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Title: Trump, Kasich box out Cruz in Michigan delegation
Source:
CNN/WYFF4
URL Source: http://www.wyff4.com/politics/trump ... n-michigan-delegation/38947700
Published: Apr 9, 2016
Author: Tom LoBianco
Post Date: 2016-04-09 17:27:16 by nolu chan
Keywords: None
Views: 794
Comments: 4
Trump, Kasich box out Cruz in Michigan delegation Cruz's campaign loses 8 committee spots UPDATED 5:02 PM EDT Apr 09, 2016 By Tom LoBianco CNN LANSING, Michigan (CNN) —Ted Cruz suffered a rare convention loss Saturday after delegates backing John Kasich and Donald Trump boxed him out of key positions in the Michigan delegation. The Texas senator's campaign ran eight delegates for eight committee spots and lost every one, alleging it was "double-crossed" by Kasich supporters. The Michigan delegation picked one Trump supporter, Matt Hall, and one Kasich supporter, Judi Schwalbach, for the two seats on the powerful rules committee. The Cruz campaign lost votes for both seats. The rules committee seats have become highly coveted prizes for their role in shaping a contested convention in Cleveland. After the delegates are selected in each state, they meet as a group and pick the members of four convention committees, the most important of which is the rules committee, which will ultimately decide who can be nominated president. Michigan Cruz leader Saul Anuzis said they were "double-crossed" by Kasich's campaign. The Kasich delegates were supposed to vote with Cruz delegates, he said, but switched sides and voted with Trump behind closed doors Saturday afternoon. Kasich's delegate director in Michigan, Jeff Timmer, said the Cruz campaign broke their end of the deal when they tried to win all eight delegation seats. He said they finished their slate of Trump and Kasich candidates about 10 minutes before walking into the delegation meeting. "The Cruz campaign tried a takeover and they failed miserably," Timmer said. "It backfired and they ended up with nothing. There's been all these reports about how they're out-organizing everybody. Not here." Trump's national delegate director, Brian Jack, called it a "big win" for Trump. "The most important votes occurred this afternoon -- we went 5-0. Five delegates for Mr. Trump ran for committee assignments; all five were elected," Jack said. He added, "This was a big win for Team Trump. We won 25 delegates from Michigan last month, and now, at least 25 supporters of Mr. Trump will be delegates to the Republican National Convention." Much of the focus in the delegate battle has been on the sheer numbers of delegates themselves, with Cruz outgunning Trump in states like Louisiana and Colorado. But the delegations themselves -- usually an afterthought -- have become battlegrounds on the path to an expected convention fight in Cleveland. Trump and Cruz had formed an alliance behind the scenes to deny Kasich the seats needed to get himself even nominated in Cleveland, but the skirmish in Michigan marked an apparent shift in alliances. "Do they have a bigger deal? I don't know what they're trying to do," Anuzis said. "I think they won a short-term victory here on committee assignments. We were approached by several of their delegates who were very upset with how it was done in the process and I think that will help us long term on the floor." Of Michigan's 59 delegates selected Friday and Saturday, Trump supporters filled 25 spots, Cruz supporters filled 17 and Kasich supporters took another 17 -- although it was unclear who all the delegates were permanently aligned with. But as the votes were taken behind closed doors, they appeared to break mostly along campaign-allegiance lines. Trump supporter Mary Balkema won her contest, with Cruz state chairwoman Wendy Day took a seat on the credentials committee. And Kasich supporter Chuck Yob -- the father of Republican operative John Yob -- beat Cruz supporter Rep. Justin Amash for the other spot on the credentials committee. Each Cruz candidate managed to swing a few more votes above the 17 delegates awarded to him in Michigan, but nowhere close enough to win any seats. The victory for Yob could put him in place to oversee a challenge to his son John Yob's bid to be a delegate from the Virgin Islands. Elsewhere on Saturday, Democrats are caucusing in Wyoming, while Republicans in Colorado are choosing delegates for the party's convention in July. - - - - - Poster comment: Aww, isn't that a bummer. Ted Cruz thought that if he just went out and flatbacked for the GOPe for a few weeks, he would be the chosen one. Now, after he has been turned out and done his whoring, it appears that his pimp is not really in love with him. Why, the Kasich GOPe superpac has even been running ads against Cruz in New York.
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#1. To: nolu chan (#0)
No honor among thieves.
It's called the art of the deal. - - -
Interesting. Looks at first glance like Trump's supporters finally won one. I know that Anuzis was a powerful state party guy in Michigan so I'm a little surprised he lost this fight. We'll see if there is an operative Kasich/Trump strategy to box out Cruz delegates in other states or if this is a one-off thing just in Michigan. So far, I don't think Trump's delegate manager, Manafort, has gone anywhere outside New York and Washington.
I saw a bit from the Denver Post on their GOP convention today. For Republicans to win the White House, Sununu told potential delegates, "there is only one way to do it, and that is to make John Kasich our nominee." The crowd booed. "Listen, ladies and gentleman," he implored, "you need to treat all the speakers fairly, and you need to think long and hard about what this election means to this country." A minute later, Sununu added: "He rolled back regulations on small businesses, created 400,000 jobs in Ohio. Did Donald Trump create 400,000 jobs? No!" "Four million," a Trump supporter in the crowd shouted. Sununu said Colorado risks losing the U.S. Senate race, as well as both chambers of the legislature in November, if Trump is the nominee. The Kasich campaign is putting forward a slate of delegates for the state GOP convention — but his advisers shifted tactics Friday as he opted to promote potential national delegates who want "an open convention" with "no backroom deals," instead of delegates pledged to the candidate. "There are so many unpledged people feeling the heavy hand of Cruz and ... they've got the guns to their head: 'You will do this,' " said Amy Stephens, former state House GOP leader from Monument. "So we said this: We support an open convention, it's going to happen. And so we all might as well get used to this." It sounds like Kasich's only real goal is to select delegates who will vote for an open convention. That may be what Trump's MI delegates promised to Kasich's MI delegates so they could unite to keep a few Cruz delegates off the key committees. My expectation is that Trump's delegates will make a deal but then screw over Kasich's on the key convention committees. Lots of cutthroat politics in the state GOPs and at the conventions. It happens even in years where the nominee is well settled before the convention. It just seems they always find something to scrap over.
The Texas senator's campaign ran eight delegates for eight committee spots and lost every one, alleging it was "double-crossed" by Kasich supporters.
#2. To: Roscoe (#1)
No honor among thieves.
#3. To: nolu chan (#0)
#4. To: nolu chan, ConservingFreedom (#0)
Kasich's campaign sent former New Hampshire Sen. John Sununu to Colorado to campaign on his behalf, but he received a rough reception at the 5th Congressional District convention.
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