Free Republic

In session now, being shown live. Right now they're debating whether or not to have a registered Parliamentarian at all meetings. Since I'm unaware of who is who, I can't tell if this is being pushed by the Anti/Never Trumpers or the pro-Trump delegates. Well, while i was typing the above, they chaired that motion and have moved on. Someone from Fox this morning said to watch Mike Lee and his wife to try and figure out what the NeverTrumpers are doing.

With a major conservative rebellion on their hands, the establishment controllers of the Republican Party have planned their most sophisticated manipulation of voters to date—to make sure public backlash against Obama accrues to an establishment controlled Republican and not a true conservative. Ever wonder why the GOP has promoted and allowed an unprecedented 17 Republican candidates to crowd the field for president? It was not by accident. By flooding the field with a variety of controlled candidates they can fracture and water down conservative support for the two or three candidates who aren’t controlled by the establishment, and then use...

When gloomy Republican Party leaders regrouped after President Obama’s 2012 re-election, they were intent on enhancing the party’s chances of winning back the White House. The result: new rules to head off a prolonged and divisive nomination fight, and to make certain the Republican standard-bearer is not pulled too far to the right before Election Day. But as the sprawling class of 2016 Republican presidential candidates tumbled out of their chaotic second debate last week, it was increasingly clear that those rule changes — from limiting the number of debates to adjusting how delegates are allocated — had failed to...

After the last presidential nomination cycle, where Mitt Romney had to struggle a bit to get the nomination, GOP leaders decided to make it easier for one of their own to get the nomination. (snip) Therefore, GOP insiders thought that increasing the number of states who award delegates based on "winner take all" – where the largest vote-getter, even if only a plurality, gets all the delegates – would aid an establishment GOP candidate, especially in a fractured primary such as this one. They also condensed the primary calendar, so an insurgent candidate won't have as much time and opportunity...

After the last presidential nomination cycle, where Mitt Romney had to struggle a bit to get the nomination, GOP leaders decided to make it easier for one of their own to get the nomination. They figured that a GOP insider, bankrolled with big money from the Chamber of Commerce and other like-thinking crony capitalists who want illegal immigration and business opportunities with Iran, could, with proper funding, get 35% or 40% of the vote in Republican primaries. Therefore, GOP insiders thought that increasing the number of states who award delegates based on "winner take all" – where the largest vote-getter,...

RNC Rules: No. 11(B) – Candidate Support According to the public letter from leading conservatives to RNC Chair Reince Priebus, the nefarious tactics of the Barbour/Cochran machine against Chris McDaniel is likely in violation of the RNC’s own rules, adopted in 2012, specifically rule 11(B). In their letter they wrote that the rule “makes clear the Committee’s belief that Republican nomination contests should be decided by the votes of Republicans – and which goes so far as to declare that the Republican National Committee shall not recognize as the nominee of the Republican Party any nominee whose nomination results from...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders overwhelmingly voted Friday to shorten their presidential selection process in an attempt to minimize damage from GOP candidates attacking each other. “This is a historic day for our party,” RNC chairman Reince Preibus declared. He said the changes would not allow Republicans to “slice and dice” each other for six months or participate in “a circus of debates.” Republican candidates participated in 27 debates for the 2012 nomination. Iowa and New Hampshire will retain their coveted spots atop the presidential primary calendar, and South Carolina and Nevada also secured top spots, as they have in...

The Republican National Committee gave near-unanimous approval Friday to a package of rules changes that would condense the 2016 presidential nominating calendar and help the party avoid the kind of protracted party infighting that dented GOP nominee Mitt Romney's general election appeal in 2012. The changes dovetail with the party's desire to move the convention from late summer to a June window, which would make the next Republican National Convention the earliest convention in either party since 1948. The RNC has announced its support for the June move but will formally vote on the change at a later date. "This...

The Republican National Committee on Thursday unveiled new rules for the party's 2016 presidential nominating process, but the changes are expected to protect the traditional schedule and status of early-voting states. The first nominating contests of the GOP presidential primary calendar are reserved for Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada -- and all are scheduled for February. But the party is also proposing new, stiffer penalties to prevent other states from moving up their election schedules in an attempt to gain greater influence. The RNC has failed in the past to prevent state parties from moving up their primaries,...

It's the latest political cliche: this is a divided country. Or this is a polarized country. Or this, if you prefer, is a nation that has been split since the 2000 election between the heartland "red states" that supported George W. Bush and the Northeast and western "blues" (map, below) that went for Al Gore. Ipso facto, 2004 is going to be a really close election. But wait. While the political cognoscenti have been frantically trying to handicap the Democrats--first in Iowa, and now busily recalibrating their prognostications for the New Hampshire primary--something quantifiable has actually been happening among voters....