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 The state features the sort of complex rules that Trump has
repeatedly slammed for being "rigged" and that forced him this month
to reshuffle his team to better compete with main rival Ted Cruz for
the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination for the Nov. 8
election.
"It's as crooked almost as Hillary Clinton," Trump said on Monday at
a campaign event in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in an attack on both
the Republican primary rules and the Democratic presidential
front-runner.
Just 17 of the 71 Republican delegates up for grabs in Pennsylvania
on Tuesday are allocated to the candidate who wins its primary. The
rest - people who are elected directly by voters - are free agents,
able to support anyone they choose at the Republican National
Convention in July.
Pennsylvania and other states holding primaries on Tuesday -
Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut - are favorable
terrain for Trump. Opinion polls show him leading in all five,
prompting Cruz and John Kasich, the third Republican in the race, to
announce an anti-Trump alliance.
 On the Democratic side, Clinton also looks set to solidify her lead
over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in Tuesday's contests.
But Trump has lost the battle for delegates in previous states where
he scored wins in the popular vote, raising red flags for his
campaign team.
On April 7, he announced he was reorganizing his campaign to focus
on delegate and convention strategy, hiring advisers with convention
experience, while railing against the Republican system.
In Pennsylvania, candidates hope to get as many die-hard supporters
as possible elected as delegates, both to build support on the first
ballot and to bolster their position if no one gets to 1,237
delegates outright and the Cleveland convention becomes a protracted
fight for the nomination.
'NICK OF TIME'
It is unclear if Trump's campaign revved up its efforts in time to
make a difference in Pennsylvania's delegate race.
U.S. Representative Lou Barletta of Pennsylvania, a Trump surrogate,
said the campaign had taken some steps, including printing cards
naming its preferred delegate candidates so that voters going to the
polls would know who backs Trump.
Before that, "we were just scribbling names on a piece of paper for
them," Barletta said. "I think the organization coming here to
Pennsylvania was just in the nick of time."
Cruz's Pennsylvania chairman, Lowman Henry, said he had not noticed
a ramp-up by Trump there. "All we've noticed is a bunch of whining
about it," he said. "Our response is: They whine, we win."
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Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, has met with would-be delegates who
have promised to support him if they are elected, as well as
candidates who have not declared any allegiance, Henry said. Kasich,
the Ohio governor, has also met with prospective delegates.
Gabriel Keller, a Pittsburgh-area Trump supporter, said the New York
billionaire's campaign had proven unreliable.
He said Trump's operation asked him in December to run to be a
delegate but that communication then stopped. Some Trump backers in
the state got help getting on the ballot in their congressional
districts, but Keller said he did not. When the Trump campaign
posted its slate of recommended delegates on its website, he said
his name was not on it.
It is difficult to predict which candidate will get the most support
from Pennsylvania. Many delegate candidates have said they will vote
for whoever wins the state or their district, at least on the first
ballot at the convention.
If those delegates hold to their informal promises, Trump could win
most of Pennsylvania's votes on the first round in Cleveland, said
Charles Gerow, a conservative strategist also running to be a
Pennsylvania delegate.
But if Trump falls short of the votes needed to win on the first
ballot in Cleveland, and delegates across the country begin
switching sides, the efforts now being made to woo Pennsylvania
delegates could pay off.
"The truth is that if you haven't been working at these delegate
contests for a while, you're playing from way behind the eight
ball," Gerow said.
(Reporting by Emily Stephenson in Washington; Editing by Peter
Cooney)
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reserved.]
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