GOP gears up as all signs point to contested convention

[Geee]

Washington Examiner:

A raucous contested GOP convention is now a certainty — or at least the presidential candidates and party top brass are treating it that way.

 

Republican officials are accelerating plans to deal with the kind of floor fight not seen in more than half a century. And Reince Priebus, the GOP chairman, is all but conceding that he doesn't expect front-runner Donald Trump to secure a decisive majority of delegates.

 

Trump himself publicly dismisses such doubts. But he took the trouble Thursday to meet with Priebus in Washington for a briefing on how a contested convention would unfold.

 

"We are busy planning for every contingency in Cleveland so the Republican delegates can do their business in the most fair, open and transparent way possible," Kirsten Kukowski, the Republican National Committee's convention spokeswoman, told the Washington Examiner.

[Geee]

Convention floor fight is no conspiracy

 

Karl Rove did not help matters this week when he suggested that Republicans should perhaps nominate "a fresh face" at their convention. A quintessential "establishment" figure suggesting the party pick a candidate not in the White House race fuels speculation and conspiracy theories amid this virulent season of campaign fever.

 

Still, it's important to understand what a contested convention would mean, because it seems more likely each day.

 

It is wrong to believe that Rove and other power players could just pick their own nominee. It would, rather, fall to nearly 2,500 delegates from all over America. Some would have been chosen by the various presidential campaigns and ratified by voters; some by state or local party officials and ratified by voters; a few by party conventions without a vote; and some directly chosen by voters. One of these delegates will, for example, be Trump's campaign manager, assuming recent charges of battery against him do not prevent him from attending.

 

Some of Donald Trump's backers say he should be handed the nomination if he wins a mere plurality of delegates. But there is no reason why the rules, as they stand, should be changed for Trump's benefit, especially given his recent efforts to bully and disunite the party.

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/convention-floor-fight-is-no-conspiracy/article/2587469

[Geee]

History people, history. Contested conventions are NOT a new thing. The vanilla conventions of late ARE new.

[Geee]

A conservatives' guide to a contested GOP convention

 

Ted Cruz's strong victory in Wisconsin last Tuesday and Colorado on Saturday means the GOP is one step closer to a contested convention. For conservatives not steeped in Republican convention protocol, here's what you need to know.

 

It takes 1,237 votes by Republican state delegates to win the nomination. Currently, Donald Trump has 743 and Cruz 545, according to Bloomberg convention delegate tracker. Republican Party Chairman Reince Priebus has made it clear that if a candidate arrives in Cleveland with 1,237 votes or more, that candidate will get the nomination.

 

There are 16 states left to vote. The last five, with a total of 303 delegates — including California with 172 and New Jersey with 51 — will vote on June 7.

 

Even if Donald Trump hasn't gained the requisite 1,237 by June 7, he could still win on the first ballot. That's because there are several states and territories whose delegates are "unbound," which means they don't have to follow the results of a primary election, and may not declare who they will support until the GOP converntion.

 

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/a-conservatives-guide-to-a-contested-gop-convention/article/2588160