WINNER-TAKE-ALL REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES

“If he’s still around next March [2016], [Donald] Trump could benefit from a change the GOP has made to how delegates are awarded. In primaries and caucuses before March 15, candidates will be awarded delegates proportionately to their vote total; but from March 15 onward, states will have the option of awarding delegates on a winner-take-all basis. This is a change from 2012, and the idea here is to avoid a drawn-out battle of the sort that took place in that year between [Mitt] Romney and Rick Santorum, and to get to a nominee more quickly.

“On paper, this change was intended to benefit a front-runner such as [Jeb] Bush. But what if Trump is still running come March 15 [2016]? He certainly won’t lack for money. What if a still-plausible Trump wins primaries in some large, winner-take-all states?”

Michael Tomasky, “Trump,” in the New York Review, September 24, 2015, pp: 12-16.