Free Republic

CASPER, Wyo. — On Saturday morning, while his two rivals for the Republican nomination stay back east, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, will fly to this city to address the state GOP convention. The potential prize: Fourteen delegates to the national convention in Cleveland. The competition: Hard to find. On Friday, with no explanation to either party officials or media, Donald Trump's campaign announced that Sarah Palin would cancel her scheduled speech here. Additionally, while Republicans gathered for a barbecue and fried chicken dinner, the campaign of Gov. John Kasich, R-Ohio, was invisible, and the Trump campaign was clearly outmatched. The...

The conventional wisdom is that Donald Trump will win the New York primary with well over 50 percent and win nearly all of the Empire State’s 95 delegates this upcoming Tuesday. While this is certainly a possibility, there is also a chance, and not a far-fetched one that Trump will finish with under 50 percent of the vote. If that happens, it will signal a seismic shift in the race for the Republican nomination. A look at recent polling makes it seem almost certain that Trump will finish with over 50 percent of the vote. The current New York Real...

Via Red State, not a huge deal but worth flagging in case there’s another poll this weekend showing his numbers dipping a bit in New York on the eve of the primary. That would suggest a trend, and that would be a big deal given what’s at stake. To be clear: Trump’s going to romp in NY on Tuesday night, winning by 25 points or better, and will pick up something like 75 delegates even in a worst-case scenario. But since his path to 1,237 is so difficult, it matters a lot whether he ends up with 75 in New...

Donald Trump, who previously claimed that nobody would ever work with Ted Cruz, lately complains that too many people are working with Ted Cruz. He also says Cruz is being used by the establishment for the sole purpose of stopping the Trump Train (a fitting nickname for something hurtling to such spectacular wreckage.) His supporters and surrogates love to float the names of those who will be swooped in at the convention to replace both himself and Cruz. One of those names is Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, about whom they’ve been particularly conspiratorial-minded the last few days, for obvious...

“[Donald] Trump’s second-place finish to Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) in Tuesday’s Wisconsin Republican primary may represent no ordinary setback,” write the Washington Post’s Karen Tumulty, Jose A. DelReal and Robert Costa. “It appears to be a pivot point—although it has yet to be seen whether the trajectory from here points downward or upward.” ~snip~ The last time he faced the prospect of venturing into hostile territory—when his rally in Chicago was overrun by left-wing disruptors—he ended up bugging out. If he fails to secure a majority of delegates, perhaps rather than endure defeat in Cleveland he will find a way...

Senator Ted Cruz soundly defeated Donald J. Trump in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, breathing new life into efforts to halt Mr. Trump’s divisive presidential candidacy and dealing a blow to his chances of clinching the Republican nomination before the party’s summer convention. With more than 80 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Cruz had received 48 percent of the vote to 34 percent for Mr. Trump. Gov. John Kasich of Ohio was a distant third with 14 percent. Mr. Trump’s loss was his most significant setback since Mr. Cruz narrowly defeated him in Iowa, the campaign’s first nominating contest. And...

For the first time in a very long time, the very late June primary in California will actually matter. Moreover, thanks to the history of the California Republican Party, only Republicans can participate in the primary process in the nation’s largest state, and California has a winner-take-all-by-district system that may allow Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) to mount a comeback against frontrunner Donald Trump. In 1998, Michael Schroeder was Chair of the State GOP. Schroeder was instrumental, as a member of the RNC’s Rules Committee, in securing language that was adopted into the official Rules of the party: Any state Republican...

The former Trump adviser says he’s planning protests and rallies in Cleveland — and street theater. Roger Stone, the longtime Republican political operative and current ally of Donald Trump, says he’s trying to organize protests at the Republican convention in Cleveland this summer to disrupt any effort by the party to “steal” the nomination from the frontrunner. Stone tweeted several times on Friday evening about his plans, announcing a “Stop the Steal March on Cleveland” and calling on supporters to get to Cleveland for the convention in July. Stone told BuzzFeed News over email that he is planning “#DaysofRage,” a...

As Super Tuesday draws near and Americans from 12 different states choose their candidate, I want to make one final plea to my friends, fellow tea partiers, patriots, conservatives, and Christians, who will be voting on Super Tuesday. I know you're tired of losing. I am too. I know it feels good to have someone voicing our frustrations and be heard for a change. I know it feels like voting for Trump will send the establishment, the media, and everyone who has ignored us for the past eight years a powerful message. I know it feels good to finally feel...

So here we are on the eve of Super Tuesday, that momentous day when a candidate can win more delegates than any any other single day of the primary.'The Republican candidates can win about half of the 1,237 delegates needed," Wikipedia tells us. "The two remaining Democrats are after 880 delegates, roughly one-third of those needed to win. The number of delegates from Texas is much greater than the other states: 155 for Republicans and 252 for Democrats."The rules for how the delegates are apportioned differ between the Democrats and the Republicans. "For the Democrats," the Constitution Center explains, "about...