“Trump’s ability to pick his own delegates depends upon the state. Here in Alabama, you can vote for a candidate or you can vote for a delegate pledged to a specific candidate. It’s a ‘states rights thing’. Trump doesn’t get to write the rules.
BTW, in 2012, this website was filled with Ron Paul supporters who were scheming to select delegates that were secretly Paul supporters. These delegates had no intention of voting for anyone other than Paul regardless of the popular vote in their state. Was that right?”
Unfortunately, I think the rules are pretty similar to AL in most other states. No matter which candidates win what delegates, they are selected at some sort of state convention from a pool of precinct/regional delegates. The pool of delegates is determined by who shows up to be involved with the party. In many precincts, there are not enough people to fill all the delegate openings.
Here in MN, the people who run for delegate (and alternate delegate) tend to be far more conservative than the GOPe, but they are still party people. I’m not sure how they view Trump, but I would think many of them not too favorably.
So these delegates are bound on the first ballot, then can vote for whomever they want. To me, this is a huge roll of the dice for everyone involved, and if I were Trump, I’d do everything possible to get to 1237 and avoid this scenario.
My daughter and I were at a Washington State caucus. About 24 of the 27 delegates were Cruz supporters. We also will have a primary that might go Trump or Cruz. If Trump wins the primary the delegates must vote for Trump. If Trump doesn’t make the count at the national convention after the first ballot, then WA delegates can vote for whoever they want.
I was educated by another freeper that some states lock in the delegates for the first two ballots, some have to have a 2/3 majority in order to change, etc.