http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/what-a-delegate-war-really-looks-like-221518What a delegate war really looks like
The GOP campaigns get up close and personal to woo convention supporters.
By Shane Goldmacher
04/04/16 05:17 AM EDT
FARGO, N.D. — With a cocktail in one hand and cellphone in the other, Jessica Unruh was texting with a Donald Trump adviser when a Ted Cruz supporter tapped her on the shoulder.
Suddenly, she was on the move across the Ramada Plaza ballroom, ushered to the front of a line of fans waiting for a photo with Carly Fiorina, who, upon being whispered Unruh’s identity, invited her through a back door to a more secluded spot where they could talk. The photo line could wait.
By the time Unruh emerged a few minutes later, the Trump adviser who’d been texting her was waiting himself — in person. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized. “I’m getting pulled away in a million directions.” Soon, Unruh was pulled anew, bypassing another long line in the halls of the Ramada Plaza here in Fargo to find herself face-to-face with Ben Carson.
“Two hard sells today, no doubt,” said Unruh, a state senator from North Dakota. She’s neither a major donor nor famous. But Unruh was a candidate to be one of her state’s delegates to the Republican National Convention — a distinction that put her the center of the political universe over the weekend.
This is the new reality of the Republican primary. Cruz and Trump are no longer just battling over states. They’re battling over people.
For months, the fight for the Republican nomination has played out in candidate’s speeches, television interviews, debate performances and megarallies. But amid growing signs that the party could be headed to its first contested convention in a generation, the campaign is now being waged over the individual delegates, people like Unruh, who could ultimately hold the key to the GOP nomination.
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