By Peggy
In my opinion the Republican presidential candidate needs to reach a majority vote of the delegates. That means obtaining 1237 delegate votes, not 1236. Coming close doesn’t work in football if a player gets to the two yard line and in golf hitting the ball three feet from the hole means you putt until the ball goes in. Growing up we used to say, “Close only counts in horse shoes, hand grenades and nuclear bombs.” Close does not apply to elections. Just ask Al Gore.
My understanding of the delegate selection process history began with delegates alone selecting the candidates during the primary process and voters having their choice during the general election. Most states have changed their selection process to include voters in a primary, caucus or a combination of the two. North Dakota and Colorado are the only states that still do not have a primary or caucus. Their state party leaders select their delegates who will attend the primary conference. North Dakota’s delegates are unbound and may vote for any candidate.
Why North Dakota GOP voters don’t vote in the presidential nomination process:
Read here how and why.
The last Republican contested primary convention took place between Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford in 1976. What happened then is eerily similar to what is happening this year.
Republicans gather at a convention with no clear nominee. A couple of hundred delegates separate the two candidates. The only way to pick a winner? A fight on the floor.
It was 1976 and a former California governor named Ronald Reagan wasn’t just taking on the Republican establishment, he was taking on a sitting Republican president: Gerald Ford. And he was close to succeeding.
As the convention began in Kansas City, the presence of uncommitted — and unpredictable — delegates meant that nobody could tell which candidate was actually in the lead. The New York Times projected Ford with a lead of 39 delegates, while Reagan’s campaign claimed he was ahead by 10. Both leads were minuscule given the 2,259 total delegates attending the convention.
Ford’s lead delegate hunter was a man who would go on to some of the highest posts in government, but in 1976, James Baker had just one job: Get Ford enough delegates to secure the nomination.
“We had no assurance whatsoever that he would get the majority of the votes necessary,” the former White House chief of staff and secretary of state told CNN’s Gloria Borger.
This year’s convention could see similar razor-thin margins between Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz, but Baker doesn’t buy Trump’s claim that he should get the nomination if he is close to the magic number of 1,237.
“That’s a very good political argument for him to make, but that’s not actually the way the process is supposed to work. It’s supposed to work in a vote, or a series of votes by the delegates on the floor of the convention. They select the nominee. It is, after all, a party’s nominating convention,” Baker said.
Trump needs to put his big boy pants on and stop threatening to take his ball and go home if the rules aren’t changed to his satisfaction. Historically the process has placed candidates on the floor of the convention “duking it out” with the delegate votes so close no one knew who was ahead. Trump supporters need to learn the facts too and force their candidate to act presidential or vote for a candidate who does.
As Post Scripts may already know, I am no fan of Trump. I prefer Ted Cruz for POTUS. But Ted Cruz needs to start winning and this idiotic nonsense with Kashich is not going to do it.
For those who can stream HBO, this is a worthy escape and a wonderful story, I am a sucker for westerns —
http://xfinitytv.comcast.net/watch/The-Violent-Men/7308368356659286112/movies#filter=online&episode=7308368356659286112
Love Glenn Ford! Great movie.
As you know I prefer Cruz too but I don’t think he has a chance now (that wouldn’t damage him) and politically, I think it would be better for him to bow out gracefully and return to fight another day.
They’re saying Indiana will be Cruz’s Alamo. He set his whole campaign to run as the outsider and then Trump decided to run and took that title away from him.
I’d hang in until the 1237 was reached. If that occurs next Tuesday at Indiana the party is over. If not I’d keep fighting for the June 7th primaries and at the convention if necessary.
Trump’s foreign policy speech today was very troubling for some experts. It apparently showed just how weak his understanding of foreign matters are and his tariff tax has even more worried it will cause another Great Depression, just like the last one or even worse.
I know Cruz doesn’t have the great oratory skills Obama has and some think he’s a little creepy looking. But electing a silver-tongued devil last time has not been good for the country. I’d rather have someone with a higher IQ than the current president and Trump who speaks at a third grade vocabulary level, which is directly related to his comprehension level.
If Cruz doesn’t make it this time, there is always 2020, if there’s anything left of our republic to fight for.
By 2020 Republicans will have already self destructed along the Trump path. Much to the joy of Chris and his Kos handlers.
Trump won’t be president. Every poll shows Hillary beating him in the general.
When this country goes down a Democrat will be in charge, which will be better for the 2020 election. If Cruz doesn’t make it to the WH I’d rather have a Democrat get the blame than a Republican. That’s my reasoning.
Here is more proof that Trump is an absolute member of the DC Establishment.
Boehner: Cruz is ‘Lucifer in the flesh,’ Trump is ‘texting buddy’:
“Lucifer in the flesh,” Boehner said. “I have Democrat friends and Republican friends. I get along with almost everyone, but I have never worked with a more miserable son of a bitch in my life.”
The former Speaker said he wouldn’t support Cruz, even if he were the Republican nominee against Hillary Clinton.
Boehner said he was friendly with the other two GOP candidates, John Kasich and Donald Trump, and mentioned he and Trump used to play golf together and were “texting buddies.”
On the Democratic side, he said that Bernie Sanders put up a good fight against Clinton and even though he disagrees with him on everything, he said Sanders was “a nice guy and the most honest politician in the race.”
Clinton, he said, is pandering to voters based on the fact that she is a female. “I’m a woman vote for me,” Boehner said, impersonating the former First Lady. He did go on to admit that Clinton was very smart and accomplished, but speculated that the e-mail scandal might be her undoing.
“Don’t be shocked … if two weeks before the convention, here comes Joe Biden parachuting in and Barack Obama fanning the flames to make it all happen,” he said.
http://redalertpolitics.com/2016/04/28/boehner-cruz-lucifer-flesh-trump-texting-buddy/#sDmHV8tweaovkPM3.99
http://redalertpolitics.com/2016/04/28/boehner-cruz-lucifer-flesh-trump-texting-buddy/
I have been on the fence between Trump and Cruz but I’ve been leaning toward Cruz, until yesterday. As a former Hewlett Packard employee I believe that Cruz made a huge mistake picking Fiorina as his running mate. It demonstrates poor judgment, desperation, or an “anything to win” attitude; any of which diminish Cruz greatly in my opinion.
I worked with Hewlett Packard when it was run by Bill and Dave themselves. I was 1 year out of college and in my cubical one day working away when I felt a presence behind me. I turned around to find David Packard standing behind me. He sat down in the other chair in my cubical and asked me what I was working on. It was obvious that he was honestly interested. We talked for about 20 minutes about my project and what I thought about HP and the direction HP was headed. I was very impressed by his interest in what I had to say.
At that time HP was known for producing quality products and it was known as a great place to work. The HP company culture was probably the best I’ve seen in my 36 years in the industry. Fiorina changed all that. She destroyed the company culture and cheapened the products reducing the quality. Obviously she had no idea what made HP great. Then she initiated a merger with Compaq, a company that was having great financial difficulties. The merger almost destroyed HP. It took 3 years but the Board of Directors finally “saw” the light and fired Fiorina in 2005. If they hadn’t I’m sure there wouldn’t be an HP today.
From Wikipedia…
Following her forced resignation from HP, several commentators ranked Fiorina as one of the worst American (or tech) CEOs of all time.[117][118][119] In 2008, InfoWorld grouped her with a list of products and ideas that flopped, declaring that her tenure as CEO of HP was the sixth worst tech flop of all time, and characterizing her as the “anti-Steve Jobs” for reversing the goodwill of “geeks” and alienating existing customers.[120][121] During Fiorina’s tenure as CEO, HP leased or purchased five planes, including two Gulfstream IVs, to replace four aging aircraft, only one of which had the range to fly overseas.[122][123] One Gulfstream IV, acquired at a cost of US$30 million and available for Fiorina’s “exclusive” use,[124] became a rallying point among HP employees who complained of Fiorina’s expensive self-promotion and top-down managerial style during a time of company layoffs.[8][87][123] Jeffrey Sonnenfeld of Yale School of Management said in August 2015 that problems with Fiorina’s leadership style were what caused HP to lose half its value during her tenure.[47]
Cruz couldn’t have picked a worse running mate. So…. I will vote for Trump.
MCS, I’m not going to try and convince you to vote for Cruz because I have a family member and a girl friend who retired from HP and they have the same feeling about Fiorina as you do.
I am going to point out that the man, Tom Perkins, who was brought back by the board to get rid of her came out and endorsed her for president and said she was right all along and they were wrong for firing her. Perkins wrote an open letter about his endorsement of Fiorina, which appeared in the NY Times. Here is a portion of that letter.
“The consensus is clear: Carly Fiorina won the first Republican Primary debate. As a result she is climbing the polls and into the top tier of candidates. Her rise has led pundits to speculate about her tenure as CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
I was a member of the HP Board of Directors much of the time Carly was the CEO. I was in the room for many of the decisions she made. I can attest to the strength of Carly’s leadership, the accuracy of her vision and the quality of her management.
Carly was an excellent CEO. She led HP through one of the worst economic times in decades. Less than two years into Carly’s leadership, the dot com bubble went bust. Silicon Valley was in chaos. Companies were shedding jobs almost daily. There were so many layoffs The Associated Press ran weekly announcements regarding layoffs at tech companies. And The San Francisco Chronicle declared 2001 “The Year of the Layoff.”
While other Silicon Valley icons like Sun Microsystems disappeared, Carly’s vision and execution not only helped to save HP but made it a strong, more versatile company that could compete in the changing technology sector.
I was on the Compaq Board during the HP-Compaq merger and remained a member of the new HP Board once the merger was complete. Both companies knew that we needed something dramatic to inject life back into our companies. The merger, while controversial, was unanimously approved by every member of the HP Board and won approval from shareholders. Thanks to Carly’s leadership there was a path forward for this storied but troubled company.
Critics questioned the move, but history proves Carly was right. Post merger, HP became the biggest computer company in the world. It positioned HP to compete in integrated systems and allowed us to compete in sectors beyond the core strength of the company, printers.
Carly was hired at HP because it was struggling. Revenues were down, quarterly earnings were missed, innovation lagged and growth stagnated. HP, once the leader in Silicon Valley, was clinging to the status quo and failing to embrace the new tech era. Silicon Valley companies were prospering by taking advantage of the new technologies; HP was stubbornly clinging to the past. HP needed a change agent and someone who could return the company to its glory days. Carly was the right choice.
While lesser leaders would have accepted offers of transition plans and graceful resignations, Carly would have none of that. Carly demanded to be fired. In order to restore peace to the board I voted to fire her. That was a mistake.
In the months and years after Carly left, the Board of Directors remained dysfunctional. The Board members who plotted Carly’s ouster eventually resigned after an embarrassing investigation by Congress.
I have no question that Carly is a transformational leader who uniquely has both vision and the expertise to implement it. We are in the middle of a heated election, and often facts and the truth get lost in the heat of partisan rhetoric. As someone who worked with and observed Carly first hand I can attest to her abilities, intellect and talent. I am proud to support Carly Fiorina for President of the United States.”
Tom Perkins
Tom Perkins is the founder of the California venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.
http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/08/27/former-hewlett-packard-board-member-tom-perkins-the-truth-about-carly/
I wouldn’t try to convince you to vote for Cruz either, MCS, but I think it’s important to point out that as companies grow they do lose that intimate company culture you enjoyed at HP. In fact they begin to operate much like government.
Thankfully none of us has to participate with any company. If what Tom Perkins had to say about her skills is even remotely true I would trust her over any number of candidates to cut through the failing bureaucracy.
I don’t envy anyone this job…everything is a big fat mess.