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Delegate allocation (congressional district delegates) While the Pennsylvania process has a winner-take-all element to it, the plan also contains a wholly unique method of selecting -- not allocating -- congressional district delegates. Unlike other loophole primary states, Pennsylvania delegate candidates have no official affiliation with a particular presidential candidate or their campaign. That is official in that there is no pledge process associated with filing to run as a delegate candidate. As the delegate candidates are running as uncommitted -- unofficially pledged to a candidate or not -- they are treated as unbound by the RNC as a result. The...

A senior adviser to Donald Trump held an organizing call with the campaign's Pennsylvania delegate candidates Sunday night, another sign of the Trump operation's increasingly sophisticated ground game. Paul Manafort, the campaign's convention guru, ran the call and talked to all 41 of Trump's congressional district delegate candidates in Pennsylvania ahead of Tuesday's crucial primary. The call was organized so that the delegates "knew they had the support of the campaign and its senior leadership team," a source on the call told CNN. Manafort took questions from the group, including basics such as what the delegates should do in case...

After his resounding victory in New York Tuesday night, Republican front-runner Donald Trump looks ahead to a series of primaries in the Northeast, including Pennsylvania, where he will deploy a new strategy that includes aggressively courting delegates, a tactic he had previously and vocally panned as unnecessary and part of a "rigged" system. The hard push for support from individual delegates is a shift for Trump who has been outmaneuvered by rival Sen. Ted Cruz, but one that has proven necessary as if he is to ensure he has the support of delegates at the Republican nominating convention in July....

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The shift of power from Lewandowski to Manafort began from the moment the latter arrived on the scene, in late March. Manafort exudes authority, even down to the way he calls the candidate “Donald” (Lewandowski says “Mr. Trump,” even in private). Manafort also developed a bond with the Trump family. “Paul has a robust relationship with Jared, Ivanka, and the boys,” a staffer says. The takeover was cemented over the weekend when Manafort called a senior staff meeting at Trump Tower. The meeting, first reported by Politico, and which I confirmed, sent a message to staff that Manafort, not Lewandowski,...

A Republican National Convention delegate from Colorado said Friday that Donald Trump's senior adviser told him the campaign was dropping its challenge to rival Ted Cruz's sweep of the state's delegates -- an account the campaign is disputing. Guy Short, a national delegate from Colorado and member of the convention's rules committee, said he approached Trump's convention manager, Paul Manafort, after he gave Republican Party insiders a private briefing in Florida earlier this week and asked about Trump's threat to challenge what the billionaire has called a "rigged" system. "Is the Trump campaign going to challenge the credentials of the...

"He recognizes that things aren't static. That what is right to start the campaign isn't necessarily the way you finish the campaign," Manafort told CNN Thursday night after he met with RNC officials here. But Manafort did not want to call anything a "détente" between Trump and the GOP establishment. "There's no reason to have a detente, I mean there's not a fight," he said. "I mean the Trump campaign and the RNC are working together on a bunch of different things ... but the focus has been on getting the nomination," he said. "Now that we're approaching the nomination,...

Hillary Clinton left the White House with much of the country loathing her while also being fearful of her future political ambitions. It was well understood that her carpet-bagging senatorial campaign in New York was but a step on her path to become the first female president, and her success was followed with a sense of trepidation by those of us who followed the determined path of this venomous politician. It has been that way ever since, and now that she is closer than she has ever been, millions of Americans are hoping for something or someone to prevent this...

Europe was essentially defined by Islam. And Islam is redefining it now. For centuries in early and middle antiquity, Europe meant the world surrounding the Mediterranean, or Mare Nostrum (“Our Sea”), as the Romans famously called it. It included North Africa. Indeed, early in the fifth century A.D., when Saint Augustine lived in what is today Algeria, North Africa was as much a center of Christianity as Italy or Greece. But the swift advance of Islam across North Africa in the seventh and eighth centuries virtually extinguished Christianity there, thus severing the Mediterranean region into two civilizational halves, with the...

Have you noticed something different about the Trump campaign? It's been more than two weeks since the last really outrageous thing the Republican front-runner has said or done. In the old days — say, a month ago — Trump would have set off multiple hair-burning controversies in the same period. But now — nothing. It's not an accident. When it comes to outrageousness, Donald Trump has dialed it back, on purpose. And indications from Trump world are that the new pattern will continue. (An obvious warning: It might not; by the time this article appears, it's always possible Trump could...

The most intriguing part about the New York Post's endorsement of Donald Trump might be what it says about the relationship between the candidate and Rupert Murdoch. The Post, of course, is owned by Murdoch, once a vocal critic of Trump's presidential campaign. The tabloid's endorsement comes amid a thaw in tensions between Trump and Murdoch's media empire. Trump and Murdoch have had several meetings and conversations in recent months, according to sources close to both men. Those discussions were brokered by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, the owner and publisher of the New York Observer, the sources said. Related: New...

On the cobbled alleyways of Montmartre, as a busker warbled La Vie en Rose and street artists painted watercolours of the view over Paris, Master Corporal Jean-Claude had been up since dawn leading a platoon of soldiers on patrol in full camouflage and flak jackets with fingers resting lightly near the triggers of their assault rifles. “Our mission is to protect, dissuade and reassure,” he said in clipped tones, as his men from the 3rd Marine Infantry Regiment, normally based in Brittany, snaked past pavement cafes, tour groups and couples kissing, scanning all around for bombs or terrorists. A young...

If Donald Trump "hits the 1,100 mark," he'll likely easily "cobble together" enough unbound delegates to clear the 1,237 hurdle to cinch the GOP nomination, Republican National Convention Rules Committee member Randy Evans tells Newsmax TV. In an interview Thursday with "Newsmax Prime" host J.D. Hayworth, the Georgia Republican who also chairs the Republican National Lawyers Association says the pool of unbound delegates could total between 150-200. Evans created a media buzz in remarks earlier Tuesday on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program by suggesting coming within spitting distance of the mandated 1,237 delegates would be good enough to win the party's...

Many societies, especially those of the Americas and China, have a history of using cayenne pepper therapeutically. A powerful compound with many uses, cayenne pepper is currently gaining buzz for cleansing and detoxifying regimes such as the Master Cleanse, which uses the spice to stimulate circulation and neutralize acidity. Cayenne pepper has been used for a variety of ailments including heartburn, delirium, tremors, gout, paralysis, fever, dyspepsia, flatulence, sore throat, atonic dyspepsia, hemorrhoids, menorrhagia in women, nausea, tonsillitis, scarlet fever and diphtheria. 1. Anti-Irritant Properties Cayenne has the ability to ease upset stomach, ulcers, sore throats, spasmodic and irritating coughs,...

All the analysts seem to be persuaded that Donald Trump doesn’t understand the Republican Party rules that cost him some delegates in Colorado. The rules were published last year. They were there for all the candidates to read and understand. Any of them could have done what the Ted Cruz campaign did in wooing those delegates. It wasn’t against the rules. It was part of the rules. I’ve heard newscasters and pundits say the Trump organization just didn’t get it. Maybe they overlooked the rules. Maybe they didn’t understand them. Maybe they never read them or acted on them. But...

Video LinkThe feminine version of Ted Cruz.

Volunteers at the Colorado Republican Assembly are coming forward with evidence to indicate that their state’s delegate selection process was riddled with errors that disadvantaged some Donald Trump supporters who were running to become national delegates. The errors could have violated state bylaws significantly enough that some of the results could be contested, according to the volunteers. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took all 34 of Colorado’s delegates last week in a process that closed down traditional caucus voting to the public. A handful of volunteers spoke to Breitbart News about the process. “I’m the former Chairman of the Pueblo County...

The Trump campaign had little problem getting on the ballot, having quickly gathered more than the 4,500 voter signatures necessary. And Early is convinced that Trump will take Indiana, winning over not only Republicans who like his tough talk but some cross-over Democrats, too. Despite polls that show the blustery Trump offending women, Early said he heard nothing but praise from some Tea Party-affiliated women he visited this week. The bumper stickers went fast, he said. “I don’t think he’ll have a problem with women,” Early said. Trump's delegate situation in Indiana is proving tougher. Behind the scenes, younger and...

The usual people are trying to find ways to quibble with the authority or depth of this poll. Their effort only proves once again that however bad the facts, some people remain so sectarian that they will continue to blame everything except the problem for the problem (‘How dare that bigoted polling company discover our dirty laundry?’) But in some ways the Phillips piece is most important for what he himself admits. Among other things Phillips confesses that Britain has for years been telling itself a lie in relation to its Muslim populations – not least in pretending that they...

Newt Gingrich joined "On the Record" to talk about the state of the 2016 race ahead of next week's New York primary and other Northeastern contests. The former House Speaker said he believes Donald Trump can make it to 1,237 delegates -- the necessary number in order to secure the Republican nomination -- ahead of the national convention in Cleveland. "Trump is a guy who moves in surges," he said. "You just watch him. He focuses very intently and then he puts enormous resources and again, this is a guy who is worth somewhere between 4 and 10 billion dollars....