest of the emails and messages “because...

There are at least 15,000 members of the media in Philadelphia right now, along with virtually every progressive movement leader and Democratic elected official in the country. Yet no one seemed aware that hundreds of Bernie Sanders delegates planned to walk out of the Democratic National Convention in unison Tuesday, at the precise moment party unity was supposed to reach a crescendo. The walkout, which came as Sanders personally moved to nominate Hillary Clinton by acclimation, left hundreds of seat on the convention floor empty ...

Dozens of Bernie Sanders delegates walked out of their Democratic National Convention and many promised to leave the political party in protest. Vincent Venditti, a George delegate pledged to Sanders, said outside the Wells Fargo Center that he considers himself an independent effectively immediately. Vincent Venditti, a #Bernie delegate, walked out of the #DemConvention. He is leaving to protest. And he's now a IND pic.twitter.com/kjbgHBrB0f — Brian X. McCrone (@BrianXMcCrone) July 26, 2016 Their protest and subsequent exodus from the Democratic Party is in line with hundreds of protesters outside the security perimeter, who said Hillary Clinton's nomination as the...

Truncated title. Full title: EXCLUSIVE: Bernie Delegates Plot Commotion on the Convention Floor to Protest Hillary-Kaine and Challenge Kaine as Running Mate! Disenfranchised Bernie Sanders delegates are talking intensely behind the scenes about how to disrupt the Democratic National Convention to protest the Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine ticket. Breitbart News has learned that some groups of delegates are considering nominating a vice presidential challenger to Clinton’s pick Tim Kaine. Others are discussing a potential walkout by Sanders delegates. But Sanders’ speech Monday afternoon urging people to vote for Clinton seems to have damaged the plans, prompting some pro-Bernie delegates...

A complaint to the Democratic National Convention says two male Vermont delegates were replaced by women in the name of “gender balance” and without adequate due process. The complaint, filed by 21 Vermont Democrats including 16 women, says the national party this month strong armed the state party to replace Vermont Sen. Tim Ashe and party stalwart Ken Dean, although Dean and Ashe were elected June 11. Dean is among the 21 complainants; Ashe is not. …

Final tally of GOP delegates, as read by Paul Ryan: Trump ....... 1,725 Cruz............475 Kasich.........120 Rubio...........114 Carson..........7 Bush.............3 Paul..............2

Why weren't these people specifically trying to muck up the system and going on liberal cable shows protesting their distaste for Mitt when clearly there was a NeverMitt in the form of Not Mitt groups of primary voters dissatisfied with Romney as the ultimate choice? Something doesn't add up about all of this! If there ever was a time to declare 'free the delegates' then 2012 would have been it for these people

Anti-Trump Republicans launched a last-ditch bid on Monday to deny the New York businessman the party’s nomination by trying to force a state-by-state vote at the Cleveland convention on the rules that bind delegates to back Donald Trump. The effort stands little chance of succeeding, but could pose a major disruption to the proceedings just as party officials were trying to smooth over divisions. The Trump camp is said to be "livid" at the revived push.

Former IL Republican Party Chair Says Trump Can't Win, Hillary Better Alternative CHICAGO - Former Illinois Republican Party Chairman Pat Brady, told Bill Cameron on "Connected to Chicago" that Donald Trump "cannot win the election." Brady, who is a Kasich delegate to the Republican National Convention, said there's still an outside chance that Trump will not receive the nomination. Brady told Cameron that Trump's solutions are not Republican solutions and that Trump's lack of organization ensures he will lose. Brady said neither Abe Lincoln or Ronald Reagan would attend this year's convention because of Trump, and that he's not surprised...

CLEVELAND -- Republicans responsible for setting the party's presidential nomination rules on Thursday overwhelmingly rejected attempts to formally unbind delegates to next week's convention, effectively ending any serious attempt to rob Donald Trump of the GOP presidential nomination. A vote came quickly Thursday night as part of a day-long marathon session of the Republican National Convention's rules committee, which sets the rules of the meetings and how the party will pick its nominee in 2020. The rejection of the "unbinding" proposal was so overwhelming that committee leaders opted not to record the tally. Trump supporters on the committee quickly exercised...

The amendment to unbind delegates and allow them to vote "their conscience" has been soundly defeated in the RNC Rules Committee

The Trump campaign and the leadership of the Republican National Committee are working hard to pressure delegates to vote for Trump. The race is over, they say. The voters have rendered their judgment. Delegates do not have the right to nullify this verdict. Now is the time to rally around Trump and unify the party. Trump and the RNC leadership are wrong. The delegates should feel free to vote their consciences, and the rules and history of the Republican National Convention support their right to do so. In a separate entry, I will focus on the rules and the history...

Republican National Committee members huddling in Cleveland on Wednesday sought to tamp down speculation about a convention floor rebellion that is being spearheaded by a group of Never Trump Republicans. When the GOP Rules Committee convenes on Thursday, Never Trump delegates will look to pass a “conscience clause” that would unbind them from the results of state primaries and caucuses and free them to vote for whomever they choose. There is intense speculation about whether Unruh will garner the required number of signatures. Some Republican National Committee (RNC) members said they believe she’ll get there. Others believe she’ll fall short....