Washington: A handful of Republicans are already prepared to throw out a Republican National Convention rule that would have boosted Donald Trump's chances of winning the GOP nomination.
If Trump doesn't get the requisite 1,237 delegates needed to clinch it outright, Politico reported that four early appointees to the Republican National Convention's rules committee said they planned to kill off a rule that would have made it more difficult for rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich to challenge Trump in Cleveland.
And while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio suspended his campaign on March 15, the former candidate took the unprecedented step this week to write letters to Republican party leaders in all 21 states where he won delegates asking that they remain 'bound.'
The moves could hand Republicans a hail Mary pass to offload the controversial frontrunner who raised eyebrows this afternoon by suggesting that women should get punished for having an abortion if the procedure becomes illegal, something that Trump said he supports.
This, one day after The Donald's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was charged in Florida with simple battery for allegedly grabbing and bruising ex-Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields.
All three Republican candidates last night during town halls on CNN basically suggested that they no longer planned to abide by the pledge that they signed early in the campaign cycle promising the Republican National Committee that they would support the party's eventual nominee.
In the background, members of the 112-person rules committee are being chosen with the four interviewed by Politico saying they would be open to changing a rule that was implemented in 2012 to keep Rep. Ron Paul's supporters off the floor, which could have embarrassed the presumptive nominee Mitt Romney.
That rule states that a candidate must win the majority of votes in eight states to become the Republican party's nominee.
Right now, only Trump has met that threshold.
'I'm not a big fan of the eight-state threshold. I think that's an artificial number,' David Wheeler, a rules committee member from South Dakota, told Politico. 'It was designed to prevent Ron Paul delegates – their votes from being counted. I don't think it's necessary to do that this year.'
The rules committee members said they would use caution when making any changes to the playbook, so to avoid a backlash.
'We don't want to give the impression that we are leaning one way or the other in support or trying to hold somebody else back,' said Sandye Kading, the other South Dakota delegate on the rules committee, speaking to Politico.
Cruz, who is second place in the delegate count and who probably has the best chance to rout Trump at the summertime convention, is encouraging his supporters to be elected as RNC delegates and win a prized spot on the rules committee.
The way the rules stand now, Republicans' bound delegates are only bound to the candidate they've been assigned for the first round of voting.
After that, they can choose any candidate, which is why Trump is fighting so hard to have those 1,237 delegates all lined up for him.
If there's additional balloting a Trump delegate, who was bound to the billionaire, could vote for Cruz, if that is the person's personal preference.
Rubio clearly realizes this too by making the play to keep hold of his delegates through the first ballot.
So far, Alaska has acquiesced.
'Rubio said, "I want my delegates,' and I said, OK,"' explained retired Army Col. Peter Goldberg, Chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, to NBC News.
Other states could follow suit.
For Rubio to again become a viable candidate his name would have to be placed on the first ballot alongside Trump and likely Cruz and Kasich's if the two underdogs don't drop out.
That could be a bigger hurdle as it would be highly unusual for a candidate who has already suspended his bid to then have his name place in nomination.
It's more likely Rubio is plotting the move to exact revenge on Trump, how dubiously nicknamed the Florida senator 'Little Marco' throughout the last week's of Rubio's campaign.
'No one has ever really tested this, the idea has always been that when you suspend, you're out,' a senior Republican party official told NBC News without wanting to be named.
'No candidate has ever said, "I want to suspend – but I also want the delegates,"' the source said.
If Trump doesn't get the requisite 1,237 delegates needed to clinch it outright, Politico reported that four early appointees to the Republican National Convention's rules committee said they planned to kill off a rule that would have made it more difficult for rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich to challenge Trump in Cleveland.
And while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio suspended his campaign on March 15, the former candidate took the unprecedented step this week to write letters to Republican party leaders in all 21 states where he won delegates asking that they remain 'bound.'
The moves could hand Republicans a hail Mary pass to offload the controversial frontrunner who raised eyebrows this afternoon by suggesting that women should get punished for having an abortion if the procedure becomes illegal, something that Trump said he supports.
This, one day after The Donald's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski was charged in Florida with simple battery for allegedly grabbing and bruising ex-Breitbart reporter Michelle Fields.
All three Republican candidates last night during town halls on CNN basically suggested that they no longer planned to abide by the pledge that they signed early in the campaign cycle promising the Republican National Committee that they would support the party's eventual nominee.
In the background, members of the 112-person rules committee are being chosen with the four interviewed by Politico saying they would be open to changing a rule that was implemented in 2012 to keep Rep. Ron Paul's supporters off the floor, which could have embarrassed the presumptive nominee Mitt Romney.
That rule states that a candidate must win the majority of votes in eight states to become the Republican party's nominee.
Right now, only Trump has met that threshold.
'I'm not a big fan of the eight-state threshold. I think that's an artificial number,' David Wheeler, a rules committee member from South Dakota, told Politico. 'It was designed to prevent Ron Paul delegates – their votes from being counted. I don't think it's necessary to do that this year.'
The rules committee members said they would use caution when making any changes to the playbook, so to avoid a backlash.
'We don't want to give the impression that we are leaning one way or the other in support or trying to hold somebody else back,' said Sandye Kading, the other South Dakota delegate on the rules committee, speaking to Politico.
Cruz, who is second place in the delegate count and who probably has the best chance to rout Trump at the summertime convention, is encouraging his supporters to be elected as RNC delegates and win a prized spot on the rules committee.
The way the rules stand now, Republicans' bound delegates are only bound to the candidate they've been assigned for the first round of voting.
After that, they can choose any candidate, which is why Trump is fighting so hard to have those 1,237 delegates all lined up for him.
If there's additional balloting a Trump delegate, who was bound to the billionaire, could vote for Cruz, if that is the person's personal preference.
Rubio clearly realizes this too by making the play to keep hold of his delegates through the first ballot.
So far, Alaska has acquiesced.
'Rubio said, "I want my delegates,' and I said, OK,"' explained retired Army Col. Peter Goldberg, Chairman of the Alaska Republican Party, to NBC News.
Other states could follow suit.
For Rubio to again become a viable candidate his name would have to be placed on the first ballot alongside Trump and likely Cruz and Kasich's if the two underdogs don't drop out.
That could be a bigger hurdle as it would be highly unusual for a candidate who has already suspended his bid to then have his name place in nomination.
It's more likely Rubio is plotting the move to exact revenge on Trump, how dubiously nicknamed the Florida senator 'Little Marco' throughout the last week's of Rubio's campaign.
'No one has ever really tested this, the idea has always been that when you suspend, you're out,' a senior Republican party official told NBC News without wanting to be named.
'No candidate has ever said, "I want to suspend – but I also want the delegates,"' the source said.
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