from Bill Still
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This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show, Randy Evans, a member of the Republican National Committee’s all-important Rules Committee, said that Donald Trump would probably win a 1st ballot victory at the National Convention in Cleveland if he is able to secure somewhat less than the magic 1,237 delegates.
“If Donald Trump exceeds 1,100 votes, he will become the nominee even though he may not have 1,237,” Evans said.
Then Morning Joe tweeted out the same at 9:06 am.
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“If he gets less than 1,000 delegates, then I think we’re looking at a contested convention that could go on for many, many days,” Evans said.
“And then in the middle, there’s that grey area between 1,000 and 1,100, and that’s where the unbound delegates or the delegates that have been released by other candidates come into play to see if there are enough of those to get either Cruz or Trump over the finish line,” he added.
Here is the current delegate count from the RNC, Trump with 755, Cruz 521 and Kasich with 144 – a 234 delegate lead for Trump.
By evening next Tuesday, the most likely scenario is that Trump will pick up 75 of New York’s 95 delegates with Kasich coming in second with 15 and Cruz getting only 5. That would increase Trump’s lead to 304 delegates.
That would bring the totals to Trump with 830, Cruz with 526, and Kasich with 159.
Looking down the remaining primaries, it’s nearly impossible for Trump not to exceed 1100 delegates even without California.
I’m still reporting on politics. Good day.