“it’s when no body gets a majority of the delegates outright, and the insiders go into a room basically and pick who will be the nominee. And they can pick ANYONE even someone who didn’t run.”
I wonder if you could elaborate? it becomes “brokered” after how many votes of the delegates? after some candidates release their delegates and new votes are taken? how many new votes? by “insiders” you mean the members of the RNC? which members of the RNC? all 168? the 168 plus certain others? are these votes recorded?
Seems like nobody wants to get specific on these questions, and these questions do have specific answers, and the rules are written, and there is a rules committee, and a political party is governed by rules that are much like laws. I would like to delve deeper, but there are people who already know answers to these question, but I don’t think they want everybody else to know the answers to these questions
I think after the first vote when no one gets a majority... all the different delegates are free to vote for whoever they wish in the 2nd vote..
but since all the delegates are strong supporters of their particular candidate ... a second vote will in most cases just result in the same outcome with no one getting a majority.
So... what happens then is the wheeling and dealing. So and so (maybe someone like Paul) goes into a back room and agrees to have his supporters vote for candidate X in return for _____ and this back room dealing goes on until they have assembled a majority, at which point each candidate goes and tells their delegates they have made and deal and they should now support candidate X in the next vote.
But candidate X could be ANYONE.
after the first ballot, the delegates are free to vote for whomever they wish. Even if their candidate doesn’t release them. If is more like a free-for-all. There really aren’t brokers anymore.
The theory is that if Mitt don’t make it, he’ll be told it is over and his delegates will support the selected candidate who will be more palatable to the anti-MITT delegates. it is the Mitch Daniels scenario.
But Mitch will have to win a few primaries in the spring to prove himself.