[Someone is gonna have to explain to us simpletons what a brokered convention is.]
It is a way the party hacks and kingmakers can attempt to steal the nomination of a conservative and replace with one of the “elites” of the party who is moderate/liberal. Someone who has already agreed or will just naturally do things the way they want.
Best way to prevent it is to win the primaries decisively, just like Newt did in S. Carolina.
Here’s the wiki explanation. It is kinda scary that the Paulbots might very well take over a brokered con.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brokered_convention