Pennsylvania Republican Robert Paradis plans to vote for Trump in his state’s primary this month. In truth, it was never likely in either case.
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But the main topic on everyone’s minds – how the Republican National Committee is approaching the growing likelihood of a brokered convention July 18-21 – was still unclear.
There is no precedent for this in the modern era. This is the course he has implicitly threatened by warning of riots if he arrives in Cleveland with the most delegates and is denied the nomination. Winning at least 80 of the state’s 95 delegates is the goal.
Because North Dakota didn’t hold a primary, its delegates are free to support the candidate of their choice, regardless of who wins the popular vote. It turns out there is no convention rule requiring the party to commit suicide simply to serve Trump’s egomania. But days after the Wisconsin loss, he relented on that front as he tries to recapture his momentum and gear up for a potential general election race against likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. An additional three delegates in Colorado’s 37-member national delegation are unpledged party leaders. Indeed, dissatisfaction among Democrats with the events of 1968 was what prompted rapid reform towards the current primary system.
With the possibility of a contested convention looming, the last, best way for Republican voters to have a say in the selection of their party’s presidential nominee is to attend one of the nine caucuses April 30.
“In this super-decentralized system, campaigns are forced to go from delegate to delegate trying to persuade them”, said Josh Putnam, a political scientist at the University of Georgia in Athens who operates the Frontloading HQ blog, which tracks the process.
Under ordinary circumstances, the chances of a small shortfall in delegates displacing a very clear frontrunner would be small. Even if he wins the NY primary next week, and others in the Northeast the following week, it is unlikely that he can gain the 1,237 delegates he needs to secure the nomination on the first ballot at the Republican convention. “The Donald Trump caustic politics just doesn’t resonate in Colorado”, said Tom Peterson, an engineer and delegate from rural Elbert County. His unfavorable rating stands at an unprecedented 69 percent. Anti-Trump votes are consolidating against him, usually but not always in favor of Cruz, which means a higher bar to victory for a guy whose numbers haven’t grown much since the start of the race.
If you want to be a delegate in California, it would be smart to profess your loyalty to one of the campaigns because they are aggressively vetting potential delegates – a total of more than 300 people for each candidate, including alternates. Ted Cruz of Texas and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
This is possible because, once they have done their duty on the first ballot, all bound delegates are released to vote as they see fit, if not immediately in round two then swiftly thereafter. “They’ll be meeting with delegates and working it from the volunteer and staff side”.
But that’s not almost as bad as how they view the leading candidate for the Republican nomination, Donald Trump.
With the fervor, Rovner said he’s taking some precautions with the 7th congressional district convention in Florence on Saturday.
While the GOP appears headed for a train wreck in Cleveland, the principal ingredients of a Republican victory and a Republican future will all be present there: Cruz conservatives and Tea Party types, Trumpite nationalists and populists, Rubio-Kasich-Bush centrists and moderates. But there is also an outside possibility that once the contest has moved into later ballots an entirely new figure could be nominated as a “compromise” candidate, such as the speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan. Three delegates are automatically seated because they are party officials.
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US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas is getting a taste of the “New York values” he derided in Iowa as Republicans turn to the next big US presidential contest in the home state of frontrunner Donald Trump. “They’re not voting Trump”, he said.
