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 Trump, the front-runner to become the Republican presidential
candidate in November's election, was the focus for the party's
spring meeting of 168 Republican National Committee (RNC) members in
Hollywood, Florida. The three-day conclave at an oceanside resort
will take stock of the race for the White House and prepare for a
possible contested convention in July in Cleveland.
The New York real estate mogul's win Tuesday in his home state over
rivals Ted Cruz and John Kasich was an important milestone for RNC
members, who said it could put him on a pathway to acquire the 1,237
delegates needed to win the nomination outright without a contested
convention.
"There are a fair number of RNC members who were discounting his
chances of success when we met in January and now see that he’s
building a substantial lead and may in fact get to 1,237 before we
get to the convention," said Steve Duprey, an RNC member from New
Hampshire.
 "The New York results were such an overwhelming win," Duprey said.
"It's impressive. That's what I've heard people talking about."
RNC members said Trump could help improve the climate by taking
steps to end the bad blood that has developed between him and the
committee's leadership, including RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.
Trump has said that Cruz's harvest of delegates in Colorado, where
rank-and-file Republicans did not vote or caucus, showed that the
party's nominating process is "rigged." He has wondered whether
Priebus, who is popular with the RNC ranks, should continue in his
job if Trump is the nominee.
"I think it's time for that rhetoric to end," said Jeff Essmann,
chairman of the Montana Republican Party.
Bob Kapel, the RNC member representing Washington, D.C., noted that
Trump had toned down his rhetoric in his New York victory speech on
Tuesday night, and said he would like to see that continue. Kapel is
a delegate for former candidate Marco Rubio and now backs Ohio
Governor John Kasich.
Nevertheless, Kapel said of Trump and the Republicans: "We’re about
winning the White House. Obviously, I have issues with him, but our
nominee will be our nominee."
South Carolina Republican Party Chairman Matt Moore said Trump's
recent hiring of Rick Wiley, a Republican veteran who was former
presidential candidate Scott Walker's campaign manager, was a good
sign.
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"It’s a positive signal despite a lack of general outreach over the
past year, and I think the Trump campaign, for all the bluster,
recognizes that the RNC will be an integral partner if he is the
nominee and it’ll be almost impossible to win the presidency without
the RNC as a partner," Moore said.
In a good sign for Trump, there appeared to be no significant move
by the Republican leadership, at least at this meeting, to change
the rules governing the convention. There has been talk of rewriting
the rules in a way that could benefit an establishment-backed
candidate like Kasich.
Trump, Cruz and Kasich all sent envoys to the meeting to explain
their pathways to the nomination.
A source familiar with the situation said Wiley and other Trump
representatives were meeting with Republican officials from the five
Northeastern states that will hold primary elections next Tuesday:
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Maryland.
Cruz's campaign manager, Jeff Roe, held a closed-door briefing with
RNC members to explain how Cruz would be a better Republican nominee
than Trump, saying the U.S. senator from Texas would energize the
party's grassroots supporters.
Roe dismissed talk that Cruz might now be in trouble. Cruz's pathway
to the nomination is now almost entirely dependent on forcing a
contested convention and winning the nomination on the second or
third ballot.
"There's going to be ebbs and flows to this campaign," Roe told
reporters. "This campaign is going through (the last primary
elections on June 7 and likely to the convention."
(Editing by Caren Bohan and Jonathan Oatis)
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