Free Republic

Donald Trump may be the only Republican presidential candidate who can realistically hit the magic 1,237 number for the majority of delegates, but according to a senior Republican National Committee official that does not mean he will become the GOP presidential nominee. "Even if Trump reaches the magic number of 1,237 the media and RNC are touting, that does not mean Trump is automatically the nominee," Haugland said. "The votes earned during the primary process are only estimates and are not legal convention votes. The only official votes to nominate a candidate are those that are cast from the convention...

F ARGO—Presidential candidate Ted Cruz's supporters claimed the bulk of North Dakota's Republican delegates this past weekend, but the impact of that win won't be apparent for months because all of the delegates in the state are unbound. Of the 25 delegates elected at the North Dakota Republican convention, at least 17 are supporting Cruz or leaning that way. {snip} But Dever believes a lot could change between now and July, when the Republican National Convention is held in Cleveland. That's why he was surprised to see his name alongside 22 others on a list of "Cruz supporters" that was...

FARGO, N.D. — Ted Cruz’s preferred candidates won the vast majority of convention delegates available in North Dakota over the weekend, taking 18 of 25 slots in the state in another show of organizational strength over Donald Trump. It’s still not clear how loyal all of Cruz’s slate will be if the Republican nomination heads to a contested convention in Cleveland, as several included on it told POLITICO they were only leaning toward Cruz, or simply opposed to Trump. But the result was bad news for Trump, who may need unbound delegates like those in North Dakota to lift him...

Only 6 candidates who did not appear on Cruz slate won: Gov Dalrymple, his wife (?), AG Stenehjem, Gary Emineth, John Olson & Kelly Schmidt

FARGO, N.D. — North Dakota Rep. Kevin Cramer is endorsing Donald Trump on Sunday and has been helping the GOP front-runner woo convention delegates in the state. Trump senior adviser Barry Bennett told NBC News that Cramer's endorsement is "a huge win" for the campaign, and said he had "helped us immensely" to court delegates in North Dakota. Cramer's help, Bennett said, contributed to a slate of national delegates proposed by North Dakota GOP officials Saturday that the Trump campaign "loves." "We have seen the slate and we love it," Bennett said. "If we play our cards right we could...

Hunkered behind a MacBook decorated with stickers that read "This laptop was brought to you by capitalism" and "TRUMP 2016," Jake Lopez bounces T-shirt slogans off his friend Ian McIlvoy. "Trumplicans," he says, nodding with satisfaction. "I think it'll take off." Lopez is the California director of Students for Trump. Working from his dorm at Westmont College, he helps marshal the thousands of students who are pounding out phone calls, taping up fliers and blanketing Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat in an effort to persuade their peers that Donald Trump is the man.

Apparently, it's not enough that UND's administration is attacking the quality of education by cutting programs and experienced faculty and jacking class sizes. Now, we must also feel under physical attack as well. I look up from my office computer to see two figures in camo with guns outside my window. My first thought is for my students' and my safety: I grab my phone, crawl under my desk and call 911. The dispatcher keeps me on the line until someone can see if ROTC is doing maneuvers. I can barely talk—first, with fear, and then with rage when the...

As the dust settled from the fiery rules meeting at the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, the leading storyline that emerged was that establishment forces had once again quashed insurgent outsiders by instituting two critical changes to the way the GOP nominates its presidential candidate. One new rule cracks down on delegates who are inclined to peel away from the electoral outcome in their state, a direct response to the rabble-rousing supporters of former Rep. Ron Paul. The other rule allows the Republican National Committee to change a certain set of rules between conventions with a three-fourths vote of...

BISMARCK, N.D. – Today Congressman Kevin Cramer announced Businessman Donald J. Trump won his North Dakota Repulican online straw poll. trump received 37.66% of the votes cast. Senator Ted Cruz finished second with 25.74%. Senator Marco Rubio is third with 17.26%.

From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party's most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump's candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear. In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr....

From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt regarding the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear. In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr....

From Michigan to Louisiana to California on Friday, rank-and-file Republicans expressed mystification, dismissal and contempt over the instructions that their party’s most high-profile leaders were urgently handing down to them: Reject and defeat Donald J. Trump. Their angry reactions, in the 24 hours since Mitt Romney and John McCain urged millions of voters to cooperate in a grand strategy to undermine Mr. Trump’s candidacy, have captured the seemingly inexorable force of a movement that still puzzles the Republican elite and now threatens to unravel the party they hold dear. In interviews, even lifelong Republicans who cast a ballot for Mr....

Donald Trump is poised to grow his delegate lead over the Republican field with a strong showing on Super Tuesday. The long-time GOP front-runner leads in the latest polls in eight of the 11 states that will vote on March 1, and heÂ’s the only candidate who is competitive across-the-board. Even worse for TrumpÂ’s rivals is that you must win at least 20 percent of the vote to get any delegates in the four states with the largest prizes. The latest polls show Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Ben Carson are below the threshold in all four of those states,...

At a Wednesday morning campaign event in Bluffton, SC, Donald Trump takes his relitigation of the Bush administration's record on 9/11 and Iraq to the next level, seeming to imply that we don't currently know who "really" committed the 9/11 attacks. Trump says if he is elected: "you will find out who really knocked down the World Trade Center." "It wasn't the Iraqis," he explained. "You may find it's the Saudis." "They have papers in there that are very secret," he also said, referencing the 28 still-classified pages of the 9/11 commission report. "But you will find out."

Gas prices in Chicago are still falling, but the price at the pump is having a negative impact on the economy. ... as the cost to fill up your tank goes down, could this also be a sign -- the economy is tanking? Commodities trader Scott Shellady thinks so. "It's bad for everybody. We are going to lose one-fifth of the jobs we created in 2008," said Shellady. And he doesn't expect a market rebound anytime soon. So if you were hoping to cash in your 401K or IRA and retire in the next year, Shellady says, rethink your plans....

BISMARCK, N.D. - Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Monday ordered deep cuts to government agencies and a massive raid on state savings to make up for a more than $1 billion budget shortfall due to depressed crude prices and a drop in oil drilling. North Dakota had more than $2 billion in various reserve accounts just one year ago, but oil prices - a key contributor to the state's wealth - have taken a nosedive in the last year. The legislature's record-high $14.4 billion budget for the two years that began July 1 was built on oil prices and economic assumptions...

George Will on Primary Race (video)

North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple on Monday ordered deep cuts to government agencies and a massive raid on state savings to make up for a more than $1 billion budget shortfall due to depressed crude prices and a drop in oil drilling. The state had more than $2 billion in various reserve accounts just one year ago, but oil prices - a key contributor to the state's wealth - have taken a nosedive in the past year. The Legislature's record-high $14.4 billion budget for the two years that began July 1 was built on oil prices and economic assumptions that...

orth Dakota regulators granted a route permit Wednesday for what will be the largest crude oil pipeline out of the state's fruitful Bakken oil field, leaving Iowa as the only state left to approve the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline. Public Service Commission members Julie Fedorchak and Brian Kalk voted to grant the permit for Dakota Access LLC, a subsidiary of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners, which plans initially to ship up to 450,000 barrels of oil per day on the 1,168-mile pipeline from the Bakken and Three Forks regions in western North Dakota. "This is a massive infrastructure construction project,...

The Koch brothers are actually charging $0.50/bbl to take low grade oil at their Flint Hills Resources refining arm./ North Dakota Sour is a high-sulfur grade of crude and "is a small portion of the state's production, with less than 15,000 barrels a day coming out of the ground," Bloomberg notes, citing John Auers, executive vice president at Turner Mason & Co. in Dallas.