Political Wire

  • Front Page
  • Trending News
  • Reader Wire
  • Membership
    • Subscribe
    • Sign In
  • Sign In
  • Contact Us
You are here: Home / 2016 Campaign / Dreams of a Contested Convention Fade Away

Dreams of a Contested Convention Fade Away

May 2, 2016 at 9:25 am EDT By Taegan Goddard 36 Comments

Rick Klein: “Coming soon, perhaps, in the year that’s seen everything: contested conventions that are actually no-contests. Persistent challenges in both the Republican and Democratic races could strain both dictionary definitions and party resources in the run-up to July. On the Republican side, a Ted Cruz loss in Indiana on Tuesday would put Donald Trump on a definite path to capturing a majority of delegates on the first ballot. Cruz, though, seems unlikely to accept that reality. He’s already started accusing news organizations (without evidence) of cooking the delegate books to favor Trump, and has made clear that only achieving 1,237 bound delegates will meet his definition of securing a majority.”

“For the Democrats, Bernie Sanders’ path to the nomination is even narrower than Cruz’s. Yet Sanders declared Sunday that ‘the convention will be a contested contest’ as he will seek to convince superdelegates to join him, all the way until the party gathers in Philadelphia. Cruz and Sanders have earned the right to go on. But the pressure for them to get out and acknowledge the all-but-inevitable will grow if they don’t win in Indiana. And at some point soon, party leaders will want to hand over their conventions’ keys to the man and woman who will almost certainly top the ticket this summer.”

FavoriteLoadingSave to Favorites
  • Bluesky
  • X
  • Threads
  • Facebook
  • Email

Filed Under: 2016 Campaign

« Cruz Desperate for Win In Indiana
Quote of the Day »

Your Account

Sign in

Members Only

  • Improving Political Wire Without Changing What Works
  • A New Way to Monetize the Presidency
  • The GOP’s Silence on Max Miller
  • The President of the Red States
  • The Window to Replace Ken Martin Is Closing
Trial Balloon

Add Trial Balloon to your podcast player to get new episodes each week.

About Political Wire

Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

Praise for Political Wire

“There are a lot of blogs and news sites claiming to understand politics, but only a few actually do. Political Wire is one of them.”

— Chuck Todd, host of “Meet the Press”

“Concise. Relevant. To the point. Political Wire is the first site I check when I’m looking for the latest political nugget. That pretty much says it all.”

— Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the Rothenberg Political Report

“Political Wire is one of only four or five sites that I check every day and sometimes several times a day, for the latest political news and developments.”

— Charlie Cook, editor of the Cook Political Report

“The big news, delicious tidbits, pearls of wisdom — nicely packaged, constantly updated… What political junkie could ask for more?”

— Larry Sabato, Center for Politics, University of Virginia

“Political Wire is a great, great site.”

— Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe”

“Taegan Goddard has a knack for digging out political gems that too often get passed over by the mainstream press, and for delivering the latest electoral developments in a sharp, no frills style that makes his Political Wire an addictive blog habit you don’t want to kick.”

— Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post

“Political Wire is one of the absolute must-read sites in the blogosphere.”

— Glenn Reynolds, founder of Instapundit

“I rely on Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire for straight, fair political news, he gets right to the point. It’s an eagerly anticipated part of my news reading.”

— Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist.

Copyright © 2026 · Goddard Media LLC | Privacy Policy | Corrections Policy

Political Wire ® is a registered trademark of Goddard Media LLC