Well, we all know this is what they think, and why they’re in the middle of a meltdown right now. Both leaders, Trump and Cruz, are not what they planned for. Yet, it’s refreshing to hear one of their delegates, and member of the rules committee, admit this on national television. The compulsion to confess always delivers.
Political parties, not voters, choose their presidential nominees, a Republican convention rules member told CNBC, a day after GOP front-runner Donald Trump rolled up more big primary victories.
“The media has created the perception that the voters choose the nomination. That’s the conflict here,” Curly Haugland, an unbound GOP delegate from North Dakota, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” on Wednesday. He even questioned why primaries and caucuses are held.
Haugland is one of 112 Republican delegates who are not required to cast their support for any one candidate because their states and territories don’t hold primaries or caucuses…
Most delegates bound by their state’s primary or caucus results are only committed on the first ballot. If subsequent ballots are needed, virtually all of the delegates can vote any way they want, said Gary Emineth, another unbound delegate from North Dakota.
“It could introduce Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, or it could be the other candidates that have already been in the race and are now out of the race [such as] Mike Huckabee [or] Rick Santorum. All those people could eventually become candidates on the floor,” Emineth said.
Emineth, also a former chairman of the North Dakota Republican Party, told “Squawk Box” in the same interview that he’s concerned about party officials pulling “some shenanigan.”
“You have groups of people who are going to try to take over the rules committee,” he warned. “[That] could totally change everything, and mess things up with the delegates. And people across the country will be very frustrated.”
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Curly referred to the Presidential general election going to the House of Reps. as an analogous process when no Pres. candidate gets enough electoral college votes. Limits of that analogy; House Reps. are elected by the people whereas Party delegates are not; and, in the House there will be two different parties (at least), Dems and Repubs, whereas the Party delegates picking the nomination have only internal power considerations. Having 2 Parties jockeying over President is far more likely to involve some real compromise vs internal Party struggle which are usually decided by power and payoffs (Cornhusker kickback style).
NRO carries column by David Harsanyi, senior editor, The Federalist, where he agrees with Curly’s position. They think they’re the chosen ones.