Posted on 04/09/2016 8:30:19 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
In Colorado and South Carolina, the GOP's embattled front-runner had another very bad day.
Donald Trump’s struggle to win loyal delegates to the Republican National Convention grew even more desperate on Saturday, with crushing losses in Colorado and South Carolina that put victory at a contested convention further from his grasp.
Trump, who handed the reins of much of his campaign this week to strategist Paul Manafort in an effort to shore up his operation before the nomination slips away, was swept out of delegate slots up for grabs at Colorado’s state convention. Adding to his woes, he picked up just one delegate of six on the ballot in South Carolina. The most painful result, though, may have been Trump’s failure to capture two of three slots in his strongest South Carolina congressional district.
In fact, Trump lost five of the six delegate seats on the ballot in South Carolina’s 3rd and 7th congressional districts. Ted Cruz nabbed a delegate in the 7th district, while another, Alan Clemmons, remained uncommitted despite Trump’s dominant finish there in the state’s Feb. 20 primary. (The Manhattan billionaire won 43 percent of the district’s vote, to Cruz’s 20 percent and Kasich’s 6 percent.) Cruz also won two of three delegates in the 3rd district, while a third — Susan Aiken, a supporter of Marco Rubio — will go to the convention as an uncommitted delegate.
At the same time, Trump so far has been swept in Colorado, which unlike most states chooses its delegates indirectly, through a series of caucuses. Cruz, who has had a team working the state for months, received a thunderous ovation in Colorado Springs at Saturday afternoon’s chaotic GOP assembly as he announced his preliminary delegate haul while Trump’s bare-bones operation struggled to get organized.
After firing the organizer initially put in charge of Colorado last week, Trump’s team hired Patrick Davis, a GOP operative from Colorado Springs, to put together a slate in an effort to win some of the delegate slots to be elected by just fewer than 4,000 party activists at Saturday’s assembly. Heading in, Cruz had already swept the seven assemblies held in the state’s congressional districts, each of which elect three delegates, giving him 21 of Colorado’s 34 elected delegates – a majority – before ballots hit the floor at the state convention.
"We have beaten Donald Trump," Cruz told supporters packed into the World Arena.
Trump’s last-minute organizing effort did not go well. The leaflet his campaign handed out listed a slate of 26 delegates. But in many cases the numbers indicating their ballot position — more than 600 delegates are running for 13 slots — were off, meaning that Trump’s team was mistakenly directing votes toward other candidates’ delegates.
When the balloting results were announced Saturday evening, Cruz picked up the 13 statewide at-large delegates chosen during Saturday’s convention, with the final three appointed automatically by the Colorado Republican Party, giving him all 34 of Colorado's elected delegates (Trump did win six of the 34 alternate spots).
“Cruz had the crowd eating out of his hand when he spoke,” said Kelly Maher, a GOP operative based in Denver.
It’s an extension of a losing streak for Trump that threatens the mogul’s odds of winning the Republican nomination at what is increasingly likely to be a contested convention in July. Trump is close to falling short of enough support in the state-level primaries and caucuses to clinch the nomination outright, meaning his fate would be determined by delegates in Cleveland.
Yet Trump’s thinly staffed operations, even in the states he carried easily in February and March primaries, have left little organization behind to support delegate candidates. In addition to the congressional-district routs in South Carolina and Colorado, he’s been dealt setbacks in Indiana, North Dakota, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Dakota, and Georgia. Massachusetts is also shaping up as a delegate battleground, despite Trump’s dominance of the popular vote there.
Trump has primarily lost delegate races to Cruz, whose superior organization, months of preparatory work and resonance among the GOP’s activist base has helped him consolidate support in the insider-oriented battle for delegates. Trump has begun mobilizing for a delegate push in recent days, empowering Manafort, a veteran of past convention battles, to lead his effort, but the 67-year-old lobbyist and political consultant is still playing catch-up.
Trump dominated South Carolina’s Feb. 20 primary in a much more crowded field, earning the obligatory support of all 50 of the state’s convention delegates on the first ballot at the national convention, set to be held in Cleveland. But if Trump falls short of clinching the nomination on a first vote, these delegates will become “unbound” on a second ballot, free to support the candidate of their choice.
Trump’s lone South Carolina delegate on the day, Jerry Rovner of Pawleys Island, said he’d stick with Trump so long as it looked like he had a shot to win the convention on subsequent ballots. But he said he’s open to backing Cruz as well, though he won’t consider any other candidate, even new entrants into the contest at the convention.
“The people that put the work in, that’s who I’m gonna support. I’m going to start with Donald Trump and I’ll stay with him,” he said.
Gerri McDaniel, who won an alternate slot for Trump in the 7th District, said she was frustrated to finish just outside the top three in voting and noted that she had been sick, preventing her from actively campaigning in the delegate fight.
“If I had not have been sick — this is my fourth day out of the house — probably the results would have been quite different," she said.
Trump was always poised to struggle to win delegates in South Carolina because the process favors party insiders who typically have rejected his brash, establishment-bashing style.
Early indications in North Carolina and Iowa suggested Trump had been routed in the hunt for another 30-plus delegates there. Cruz won the Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1, but Trump bested Cruz in North Carolina on March 15. Still, Trump's efforts were essentially futile in both states.
Trump's lone bright spot of the weekend came in Michigan, where Republicans were also selecting delegates on Saturday. With a little help from John Kasich's campaign, Trump's team gave Cruz a dose of his own medicine, leaving the Texas senator shut out of the eight convention committee slots.
Kasich's delegates, whose votes Cruz was counting on, ended up voting for Trump behind closed doors after Cruz attempted to win all eight committee slots. Saul Anuzis, Cruz's Michigan campaign chairman, called it a "double-cross," even going as far as to tweet that the Ohio governor is "now openly auditioning for Donald Trump's Vice President slot."
Of the 59 delegates selected Friday and Saturday in Michigan, 25 spots went to Trump, while Cruz and Kasich each took 17 apiece. But the highly coveted committee assignments, especially on the RNC Rules Committee that could revamp procedures for the nomination battle, are of heightened importance with the increasing likelihood of a contested convention. If Kasich doesn't have any supporters on that committee, his rivals' backers could draft new rules that make it harder for Kasich to compete.
Every state gets two slots on the committee. Kasich backer Judi Schwalbach won the rules slot, and Trump supporter Matt Hall won the other, a rare double defeat for Cruz.
Cruz was also boxed out by Trump and Kasich supporters from any of the other convention committees. Kasich delegate Chuck Yob won a slot on the Convention Credentials Committee, which will rule on challenges to delegates’ eligibility to be seated in Cleveland. And Kasich delegate Yavonne Whitbeck won a spot on the Permanent Organization Committee, which — among other tasks — will elect a chairman to preside over the convention.
On Friday evening, as the scope of Cruz’s victory in Colorado was coming into view, Trump seemed to recognize his plight.
“Isn’t it a shame that the person who will have by far the most delegates and many millions more votes than anyone else, me, still must fight,” he tweeted.
You may be proven correct over time but I don’t see it. If Mr. Trump gets to 1,237 he’s the nominee. If he doesn’t then the normal rules take over and it goes to a contested election.
To change the rules takes a majority vote of the delegates at the convention. Why would the combined delegates of Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz, which at this point exceed 1,237, vote for a change to allow anyone else to win the nomination. It makes no sense.
heh, heh, heh...how much do you want to bet on a curzer loser ever being President of the USA? Really? Money where the mouth is?
He is merely an establishment stool tool at this point in time...
To change the rules takes a majority vote of the delegates at the convention. Why would the combined delegates of Mr. Trump and Mr. Cruz, which at this point exceed 1,237, vote for a change to allow anyone else to win the nomination. It makes no sense.
I will point you back to my original post in this thread for some of your answer:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/gop/3419281/posts?page=25#25
THIS IS NOT NORMAL! The talking points have gone out trying to convince people that "The Big Steal" by Cruz and the establishment is "normal". IT IS NOT, this race should be over with Cruz needing 88% of the remaining delegates to take the nomination outright.
Normally it would but the establishment does not have their nominee yet. So they are going to try anything, by hook or by crook, to steal the thing. And the so called principled conservative, Ted Cruz, has joined in with their sleazy tactics.
What Ted Cruz is doing IS NOT PRINCIPLED CONSERVATISM, IT IS THEFT BY DECEPTION. When are some of you Freepers going to wake up and smell the coffee?
CGato
I'm sure the delegates hold rallies to get your votes, right? which one draws the most at their particular rallies? And where can we find out what policies and issues they're running on before we cast our vote for them? /s
Then Trump has to go all out to win on the first round, and then all these establishment hacks like Cruz can simply go to hell......
LOL! The Republicans couldn't organize their way out of a wet paper bag.
No sale.
I'm sure the delegates hold rallies to get your votes, right? which one draws the most at their particular rallies? And where can we find out what policies and issues they're running on before we cast our vote for them? /s
It's right there on the Maryland ballot. The delegates have the name of a candidate right after their own name. I assume that is because those delegates plan to vote for those candidates in the convention. You just need to be careful while voting because the names are printed kind of small, and it would be easy to accidentally shift up or down a line when filling out the voting bubble.
2008 Democratic Primary Exit Poll:
Democrat 62% Republican 9% Independent 28%
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/#WIDEM
2016 Democratic Primary Exit Poll:
Democrat 71% Republican 2% Independent 27%
http://www.cnn.com/election/primaries/polls/wi/Dem
2008 Republican Primary Exit Poll:
Democrat 5% Republican 73% Independent 23%
Same source
2016 Republican Primary Exit Poll:
Democrat 6% Republican 65% Independent 28%
Same source
Your analysis was flawed. It is quite obvious what occurred. Republicans crossed over in 2008 and stayed in the Republican primary in 2016.
That's where the action is at, not "exit polls" or "opinion polls".
Voting for Hillary is considered treasonous here, did you know that?
So why are YOU voting for Hillary, 2ndDiv?
After all, a vote for Cruz, the Unipatsy, is a vote for Hillary.
The Wisconsin Democrats who crossed over to vote for Cruz last Tuesday showed us the the real strategy: Trump is the real threat, so keep the loserboy Ted in the race.
Which they did.
The WI Democrats could have disposed of Cruz on Tuesday if he was an actual threat to Hillary or the Democrat general election nominee. :)
Well of course. He’s perfect.
Cruz is an Establishment Republican, DC Insider.
Too bad he didn’t understand what his voting record would do to his reputation.
Evidence:
*Cruz supported the Corker Bill which gave us the Iran Deal.
*Cruz supported Trade Promotion Authority which gave us the corrupt trade deals.
LOL...Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story...
Have a nice rest of the day.
Yes, don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story, n00bi3 Lakewood:
You cherry-picked the data that you DON'T have to "support" your unsupportable point.
You "neglected" to mention the Wisconsin 2012 Republican primary, which is VERY similar to the 2016 Republican primary in importance. AND, Obama was running UNOPPOSED, freeing up OODLES of Democrats to cross-over and vote Republican.:
The next big contest was in Wisconsin on April 3, 2012. Acknowledging the wide delegate gap between himself and Romney, Santorum said that he would continue fighting and would secure enough delegates to deny Romney the 1,144 delegates needed to clinch the nomination, which would lead to an open convention floor fight. Of a convention contest, Santorum said, "I think it would be a fascinating display of open democracy. And I think it would be an energizing thing for our party to have a candidate emerge who isn't the blessed candidate of the Republican establishment."At a campaign event in Wisconsin on March 26, Santorum angrily told the crowd, "Pick any Republican in the country! He (Romney) is the worst Republican in the country to put up against Barack Obama!".
He later proceeded to use profanity against New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny, who questioned his remarks about Romney. Santorum finished second in Wisconsin with 37% to Romney's 44%.
How like a cruzer to "fail to mention" facts which are inconvenient to the narrative that's being sold. :)
I'm sitting on the custom spreadsheet showing the numbers for ALL three Wisconsin primaries, and you're not. All you got is puffery to defend the Texas snake and his role as the Unipatsy for the Democrat Party.
Have a nice rest of the day sulking in your tent, Achilles... :)
Manfort’s running the show now. Unscrupulous Cruz is headed for an ugly fall. The voters see what’s happening. Rules or no rules....integrity will rule the day. Delegate bribing won’t go over well with we the people.
The 2016 presidency and the future direction of the Supreme Court is lying in the middle of the road like a shiny unattached gold piece.
All the Republicans had to do was bend over, and pick it up.
Instead of doing that easy thing, SUDDENLY, there are "concerns" over Trump, and the Cruluzer, backed by his new GOPee pals [who have ALWAYS looked out for us conservatives, you betcha! or not...], is going to set the ship on fire if HE can't be The One, when he's plainly a reincarnation of Bob Dole, without the excitement...
That's why the Wisconsin Democrats crossed over to vote for Ted last Tuesday - when they could have got rid of the "dangerous Cruz threat", and locked in the "weak" Trump as the guy they were going to face in November.
Wow, a spreadsheet, I’m impressed. I didn’t neglect anything nor did I cherry pick data. It was you that made the assertion that 20,000 votes left the democrat side in 2008 and some how appeared on the republican side in 2016. I simply showed you what happened.
Vote totals are up everywhere and Trump got his standard 35-40%. For Wisconsin as a whole there was about a 39% increase in total votes in the Republican primary. In the county you “cherry-picked” there was an increase of about 36% in total votes in the Republican primary.
So much for reasoned argument. At least I’ve graduated from a n00b to a n00bi3...Cheers.
I examined your posting history. You're pretty big on speculative numbers, like exit polls, and polls before the actual vote.
I, on the other hand, am big on the ACTUAL numbers.
The frustrating thing with the Internet is you can say anything. It doesn’t have to be true.
The great thing about the Internet is that you can find the truth, which I have bothered to do. There is no truth in your speculative non-number-based comments.
I probably shouldn’t do this because I’m tired of playing your game.
Fact 1: In 2016 voting in the Republican primary in Wisconsin increased by about 39% over 2012.
Fact 2: In 2016 voting in the Republican primary in Waukesha County, Wisconsin increased by about 36% over 2012.
Fact 3: In 2012 Mitt Romney received 51,329 votes in Waukesha County.
Fact 4: In 2016 Ted Cruz received 75,123 votes in Waukesha County.
Fact 5: CNN exit polls in 2008 showed that the Democratic primary was composed of 9% of voters who self identified as Republican.
Fact 6: CNN exit polls in 2016 showed that the Democratic primary was composed of 2% of voters who self identified as Republican.
Fact 7: In post 159 of this thread you said, “Where did the 20,000 2008 Democrat primary voters “disappear” to, in an open primary? Hey - lookee there! Cruz got 20,000 more votes in 2016 than Romney in the 2012 primary!”
I think you are positing that the 20,000 Democrat voters from 2008 showed up for Cruz in 2016. I believe the combination of the facts listed above and throughout this discussion explains the difference.
However, since you have the ACTUAL numbers, and you have bothered to find the truth, please tell me what the truth is. No speculation, no changing the subject, just the cold hard facts.
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