HarleyLady27,
many many thanks for that info!
It looks like there —NEVER— has been a case where
a) — a candidate got enough delegates (and more) to clinch the nomination, BEFORE the convention began—
b) a candidate had twice the number of delegates as the second place guy
and then either :
c) enough delegates switched their votes on the first ballot to give it to the second place guy.
or
d) the convention changed the rules so that the second place guy got the nomination.
1968 had a clear leader that went on to get the nomination
1976 had a —narrowly leading— candidate with not enough delegates to clinch the nomination, that went on to get the nomination
1980 had a trailing candidate with not enough delegates from the primaries, trying to get delegates to switch, but the leader went on to get the nomination
2008 had a dominant candidate go on to get the nomination.
It doesn’t look like a candidate, with half the delegates of the candidate that has clinched the nomination, has ever gone on to not only
a) flip 500 of the leading candidate’s delegates to their column,
but
b) also gather enough delegates in five states (CA, MT, NJ, NM, SD; about 353 worth) to put them over the top.
353 s/b 303