At the 2012 Republican National Convention, members of the media received modest gift bags. The contents included a copy of Mitt Romney’s book No Apologies, a Tampa Bay Storm beer koozie and some breath mints.
Not all journalists were impressed. The website Gawker ran an unflattering headline about the GOP convention “swag bag” that cannot be printed in a family publication, though their assessment of the Democrats’ offerings was even meaner.
If there is a contested convention in Cleveland this July, delegates, at least, could fare much better. All three campaigns are going to be wooing unbound delegates for months. If the nomination vote goes beyond the first ballot, all the delegates will be fair game.
A lot of the attention has been focused on Donald Trump confidant Roger Stone’s bluster about following uncooperative delegates back to their hotel rooms. But the delegates could be in for much more favorable treatment than the headline-grabbing implied threats.
When the New York Times interviewed the aging veterans of the last contested convention, the 1976 fight between Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan, about their reentry into the fray 40 years later, many of them gave examples of special treatment the delegates received.
Ford helped people get special seating to view the Tall Ships in New York. Reagan introduced them to his Hollywood pals John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart. Ford, the sitting president of the United States, was able to top this with an invitation to an event featuring Queen Elizabeth II.
“You bring an uncommitted delegate to a dinner for the Queen of England, and it’s a fairly persuasive argument,” former Secretary of State James Baker told the Times. Baker corralled delegates for Ford at the 1976 convention.
So instead of threatening delegates, might Trump instead wine and dine them? Trump steaks, Trump waters, Trump wines, visits to Mar-a-Lago? In Iowa, he gave children rides on his helicopter. Presumably the hotel and casino owner and onetime sponsor of beauty pageants could provide more adult-friendly entertainment.
“Without an incumbent president in the race, Trump is the one with the most toys,” former Reagan political director Jeffrey Lord, a Trump supporter, told the Washington Examiner.
A charm offensive may be needed. At the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting, members expressed annoyance with Trump’s complaints about the process. The front-runner has pushed back against Ted Cruz’s success at GOP local and state conventions by alleging the game is rigged against him.
“It’s offensive and it speaks to a lack of knowledge about this process,” one RNC member told the Examiner‘s David Drucker. “I think everyone needs to go back and take a civics lesson again.”
Trump’s complaints make a certain amount of political sense. Cruz and John Kasich are appealing to #NeverTrump supporters. Trump is encouraging his supporters to regard any outcome where he goes to Cleveland with the most votes and delegates but leaves without the nomination as illegitimate. This is an implicit threat to encourage those voters to stay home in November rather than voting for the Republican nominee.
But if the convention goes beyond the first ballot, the RNC members will no longer just be party insiders for Trump to campaign against. As automatic convention delegates, they all become potential voters the billionaire must court.
Is it possible Trump attracts more flies with honey — or Sharper Image steaks — than vinegar? It’s a different approach than what Trump has employed against the Republican establishment so far, but his delegate guru Paul Manafort can remind him it’s not an unprecedented one.
