Posted on 04/04/2016 9:24:38 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
They’ve duked it out in debates, over Twitter, and in hard-fought primary elections attracting millions of voters. But now as the remaining three Republicans running for president prepare for a possible contested nominating convention in July, a shadow campaign has begun for the hearts and minds of delegates who will fill the Cleveland convention hall.
The stakes in this stealthy combat could wind up to be as important in determining the party’s nominee, or more so, than the actual primary elections.
Here’s how it works: If front-runner Donald Trump fails to secure the 1,237 delegates necessary to clinch the nomination before the July 18 convention, nearly all of those state delegates who were obligated to vote for Trump under their home-state primary rules will be released, after an initial ballot, to support whomever they want.
Senator Ted Cruz, in that scenario, is hoping to pounce.
Even as he has been campaigning to win the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday in an attempt to blunt Trump’s momentum, the Texas conservative and his supporters have been waging state-by-state battles to influence state conventions that choose the Cleveland delegates....
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
This isn’t something new. It has been going on in one form or another nearly as long as the party has existed. If Trump’s team is failing at securing unbound delegates etc, then he needs to fire someone and find someone better suited to this part of the process.
The fight for delegates is an important one, doubly so if you can’t secure a majority before the convention. You need a team capable of handling these things if you want to win. If it goes to a fight at the convention, you don’t want to be a William Seward.
You might find this information on the contested convention between Ford and Reagan interesting. Conventions have been coronations long enough that we’ve forgotten contested conventions were common in our history.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_presidential_primaries,_1976
This is a nice discussion of the history of contested conventions hitting on some of the highlights through the years.
http://leavittpartners.com/2016/03/a-history-of-contested-political-conventions/
Exactly!
Well one thing is for sure if Cruz steals the nomination from Trump, Trump voters will not vote Cruz in nov. Trump voters standing home or going third party is fine with the uniparty. Only Trump scares the uniparty. The uniparty is fine with Hillary and the uniparty is fine with Cruz.
If you like the politics, a contested convention is like Christmas in July. Watching the sausage be made so to speak.
Interesting to see the arguments accusing Cruz of “cheating” and disenfranchising the voters. Cruz is wooing delegates in states where delegates have more freedom in how they eventually vote. I think a better disenfranchisement argument can be made in the winner take all or winner take most states. Much bigger gap between the popular vote and distribution of delegates in those states.
Thank you for the links. I will enjoy them for certain!
“If Trump were doing this you’d all be posting “Brilliant!” memes and high-fiving each other.”
No I wouldn’t but thanks for the insight into your thought process. People like you wonder why the GOP is dead to us. FO.
“Rules” that allow one candidate to cheat the will of the people are just more evidence that Cruz is a closet democrat.
It’s not “stealing”. If no one reaches 1237 then a second vote (or more) is required. If more votes are required than one had better have 1237 (or more) delegates assured to vote for you or else you’re done. That’s just the way it is and it’s not going to change.
As was pointed out already, if a second vote is required then you can be sure the GOPe is looking for delegates to vote for Ryan (or anyone else other than Cruz or Trump) so quit whining about it and get in the game! At least Cruz is doing something more than even Trump is doing to ensure the GOPe doesn’t win. Trump is just relying on winning more than 1237 delegates. If that strategy doesn’t work though he will have only himself to blame.
Simply get 1237 bound delegates before the convention and all of this is moot! In that case, whomever has that, will be the nominee before the convention even starts. Because there’s no changing that rule.
Cruz iz a creep. Even though he thinks he is stealing them they aren’t bound to him either. He and the party organizations can say whatever but they arent pledged to Cruz and anything can happen.
Here’s something for all the ones who claim this is “stealing” or “cheating” to consider:
What if your guy (presumably Trump) were going in to the convention with only 700-800 delegates and Cruz was the one going in with say 1100. Neither obviously has the majority but Cruz has the plurality in this hypothetical.
Would you STILL be saying, “whoever gets the most votes should win”?
NO YOU WOULDN’T, SO DON’T LIE AND SAY YOU WOULD!
It’s the one who has the “majority” of the delegates is the one who rightfully earns the nomination. Not the plurality. Learn the difference between “plurality” (which is simply the most number of delegates) and the “majority” (which is 50%+1 of the delegates).
Don’t project your own propensity for dishonesty onto other people.
When you can’t win on your own there is always dirty trix. Dirty Teddy just what we need in the Whitehouse.
Demonstrating that the corruption of the selection process has been around for a very long time.
Stealing, cheating and lying seems to be Cruz’s values.
If you don't understand the rules, you shouldn't be in the game. It has nothing to do with "stealing", it's how the nomination process has worked forever in terms of delegates.
Whine if you want to that Trump was "behind" the game on this, but he's doing the exact same thing now, which is why he hired Paul Manafort. Manafort is an expert....so we'll see if he has time to play "catch up" on something Trump should have been working on since the first primary election.
I am now waiting to see you post that Trump's trying to "steal" the election for doing the same thing........
It is STEALING.... when you are handing Delegates from a winner of a State over to the loser....
Do we reward Elections to the loser?
Answer: No
By your Twisted logic the loser of every State wins the Delegates right??? S
o the person with the fewest votes wins the Primaries right because THAT’S HOW IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN DONE. Or is it because the ESATBLISHMENT IS LOSING, and now they are twisting the rules to say the Loser wins the Delegates right???
It’s STEALING and you know it!
Anyway, that’s what I expect from a Cruz supporter. After all you are supporting an unqualified Canadian that cheats all over his wife and pays prostitutes. What a piece of trash!
Lyin’, cheating and stealing is Cruz oxygen. He can’t ever win honesty. Ask Carson about Ted’s honesty. LOL!
S.M.H. over your Bull$hit!
Cruz is trying to bypass the voters and use lawyer tactics to stop Trump from winning the nomination outright, which Cruz cannot do!
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