SOUTH CAROLINA’S PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN, BUT IT’S PARTY LEADERS AREN’T LISTENING … WILL “FIRST IN THE SOUTH” ELECTION BE INVALIDATED?
Over the strenuous objections of its status quo “Republican” governor, Nikki Haley, South Carolina delivered a big early victory to the front-running GOP presidential campaign of anti-establishment lightning rod, Donald Trump.
Or did it?
Trump’s resounding Palmetto State victory – and the 50 delegates he earned as a result of it – will be completely invalidated if a cabal of state party leaders have their way. And Haley – the establishment hatchet girl who has battled Trump every step of the way – is leading their efforts, hoping a contested convention will pave the way to her ascension to the national ticket.
Never mind the will of the voters …
Think we’re kidding? Having failed in her bid to become vice president to status quo flameout Marco Rubio, Haley is now being touted in “conservative circles” as presidential timber.
“Haley is a fresh figure and an outstanding communicator,” columnist Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry wrote for The Week. “If conservatives should draft someone to be their standard-bearer this cycle, it should be Nikki Haley.”
Hell, just last week Haley was named by Fortune as one of the most fifty influential world leaders thanks to her belated push to take the Confederate flag off the grounds of the S.C. State House last summer.
Never mind the real story behind her decision …
Anyway, Haley will lead the South Carolina delegation to the 2016 GOP convention in Cleveland, Ohio this July. Joining her will be fifty delegates – 26 statewide national delegates, three automatic delegates (the state party chairman, national committeeman, and national committeewoman) and 21 congressional district delegates (three apiece from each of the Palmetto state’s seven congressional districts.
Each of these fifty delegates is bound to Trump – but not for long.
In a move reminiscent of the machinations of the communist party (not the so-called party of less government and more personal freedom), GOP leaders are working overtime to make sure Trump’s delegates wind up in the hands of another candidate – U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas.
“Ted Cruz is a more natural fit with South Carolina’s insider party establishment, at least in this context,” one GOP insider told Politico. “Cruz obviously underperformed in the primary. His supporters here have been involved for a very long time, and that involvement pays off at state and local conventions.”
Wait … so the guy who finished in third place in South Carolina could wind up getting its delegates because his people are better connected with party insiders?
After the first ballot at the Cleveland convention, Trump’s fifty South Carolina delegates become “unbound” – meaning they are free to vote for any other name entered into contention. And assuming Trump doesn’t come to Cleveland with 1,237 delegates, he’s highly unlikely to receive the party’s nomination.
In fact an advisor to liberal “Republican” governor John Kasich of Ohio put it bluntly: “A convention of Republicans will not nominate the man unless he has 1,237 delegates.”
Even if Trump does secure the necessary 1,237 delegates, it’s clear the GOP establishment is intent on mounting a third party “conservative” challenger.
For now, though, “the plan is still to try to stop him from getting 1,237 delegates,” as establishment insider Erick Erickson recently put it.
“Kasich and Cruz (are) gearing up,” one well-placed SCGOP source told us, adding “there’s no medal for getting 95 percent to finish line. Trump needs to close it out.”
Can he do that?
“If he’d act just a little … a little presidential people would get on board,” the source told us. “Not sure he’s able. He’s been playing this character for too long. I told his staff all last fall that he needed to work the phones with RNC members. He never called a single one, to my knowledge. They are the choke point in a contested convention … and there’s no loyalty there.”
Over the next month, GOP leaders will gather at county-level conventions. On May 7 they will convene in Columbia, S.C. for the party’s state convention. Within two weeks of that gathering, the fifty delegates selected by the party will meet to select representatives to the convention’s standing committees – including its critical rules committee and credentials committee.
“Guess who the most powerful person is in each state in that process?” our SCGOP source told us. “The state chairman – by miles. Information, intel and influence – the chair controls all of it.”
In South Carolina, the party’s chairman is Matt Moore – who was officially neutral during the 2016 “First in the South” race but widely perceived to be supportive of Rubio (and hostile toward Trump).
Moore declined our request to be interviewed for this story.
Haley isn’t the only party official working diligently to keep her state’s delegates away from Trump. According to our sources, allies of U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham are also “integrally involved” in the effort.
“Graham loyalists have been meeting,” one SCGOP source told us. “They are much more involved.”
So is former SCGOP chairman Katon Dawson, who is said to be “plotting to impact (the) state convention” in an effort to “elect anti-Trump forces” to the national delegation. Dawson led the failed bid of former Texas governor Rick Perry – whose campaign (like many other GOP establishment efforts) imploded when he began to attack Trump.
Will these status quo “Republicans” – rejected by their own party at the ballot box – get the last laugh? Will they succeed in overturning the expressed will of their voters and installing an establishment GOP politician as their party’s nominee?
We shall see …
52 comments
Haley should be mindful because she doesn’t want Trump digging up political criminality as well as all her other unlawful shit. It’s one thing to go after a local lawmaker but a whole different animal to go after a billionaire businessman.
Ha ha! The fall back possition…. “We’ll dig up something on Haley. It will be big. Really! Really big! Believe me. I’ll get the best people to dig it up. Really smart people. Like the ones that I got to run Trump University. Believe me.” – Trump
Trump will finish the primaries with about 1,450 delegates.
Get over it.Haley destroyed herself.
We’ze counting on it.
So are we.
Published March 28, 2016 FoxNews.com
FBI to interview Clinton, top aides in email probe
Federal prosecutors reportedly are expected to try to interview Hillary Clinton and already have started reaching out for interviews with top aides as part of the FBI probe into her personal email use, a sign the investigation is moving into a new and potentially final phase.
The Los Angeles Times reported on the efforts to seek interviews with Clinton and others, while noting this process and the final review could take several more weeks.
Meh!!!!!
Wow!! You mean, the FBI is doing an investigation and they’re going to, OMG – interview people. Holy crap!!! Have you ever heard of such a thing?
wrong again. She will move up in the GOP
I sure hope not. I am so ashamed of her.
It want be hard Rubios Team already has the dirt on Haley that they found while vetting Queen Haley
I love Haley’s enemies. They can’t find anything that sticks, so they dream about something that does not exist. Always that dirt on Haley.
I don’t have to talk about descovering dirt on Trump. It’s already out there. Trump’s fantasy followers just choose to ignor it.
Well, it really only sticks when you let it dry.
Thumper – hit ’em hard. Bam!!!!
I’m beginning to agree with Euwe Max, Republicans are scum. Then again, Democrats can’t even reach the lofty notion of scum. So where does that leave the everyday working folks?
Speak for yourself Obama lover.
Why don’t you put yourself on fast track and delete your drunken moronic posts before they post? Then you wouldn’t feel so bad and have all that deleting to do when you sober up.
Name calling. Classy.
Logic: Don’t like Trump? You’re an Obama lover.
I have no Party loyalty and I’m not hating The Donald. Sadly, he is the only guy in the entire race on either side that would even remotely come close to following through on what he has promised. POGO is just a sad sack drunk on more than Party kool-aide.
Lol…that from a lowlife clown that believes a family vacation is camping on a sand dune in Rock Hill.You RINO’s don’ believe in a damn thing except hating Christ.
Watched the Spanish version of the Passion of The Christ Friday night with the missus. Isn’t it funny how we give the Christ killers $4 billion a year. I mean, if you really loved Christ, and were seriously a follower of Jesus, wouldn’t it upset you how the natives of Jew-ru-salem tortured and killed him? And yet you, who claim about people hating Christ, cuddle with very people who killed him. I find that odd.
I am reviewing your application. Be in touch.
Let me know. I’ve been Terry and Flip’s friend for a long time, even though they’re the same person.
Sure it wasn’t the Passion of The Castro starring Barack Obama?
Havana, Cuba (CNN)As Cubans debate the impact of President Barack Obama’s historic trip to the island last week, one prominent figure is lambasting the visit: Fidel Castro.
In a full page column titled “Brother Obama,” published in the Cuban communist-party newspaper Granma, the former Cuban president rejected Obama’s visit and words of reconciliation.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/28/politics/cuba-fidel-castro-blasts-obama-trip/index.html
So again, you cuddle with the Christ killers.
When our troll from Yellow Springs posts under a “guest” user name, deleting drunken posts requires different skills than merely cancelling one of his many late, lamented Disqus accounts….or having it cancelled for violation of Terms of Service.
tomstickler’s hero in life:
Kermit Barron Gosnell (born February 9, 1941) is an American former physician who was convicted of murdering three infants who were born alive during attempted abortion procedures.[1][2][3][4][5]
Gosnell owned and operated the Women’s Medical Society clinic in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and he was a prolific prescriber of Oxycontin.[6] In 2011, Gosnell and various co-defendant employees were charged with eight counts of murder, 24 felony counts of performing illegal abortions beyond the state of Pennsylvania’s 24-week time limit, and 227 misdemeanor counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law.
Leaves us SCREWED!!!
If John Anderson had been elected prez in 1980 we wouldn’t be in this sorry state of affairs
But NOOOOOOOOOOOO….
If John Anderson had been elected prez in 1980 we wouldn’t be in this sorry state of affairs
But NOOOOOOOOOOOO….
If Ed Clark had been elected prez in 1980 we wouldn’t be in this sorry state of affairs
But NOOOOOOOOOOOO….
FIFY!
If Trump falls short by 100 delegates, he could close the gap by locking in one out of three of those unbound delegates. That is certainly possible, considering he has won about 37 percent of all votes so far.
Liberals like TazNutz and Thumper just need to bend over and take it-Trump will be nominee OR as Ben Carson said this morning the entire Republican Party will be destroyed at the ballot box in November.
The unbound delegates for Carson may go to Trump, but most unbound delegates are actual Republicans and will not support a liberal like Trump.
And then the Republican Party loses everything in November.I think you are secretly hoping for that.Haley got spurned a humiliated . You’re bitter and angry.I understand that.Can’t we all heal and follow the will of the people?
They already lost everything Dude!!!!! Put the bong down.
Lyin Rocky! :)
Sabato has Republicans holding senate and house.34 governorships and 70 state legislatures.
I am gonna start a newsletter with the facts.Only way to defeat you socialists is with the truth.
Obviously you’re browser isn’t refreshing……..
You’re last one failed.
“You’re bitter and angry.”
LMAO
Your math is in need of education. Taking bets, Hillary is the new potus.
As screwed up as this cycle is, I won’t bet against you.
Not yet.FBI is preparing to interview her and those around her that perpetuated the numerous felonies.Trump wins either way with over 270 electoral votes.
Damn it. You stole my cronic. No other way to explain that statement, you’re smokin’ my good weed.
No. The FBI Is not interviewing her. Your arguments are so weak, if have to make things up. You support a candidate that does the same. Fortunately, a majority of the voters are smart enough to know that.
Better check the news and quit defending Hillary.
I’m on a phone, got lost, thought I was in a Haley thread. But, I wasn’t expecting any facts from you. It’s not like you to use facts.
Let’s agree, I do not like it either. The republicans I knew had respect. Where is it now?
This all to do about nothing. By late April, if Trump isn’t mathamatically ensured the 1,237 delegates he needs, he’ll be assured the Party is gonna “screw” him, and he’ll start his independent bid. He’s not leaving this stage until November, no matter what the convention does, or the Trump U law suit goes. In fact, the Trump U lawsuit is assured to be pushed until January if he runs independent.
All this hand wringing about the nomination being stolen. Theft implies ownership. Trump wants to be certain of the nomination? Clinch the damn 1237.
News you won’t hear from Will:
“The National Association of Realtors said Monday that its pending home sales index, which is based on contract signings of existing homes, rose 3.5 percent to 109.1 last month, the highest level since July, after a 3 percent drop in January to 105.4.”
Bet that adjusts your Atlanta FED GOGDP model.
Not understanding this post. The ‘ primary process’ (defined by each state and approved by the RNC) for SC has been defined. Trump won the 50 delegates and they are bound to nominate him on the first pass…nothing has changed. What has changed is that folks are working on a contingency plan. If Trump is not selected on the first vote at the convention, then every delegate has the option and the responsibility to vote for the candidate they believe best represents them, their state, our country.
To assume, in a contested convention, that no one will change their vote is to not understand the process. If every delegate of every state were bound for every vote, we would never get any candidate to the majority needed.
Do I like or approve the primary process? Not “no” but “Hell no”. I believe we are beyond the point where we should be using existing technologies to completely redo the process. Think in terms of a tournament bracket. What if, say 12 months before the general election, every registered voter had the opportunity to cast a vote for their top 5 candidates? That national voting would use the ‘will of the people” to reduce the candidate list to say the top 8 vote-getters. Have the national debates, and xx weeks later, hold another ballot. That vote would reduce the candidates from 8 to 4. Repeat until each party has their nominee. All based on the votes of every American, from every state, without any help from the RNC or DNC.
Are there some issues to solve to achieve this? Absolutely. But there would be no more ‘winner take all’ in one state and ‘proportional representation’ in another. There would be no more battles over the order of states, meaning no voter feels that their voice was not heard because their state was near the end, and no voter has ‘buyers remorse’ because the candidate they voted for early on is no longer even in the race. There are also issues of crossovers, spoilers, etc. In SC, there was little doubt that many Dems participated in the Rep primary as spoilers, knowing Clinton had the Dem side wrapped up. So, maybe at the begging of the process, everyone would have to choose to participate (start-to-finish) as a Dem or as a Rep.
Bottom line, this article is nothing new. It is simply stating the current process, and one of its many flaws.
Matt Moore, Katon Dawson and the rest of them are getting paid to defy the will of the people in favor of the powerful insiders that run the party and country.
These insiders make large sums of money double-dealing and plotting and scheming and for what? So they their cronies can continue to rape this country.
Screw them all.
“Presidential timber”,nice play on words.
How many of the “candidates” has she assisted with their “woody”?
The establishment has been underestimating Donald Trump ever since he announced his candidacy. They tried to hobble him with their silly pledge. He kept his word, they, in turn, tried to do him in at every turn of the road, and failed. The establishment and the rest of the field spent $67 million trying to stop Trump and failed. They dragged out Mitt Romney, one of the Walking Dead to stop him, and failed. There is talk of rewriting the convention rules to accommodate their schemes, of drafting an establishment candidate who has not run in any primaries nor faced any voters, ‘one of their own’. And now, this crap about Nikki Hayley. Well, Nikki, I voted for you, but you couldn’t carry Trump’s sandals. You see, you have quite obviously become a part of the establishment, and the establishment, both Republican and Democratic, has become the enemy of the people, There are more Donald Trumps out there,non-politicians more interested in the plight of the nation than living off the public dole, and they are going to start defeating all establishment office holders in the coming elections. As the establishment continues to play Wiley Coyote to Donald Trump’s Roadrunner, one must consider the possibility of delegates from the other candidates switching to Trump after the first ballot, instead of the other way around. That door swings both ways.