Though the article is a little dated, I think it makes things a little more clearer and give a little bit of insight as to what happens at the convention. Since this article was published we now know that there won't be a brokered convention.
You Can’t Change Rules That Don’t Exist Yet
The media and the Washington chattering class are very focused on the prospect of a "brokered" Republican convention – despite the fact that, as former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour has pointed out, there are no "brokers" in smoke-filled back rooms anymore. Seriously: Who do people think the brokers are – Bob Dole? John McCain? Mitt Romney? Maybe a bunch of cigar-chomping scotch-drinking fat-cat lobbyists? Things don't work that way anymore, and they haven't for years. Voters wouldn't stand for it.
"Our nominee is going to be picked by the voters in the primaries and the caucuses," Barbour told MSNBC's Chris Matthews in January. "And if nobody gets a majority, those people selected by them are going to work that out."...
...But this time may be different. Already, there's been a tremendous amount of speculation regarding the role of the convention's Rules Committee: How many candidates will be allowed to appear on the first ballot? Will delegates be able to switch candidates after the first ballot? Can they retroactively change some states from winner-take-all to proportional? Bottom line: Can they change the rules to keep Donald Trump off the ticket?...
...With all this in mind I consulted with an actual authority on these matters: Sean Spicer, the RNC's spokesman and chief strategist.
Here's what I learned: Spicer says that while the media is focused on the convention nominating a candidate for president, its real function is to pass the rules which provide the mechanism for the party to exist for four more years. "It's like going to a [Parent-Teacher Association] meeting and thinking that the primary business of the PTA is to elect a PTA president," he says.There's also this: The GOP's convention rules are based on a modified version of the same rules used to run the House of Representatives. (In fact, traditionally the speaker of the House runs the convention, as will be the case this year.) Just as in every new session of the House, the first order of business at a GOP convention, after the call to order, is to pass a rules package. Spicer compared it to a condo board or neighborhood association meeting, where people need to know the process and how the meeting will run before they start voting on new business.Most people think that the last convention's rules are the default – that the 2012 rules are in effect until the 2016 committee changes them – but that is not the case. The Rules Committee doesn't get to pick and choose from among the previous rules; it has to come up with a complete package from scratch every four years. "The 115th Congress cannot operate until it first passes a rules package, and we're the same way," Spicer says. Each convention passes its own new set of rules, and they can be similar to prior ones – or they can be vastly different. It depends on what the delegates want.
In terms of how much the rules can differ from year to year: "The Romney delegates wrote rules to ensure a Romney nomination; the McCain delegates wrote rules for a McCain nomination. Those rules were written by delegates whose candidates are not on the ballot this time," Spicer says. Contrary to popular belief, the 2016 rules don't exist yet – and won't until a new set is passed by the 2016 delegates. Those who talk about "changing the rules" don't really understand the process, he says. It's a blank slate: There are no rules to change yet.
That is why the remaining Republican campaigns are working hard to make sure that people friendly to their candidates are being selected as delegates, no matter who won the state. The RNC chairman selects the chair of the Rules Committee, but the rest of the committee is comprised of delegates from all 50 states and the territories, one man and one woman from each. Those delegates can write whatever rules they'd like."The thing so interesting about this year's process," says Spicer, "is that for the first time in 40 years, people are paying attention. And it's not because the process has changed, because it hasn't. We're not doing anything different."
One final thought: In addition to writing the rules, the delegates will also be writing the party platform and voting on it. And while we've seen platform fights in the past – mostly on hot-button social issues – this year, the Platform Committee will likely be negotiating on a wider range of issues such as immigration, free trade and foreign policy. If Donald Trump becomes the nominee, will the Republican Party platform really call for building a wall with Mexico, imposing a 35 percent tax on goods made by companies that have left the United States and temporarily banning all Muslims?
http://www.usnews.com/news/the-report/articles/2016-03-25/the-first-rule-of-the-republican-national-convention-there-arent-any-rules-yet
