Do convention rules for the Republican party allow someone who did not officially run for President to be considered at the convention?
We're talking power here, there are no "rules" except power.
Yes but its pointless to think about since Mitt will be the nominee in a brokered convention. Its all about Mitt picking his running mate.
Definitely.
But I don’t know how one is nominated. I believe after first round of voting, if there is no nominee, all the delegates will vote again and again until someone get 51% delegates. After 1st round, I believe all delegates become unbound meaning they can vote for anybody. In one Democrat brokered convention ( I forgot the year), they voted 106 times in 16 days to finally get someone nominated with 51% delegates. Just like electing a pope.
Delegates selected from the various states are bound to support the candidate to whom they are pledged through the first ballot. “Super” delegates, those who get a vote via power or party position, can vote their heart or pocketbook from the beginning.
A basket of pledged delegates gives a candidate some bargaining power, and those delegates do more than just vote for the nominee. There are planks and platforms and party rules to be determined, and the candidate with the most voting delegates naturally has control in those areas.
If no one wins nomination on the first ballot, anyone’s name can be put into nomination. That’s when the wheeling and dealing and smoky backrooms and arm twisting could get interesting.
As one who has watched this process in the old gavel-to-gavel days, it can be great fun for a spectator. However, this year politics isn’t fun, because we stand to lose not just an election but our way of life if the Republican Party doesn’t unite.
My opinion.
Yes, but I think Harding was an actual candidate in 1920, as was Coolidge, but neither were among the stronger candidates. The leading candidates were General Leonard Wood, IL Governor Frank Lowden, and someone else.