Gov. Ronald Reagan of California, temporary chairman of the RNC, turns the gavel over to the permanent chairman,
Rep. Gerald R. Ford in 1972. in 1976 President Gerald Ford swayed the rules committee to make it easier for him to
prevail over Ronald Reagan during the Kansas City convention. (AP Photo)
The outcome of a contested Republican convention could rest with the rules committee.
Made up of convention delegates, this group of about 100 grassroots Republicans will consider and approve the package of rules governing how the nomination of the party's presidential standard-bearer will be processed on the floor in Cleveland. In a possible battle for 1,237 delegates between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, the candidate that influences the rules committee could position themselves for victory in a vote of delegates on the convention floor.
"I'm sure right now, every campaign is scrambling to find [delegates] to get on the rules committee," said Curly Haugland, the Republican National Committeeman from North Dakota who has served on past convention rules committees.
With the voting in Florida, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio complete, Trump led the delegate hunt with 619, followed by Cruz with 394 and Kasich with 136. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida suspended his campaign Tuesday after losing his home state to Trump, making his 163 delegates unbound and available to the other candidates to woo.
Four years ago, to benefit presumptive 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney, the rules committee that met just prior to the convention passed one of the most talked about rules of the 2016 primary season. Rule 40(b) requires a candidate to win a majority of delegates in at least eight states to be eligible for the nomination. It was approved to block Ron Paul from having his name placed into nomination on the floor in Tampa, Fla.
So far this cycle, only Trump has met this threshold.
But what's important about 40(b), Republican insiders say, is that it's an example of what rules committees are capable of. Without a presumptive nominee to oversee the process, delegates on the panel would be the subject of intense lobbying by the campaigns to craft regulations governing the convention that might undermine their competitors in the floor vote. That's what happened in 1976, the last time the GOP faced a contested convention.
That year, President Gerald Ford swayed the rules committee to make it easier for him to prevail over Ronald Reagan once the convention in Kansas City got underway. Morton Blackwell, the RNC committeeman from Virginia whose career as a party insider began in 1964 as a delegate for Barry Goldwater, said the fight over the rules package could be intense.
"We are now in a position where there are only two ways that these rules relating to nomination process can be changed are by a consensus among all of the major players, or, after a ferocious rules battle which could sunder the party," said Blackwell, an unbound delegate who has pledged his convention vote to Cruz.
The rules committee is comprised of convention delegates, who are themselves elected in a process separate from the states' and territories' primaries and caucuses. State delegations then choose their representatives to the rules committee. These are grassroots Republicans and conservatives who presumably have enough of an attachment to the party to get involved at a very active level.
Many pay their own way to the convention and cover travel costs out of pocket.
The Cruz, Kasich and Trump campaigns have formed teams to work on electing delegates that will support their candidate on the convention floor. The RNC rules state that delegates must vote for the candidate that won their state on the first ballot regardless of their personal preference. But if the winner fails to garner 1,237 delegate votes, they're free to support the candidate of their choice on all subsequent ballots.
In that scenario, Blackwell believes Cruz would have the edge over Trump because the Texas senator is a traditional Republican with conservative views that align with historic roots of the party as defined by Goldwater and Reagan.
As they become more widely known, Republican insiders expect delegates to get showered with attention by candidates and their supporters as they try and cobble together a 1,237 majority in preparation for a contested convention. The politicking is expected to be personal and negotiating around-the-clock.
"Our nominee will be the candidate whose gets the 1,237 votes, not just who comes closest," said an unbound RNC delegate, who requested anonymity in order to speak candidly. "Each candidate will lobby fiercely to win support, both by lobbying entire state delegations and then one on one — good old fashioned politics."
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/control-the-rules-committee-control-the-contested-convention/article/2585952
