There’s a Good Reason Haley’s Still Running – And It’s Not Trump’s Legal Problems...

by Henry Olsen at Politico

Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign started as an excellent adventure, but it now appears to many Republicans to be a bogus journey. Why is she still in the race after six consecutive stinging defeats?

I have a theory: The answer might be buried in the Republican National Committee’s rules and their potential effect on her voice at the July convention.

Haley will arrive in Milwaukee in possession of a cache of delegates — how many is unclear; at the moment, she has 20.

The rules don’t simply give power to a candidate based on the number of delegates they possess. Candidates cannot have their names placed into nomination, and thereby get television airtime at the convention, unless they have a plurality of delegates in at least five states.

That threshold makes a big difference for Haley in terms of her clout — if any — at the convention. Modern political conventions have morphed into four-day long infomercials for a nominee whose identity has long been known. Every winner wants to use that platform to broadcast a structured, convincing message. Do that right and you can give your candidacy a significant, and perhaps decisive, bounce in the polls…