Gov. John Kasich’s campaign is plotting to snatch the Republican nomination at a contested convention in Cleveland in August.
Kasich campaign chief strategist John Weaver blasted out a strategy memo during Kasich’s Ohio victory speech that made clear that Kasich will seek to win the nomination at a contested convention. “No candidate will win 1237 delegates,” Weaver said in the memo.
Ohio governor Kasich defeated Donald Trump in the Ohio primary Tuesday night, with Kasich grabbing 43.4 percent of the vote to Trump’s 36.5 percent, with 28 percent of the precincts reporting.
“This is all I got,” Kasich said in his Ohio victory speech. “We are going to go all the way to Cleveland and secure the Republican nomination.”
But Donald Trump’s campaign scoffed at Kasich.
“With a narrowing field, Gov. Kasich is the candidate best positioned to go toe-to-toe in the remaining states,” Weaver said in his memo. “Our internal data shows that Rubio voters break to Gov. Kasich by a 3:1 margin. Senator Rubio will have to decide about the future of his campaign, but we believe voters in the remaining states will see this as a 3-person race no matter what,” Weaver continued.
“With the electoral map shifting significantly in our favor, Gov. Kasich is positioned to accumulate a large share of the almost 1,000 remaining delegates and enter Cleveland in strong position to become the nominee,” Weaver said.
On the topic of a contested convention, Kasich said in the Fox News Republican debate in Detroit that “We are already there.”
Breitbart News spoke to Kasich surrogate John Sununu Jr., of the New Hampshire Sununu dynasty, in the Spin Room after that debate about the possibility of a brokered convention for Kasich.
Sununu told Breitbart News that Kasich will gain delegates in the northern states, hold Trump to less than a majority share of delegates, and then win at a contested convention in Cleveland.
Pledged delegates can become un-pledged after the first ballot. It is possible that the Establishment could coalesce around Kasich, rather than Ted Cruz, to hand the nomination to if Trump fails to make it to a majority.