{"id":23643,"date":"2016-03-28T05:45:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-28T09:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=23643"},"modified":"2016-03-27T22:25:57","modified_gmt":"2016-03-28T02:25:57","slug":"delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/03\/delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Delegate selection as a way to stop Trump"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Despite the primary elections, it\u2019s the party, through its delegates in convention, that selects its presidential nominee. \u00a0But who gets to be a delegate? \u00a0Those state boosters in funny hats that we watch on TV are mostly party insiders, chosen at state conventions or given an automatic slot because they are current office holders.<\/p>\n

By law, they have to cast their first votes according to the results of the primaries. \u00a0But after that, if the nomination goes to a second ballot, they can vote for whoever they want. \u00a0And, as the state selection process gets underway, it is already evident that many of the delegates who have to vote for Trump actually prefer Ted Cruz, whose organization is actively working to get his people chosen as delegates.<\/p>\n

Read about this after the jump. \u00a0Do you think this backdoor, inside game could thwart the will of the people who voted in the primaries? \u00a0Or is it entirely legitimate? \u00a0Would the return of the politics of the \u201csmoke filled room\u201d be anti-democratic or a good thing?<\/p>\n

\n

It would seem that Trump\u2019s only way to get the nomination\u00a0is to win enough pledged votes on the first ballot. \u00a0And that is extremely likely. \u00a0But if it goes to a second ballot, his own delegates are likely to abandon him because of the way they were selected. \u00a0Either way, those of us watching at home will be watching a convention comprised of lots of delegates who do not like the person they are voting to nominate. \u00a0<\/p>\n

From the Washington Post<\/a>:<\/p>\n

With the increasingly loud talk of a contested Republican convention, the obscure process of picking who actually gets to be a delegate is about to get underway in states across the country \u2014 with an urgency that has not been felt in decades.<\/p>\n

These are the 2,472 people who will be filling Cleveland\u2019s Quicken Loans Arena in July, many wearing silly hats and waving placards. Normally little more than props in a week-long infomercial, delegates could instead be the power brokers who determine the nominee at the GOP convention this time around.<\/p>\n

Nearly all will be required to vote for a specific candidate on the first ballot, based on the results of the primaries and caucuses in their states. But if no candidate wins enough delegates to clinch the nomination, there will be subsequent rounds of voting. In that scenario, the vast majority of delegates would be free to vote as they please. . .<\/p>\n

The potential for intrigue is enormous. State delegations who vote for one candidate on the first ballot could actually turn out to be sleeper cells for another as the voting proceeds.<\/p>\n

Nor are they bound at any point to support the candidate to whom they are pledged on fights over rules, credentials, the platform or the vice presidential nominee. Those kinds of battles can determine whether the convention is an orderly coronation or a street fight, possibly even putting new names in contention. . . .<\/p>\n

Fully 73 percent of delegates are selected without direct input from the presidential contenders, by state party executive committees or at state and local conventions, said veteran GOP campaign lawyer Ben Ginsberg.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From \u00a0Shadow campaign to deny Trump his delegates begins \u2013 POLITICO<\/a>:<\/em><\/p>\n

Cruz can take heart that even if South Dakota votes for Trump in June \u2014 binding nearly all 29 delegates to back the New York billionaire on the first ballot \u2014 the delegates signaled they\u2019re with him at heart.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a preference for Cruz,\u201d said Matt Bruner, a Republican precinct chairman from White. \u201cRight now, seeing Kasich in there \u2014 Kasich is in the race for nothing other than a hope and prayer. \u2026 It\u2019s very, very much a Cruz delegation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Cruz edge in South Dakota could be significant if Trump scores a primary win there on June 7. State party procedures require 26 of the state\u2019s 29 delegates to vote for the popular vote-getter on the first ballot in Cleveland. All 26 delegates signed a legally binding oath to fulfill that responsibility on Saturday. But Trump could find himself in a hole in a contested convention if members of the South Dakota delegation \u2014 and others around the country \u2014 begin abandoning him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a strong resistance to Trump from a number of these people,\u201d said Lance Russell, a delegate and state representative from Hot Springs. . . .<\/p>\n

Most of South Dakota\u2019s delegates are current or former state lawmakers, tight with party insiders. Others are local businessmen and women active in Republican Party politics. Several told POLITICO they intend to keep their leanings quiet until a contested convention and make strategic decisions based on the unpredictable results of early balloting. For example, in a contested convention, candidates could choose to name running mates \u2014 or join forces and run together \u2014 which would change the delegates\u2019 calculus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m supporting Ted Cruz, but I\u2019m going to support on the first ballot whoever the citizens of South Dakota support in the Republican primary. Beyond that, we\u2019re gonna have to look at what the situation is and what kind of alliances can be drawn and how can the votes be structured to get somebody the nomination and what\u2019s gonna unify the party,\u201d said John Teupel, a former state lawmaker and member of the delegation.<\/p>\n

[Keep reading. . .]<\/a><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Despite the primary elections, it\u2019s the party, through its delegates in convention, that selects its presidential nominee. \u00a0But who gets to be a delegate? \u00a0Those state boosters in funny hats that we watch on TV are mostly party insiders, chosen at state conventions or given an automatic slot because they are current office holders. By […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[3457,4415,3881,4414,1879,2756],"class_list":["post-23643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-2016-presidential-election","tag-delegate-selection","tag-donald-trump","tag-republican-convention","tag-republican-party","tag-ted-cruz"],"yoast_head":"\nDelegate selection as a way to stop Trump<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Despite the primary elections, it's the party, through its delegates in convention, that selects its presidential nominee. \u00a0But who gets to be a delegate?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/03\/delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Delegate selection as a way to stop Trump\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite the primary elections, it's the party, through its delegates in convention, that selects its presidential nominee. \u00a0But who gets to be a delegate?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/03\/delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-03-28T09:45:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-03-28T02:25:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/03\/delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/03\/delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump\/\",\"name\":\"Delegate selection as a way to stop Trump\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-03-28T09:45:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-03-28T02:25:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Despite the primary elections, it's the party, through its delegates in convention, that selects its presidential nominee. \u00a0But who gets to be a delegate?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/03\/delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/03\/delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2016\/03\/delegate-selection-as-a-way-to-stop-trump\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Delegate selection as a way to stop Trump\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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