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Republican Presidential Delegates: What are They Saying?

April 27, 2016 - 6:45pm
Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and John Kasich
Ted Cruz, Donald Trump and John Kasich

More than in any recent presidential campaign, the process of selecting the delegates that are unbound and will vote at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland this summer has moved from a conversation among political strategists to weighing on the average voter's mind.

The spin is on:

Donald Trump:

"To a certain extent the RNC inherited this, but the delegate system is a scam, it's a scam," Trump said on Morning Joe Wednesday.

"Now they're trying to pick off those delegates one by one," Trump said in Colorado earlier this month. "That's not the way democracy is supposed to work. They offer them trips, they offer them all sorts of things and you're allowed to do that. You can buy all these votes."

“I think we're going to win the 1,237. I think we're not going to have the second ballot. I just tell you, though. Despite what I just said, it's a corrupt system, and it's a rigged system," Trump told NPR.

“It’s a disgrace for the party. And Reince Priebus should be ashamed of himself. He should be ashamed of himself because he knows what’s going on,” Trump said.

Ted Cruz

"You have to earn the support of the majority of the delegates elected by the people, and we are on a path to doing that," Cruz said. "And Donald is on a path to losing the nomination. All of his bluster, all of his bravado is designed to hide that simple fact."

"We will have a tremendous advantage in that battle because the party is unifying behind our campaign," Cruz said.

John Kasich

"I think when we're at the convention, the delegates are going to want to know who can beat Hillary because if we don't beat Hillary we lose the Supreme Court, the United States Senate, state and local races, that's where we're heading," he said.


What Republican Party Officials Are Saying:

"The rules surrounding the delegate selection have been clearly laid out in every state and territory and while each state is different, each process is easy to understand for those willing to learn it," the party statement said. "It ultimately falls on the campaigns to be up to speed on these delegate rules."

"This is a very normal system that we've been using for many years," Republican National Committee Chair Reince Priebus said live with Wolf Blitzer.  "And by the way, if anyone wants to reform the system, they can do so on the Rules Committee, because every four years, the Rules Committee gets together and they write the rules for the nomination of our party. So that's who writes the rules. It's not the RNC that writes the rules to determine the system."

What The Delegates are saying:

"The suicide pact with Cruz and Kasich sabotaged themselves," said Wayne Buckwalker, a PA 6th district delegate who plans to vote for Trump. "That proved that the system is rigged against Trump."

"Donald Trump is a liar," Guy Short, a Cruz backer in Colorado told Reuters. "Nobody was offered anything. In fact, I spent thousands of dollars of my own money campaigning to become a delegate because it's that important to make sure Donald Trump is NOT our nominee."

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