Free Republic

Trump 316 Cruz 226 Rubio 106

Delegate rundown chart and a good Interactive Map.

At http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/republican_delegate_count.html# we see that a new GOP establishment is emerging for 2016. With 82 of the 125 delegates so far claimed going to Donald Trump it means that for the remaining 2347 delegates that Cruz will need 1220, Rubio 1221, Kasich 1231, and Carson 1233 to secure the nomination. Thus it looks like Trump = new GOPe. So shouldn't we be referring to the so-called GOPe as the GOPxe (i.e. GOP eX establishment)?

A few factors have increased the chances of a multi-ballot convention.... 17 candidates entered the race and 15 remain. ...five contenders who today appear to have the message, money, organization and poll numbers to play the long game: neurosurgeon Ben Carson, real-estate magnate Donald Trump, Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush. What complicates the picture is the GOP’s rule requiring the 28 (states+) that vote before March 15 to award their delegates proportionally. The exception is South Carolina, whose winner-take-all primary was grandfathered in. Add in the eight states voting on or after March...

There is a basic mystery at the heart of modern Republican presidential politics. The party’s voters, despite electing conservatives to the House and Senate, have repeatedly chosen relatively moderate nominees, like Mitt Romney and John McCain, in the primaries. With the 2016 campaign underway, and candidates positioning themselves for money, endorsements and staff, the establishment of the party is again at the center of the conversation. Even though Mr. Romney said on Friday that he had decided not to pursue the nomination, a third Bush seems poised to run, and has suggested he will not bow down to conservative activists....

UPDATE Aug. 27th: Just a quick update on the situation we shared with you last night from the Republican National Convention. We need your help to stop a proposed rule change that would allow a presumptive nominee to "disavow" delegates. Thank you to all of you who have already called your delegates serving on the Rules Committee. Below is a list of states whose Rules Committee delegates have both signed onto the Minority Report. If your state is listed below, there is no need for further calls. If your state is not listed below, please contact your representatives serving on...

Drew McKissick is a longtime conservative activist and blogger who is in attendance at the Republican National Convention’s Rules Committee meetings. He and others on the ground are sounding the alarm over rules changes that he and many other attendees believe will hurt grass-roots movement conservatives. The battle is being cast by some observers as a narrow fight between Ron Paul advocates and the rest of the party. Drew says that’s not true. And many other state delegations who oppose top-down delegate choices are chiming in. First, here’s Drew’s call to arms (my emphasis added in bold): Fellow conservatives, Those...

THE REAL PICTURE OF REPUBLICAN PRIMARY ELECTION BASED ON BOUND DELEGATES. The winner of the first ballot casting at the National Republican Convention will be declared the Party’s nominee to face Obama in November of 2012. So Romney can declare himself an eventual winner of the primary election process ONLY WHEN he can count 1,144 BOUND delegates. However, many states have complicated systems when it comes to allocate their delegates at the National Convention. For example, most Illinois’s 66 delegates, Ohio’s 66, and Penn’s 72 are unbound. We don’t know how many will be bound to which candidates until the...

You’ve probably never heard of Brandon Darby. The former community organizer who saved American lives by undermining a left-wing terrorist plot at the 2008 Republican convention used to be a proud member of the radical left. He called for the overthrow of the U.S. government. He hated cops. He consorted with eco-terrorist tree-spikers, radical feminists and black nationalists. He was approached to rob an armored car and asked to commit arson to fight gentrification. He mouthed politically correct slogans about the Bush administration. Government didn’t care about people, and he thought the botched response to Katrina proved it. When he...

Political junkies now have a full month of withdrawal to endure before the Republicans put their show on to try to counter the Democratic National Convention last week in Boston. When the Republicans meet in New York beginning Aug. 30, one can only hope they have more delegates wearing funny hats and avoid the balloon snafu that marked the final night of the Democratic event. For the 237 California Republicans who are delegates or alternates, the trip promises to have all the glitz and glamour one would expect when your governor is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Among the events scheduled is a...