Cruz Outmaneuvering Trump in GOP Delegate Fight Wednesday, 06 Apr 2016
While the focus of the Republican presidential campaign shifts eastward to the New York primary, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is pivoting west, where he is quietly trying to chip away at Donald Trump's lead in the race for convention delegates.
Cruz won six pledged delegates during a pair of obscure, congressional-level Colorado GOP assemblies on Saturday.
He is also poised to make gains in several other western Republican contests, including a possible sweep of Colorado's remaining assemblies, due to conclude Saturday.
Cruz's success in the complex delegate game is helping him counter Trump's headline-grabbing wins in big states and would give the Texas senator a tactical advantage should the party's presidential nomination come down to a rare contested convention.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who backs Ted Cruz for president, said the GOP nomination fight was "very likely" headed to an open convention but the 36 delegates Cruz won on Tuesday are "locked in." Trump won six delegates in the state.
Under Wisconsin Republican Party rules, delegates must stick with the candidate they are pledged to until they are either released by that candidate or if the person fails to get a third of the vote at the convention after the first round.
"Ted Cruz will win on the second ballot if not on the way in and he will unite the party," Walker, who withdrew his presidential candidacy, said in an interview Wednesday on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee.
The actual delegates who will represent Cruz and Trump at the convention are being selected over the next month.
Meanwhile, a Republican aide says top campaign advisers to Ohio Gov. John Kasich plan to meet with leading GOP activists in Washington.
The meeting Wednesday aims to discuss the presidential candidate's strategy for continuing his campaign and battling for the nomination at the party's Cleveland convention in July.
The aide, who spoke anonymously because the details have not been made public, says Ohio Republican Sen. Rob Portman helped organize Wednesday's session. Portman is a long-time friend of Kasich and was his colleague when Kasich was in Congress.
The meeting comes a day after a GOP Wisconsin presidential primary in which Texas Sen. Ted Cruz was victorious over businessman Donald Trump and Kasich. The only contest the Ohio governor has so far won was in his home state, but he continues to compile a modest number of delegates — delegates that could be crucial in the tight race for the nomination.
Those attending Wednesday's meeting include Kasich top strategist John Weaver and Charlie Black, a long-time Republican operative now advising Kasich's campaign, the aide said.
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