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CLEVELAND, Ohio — A newly launched website from the Republican National Committee is the clearest sign yet that the GOP is preparing for July's Republican National Convention in Cleveland to be contested. The new site, conventionfacts.gop, broadly lays out the party's rules for nominating a presidential candidate, including walking through the ground rules for the possible multiple rounds of voting at an "open convention." (This is the party's preferred terminology — it lacks the air of controversy of a "contested convention," the more commonly used phrase.) By explaining the GOP's arcane rules, Republicans hope to tamp down the inevitable controversy...

John Kasich is soldiering on with the belief that he can convince hundreds of Republican delegates to swing his way at a contested summer convention by warning that the alternative could be detrimental to the party and the country. […] … His team has brought on experienced delegate hunters and national strategists in recent weeks to help navigate the complicated math of state-by-state delegate rules to boost his chances at the convention. …

The Republican Party on Thursday is unveiling a website to educate the media and the public on the rules of contested presidential nominating convention. The move is the latest concession by GOP officials that the party is close to holding its first contested convention since 1976, when Ronald Reagan challenged President Gerald Ford. Since then, the quadrennial convention has functioned as a made-for-television pep rally to promote the presumptive Republican nominee. "ConventionFacts.gop is a tool for voters to learn about convention delegates, rules, and how the overall process works in a simple, easy to understand format," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus...

Mitt Romney's reemergence this election cycle as a harsh critic of Donald Trump has been crippling for his favorability among Republican voters, a new poll shows. Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, is seen as favorable by just 28 percent of Republican primary voters, according to a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday. A startling 62 percent of Republican primary voters view him unfavorably, the poll found, and 10 percent said they were not sure. That net favorability of minus-34 percentage points is a dramatic drop from polling conducted prior to 2016. In January 2015, for example, Romney was seen...

Bennett said the campaign has planned two distinct phases for winning in an open convention. First, there is a window to lock down delegate commitments between the last primary on June 7 and the convention start on July 18. "You've got 40 days between the last primary and the convention," Bennett said, "to go woo the appropriate number of unbound delegates." It's a long time if the gap is small. "You still have a chance to put together 50 or 75 delegates to win on the first ballot," Bennett said. "That's Phase One."

Wisconsin governor Scott Walker said Thursday that in the event of a contested convention, the Republican nominee will likely be someone who is "not currently running." "I think if it's an open convention, it's very likely it would be someone who's not currently running," Walker said. "I mean, who knows. The one thing I qualify -- it's like the qualifications you see on those ads you see for car dealerships. I think any of us who comment on this election have to qualify that almost every prediction's been off, so it's hard to predict anything," Walker added. Walker's own run...

Fresh polling from Fox News confirms an emerging trend: While his GOP rivals poll competitively or ahead of presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump consistently trails her by a substantial margin. The new national survey shows Ohio Governor John Kasich -- who has no mathematical path to the nomination -- leading Clinton by a whopping 11 points (51/40), with Texas Senator Ted Cruz edging the former Secretary of State by three points (47/44). By contrast, controversial real estate tycoon Donald Trump trails Clinton by 11 points (38/49). Roughly half of registered voters say they'd be "scared" Trump wins the...

Meet Curly Haugland, former chairman of the North Dakota Republican party and current Republican national committeeman. Haugland is one of just 112 delegates who will arrive unbound to this summer’s Republican convention in Cleveland, free to cast a vote for any candidate he chooses on a first ballot because North Dakota does not hold a primary or caucus. That makes him a particularly valuable asset to the still-dueling presidential campaigns...

Nominating Donald Trump will wreck the Republican Party as we know it. Not nominating Trump will wreck the Republican Party as we know it. The sooner everyone recognizes this fact, the better. Denial has been Trump's greatest ally. Republicans and commentators didn't believe he would run. They didn't believe he could be an attractive candidate to rational people, no matter how angry with "the establishment" voters said they were. They -- which includes me -- were wrong. The denial lasted longer for some than others. Long after many observers had come to the realization that Trump was the front-runner, Jeb...

"We think if we come into the convention in July in Philadelphia, having won a whole lot of delegates, having a whole lot of momentum behind us, and most importantly perhaps being the candidate who is most likely to defeat Donald Trump, we think that some of these superdelegates who have now supported Hillary Clinton can come over to us," Sanders said.

Let me begin by saying I am convinced candidate Donald Trump will get the 1,237 delegates he needs, so this outline could be just an intellectual exercise. However, last night on Sean Hannity RNC Chairman Reince Priebus discussed the delegate math and state of the GOP race headed toward the presidential nomination. RNC Chairman Preibus and Speaker of the House Paul Ryan are best friends having grown up in the same town in Wisconsin and attending High School together. Please focus your attention to the specific wording he uses @05:34. Close attention: (direct video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h7TBNnEqOE)

With more than half the states having now held their nominating contests, Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz are quietly directing their attention to a second, shadow election campaign — one that is out of sight, little understood but absolutely critical if Republicans arrive at their national convention with Mr. Trump short of a majority of delegates. ... For Mr. Trump, the problem is that a delegate may be pledged to back one candidate, based on the results of a primary or caucus, but may be loyal to another. So Mr. Trump could see the tide turn to a...

The outcome of a contested Republican convention could rest with the rules committee. Made up of convention delegates, this group of about 100 grassroots Republicans will consider and approve the package of rules governing how the nomination of the party's presidential standard-bearer will be processed on the floor in Cleveland. In a possible battle for 1,237 delegates between Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, the candidate that influences the rules committee could position themselves for victory in a vote of delegates on the convention floor. "I'm sure right now, every campaign is scrambling to find [delegates] to get on...

House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) suggested Tuesday night that he could reach for the Republican presidential nomination during a contested convention in Cleveland.

A recent poll by Victory Processing asked Nebraskans about Trump and Sasse. The poll's questions appeared aimed at gauging how Sasse's stance is playing with his constituents. The results of the poll are not publicly available, nor is it clear who commissioned the poll. The Nebraska Public Service Commission shows Victory Processing as having the same Grand Rapids, Michigan, address as Victory Phones, a vendor that Sasse's Senate campaign used for polling, fundraising and other services.

Mitt Romney, in his latest attempt to help stop Donald J. Trump, joined Gov. John Kasich of Ohio on the campaign trail on Monday as Mr. Kasich tries to pull out a victory in his home state. At an air museum between Akron and Canton, where Mr. Kasich’s campaign bus pulled in next to a World War II-era bomber, Mr. Romney highlighted Mr. Kasich’s experience in Congress and as Ohio’s governor. “Unlike the other people running, he has a real track record,” Mr. Romney said in introducing Mr. Kasich at the town hall style event. “He has the kind of...

"It is not necessarily that he will get the majority of the delegates — though anything is possible in this race, everything has been unpredictable so far — but he certainly would go into the convention with a lot of leverage," Mr. Portman said. "I think that is good for Ohio." Political analysts say Mr. Kasich is angling to be a kingmaker at a contested convention and is eyeing the No. 2 slot on the GOP ticket.

Ted Cruz says he would have no problem with a contested convention over the summer in the event neither he nor Donald Trump secures enough delegates before then to lock up the Republican presidential nomination. Trump suggested Wednesday morning on "Fox and Friends" that Cruz was making the statement "because he had such a bad night last night."

Unless you want a "manifest revolt". As I write this, Ted Cruz has just won the caucuses in Kansas and finished a pretty good overall Saturday in which he inched to within 83 delegates of Donald Trump in the nomination race. The count now stands at 378 for Trump and 295 for Cruz, with Rubio still lagging way behind at 123 and John Kasich barely registering at 34. Strategically, that might explain why Cruz is the only Trump rival who is rejecting any notion of a contested convention to take the nomination away from Trump - if it comes to...

Pretty much every speaker at CPAC this year has caused some sort of a stir, which seems to define the nature of the presidential race which framed it. Ted Cruz was no exception, with plenty of fans clogging the path to the ballroom where he spoke as the Secret Service labored to get everyone scanned and checked through metal detectors at the door. Things got a bit spicy when he went after Donal Trump and a number of Trump supporters got up and left the hall, but for the most part Cruz received a very warm reception.In a separate...