Rule 40 of the rules of the Republican Party was set down in 2012 to limit Ron Paul’s influence at that year’s convention.

If we read Rule 40 and paragraph B carefully and strictly (more carefully than I did here), it says the candidates qualified to appear on the nominating ballots must win a majority of delegates in at least eight states.

The paragraph reads:

(b) Each candidate for nomination for President of the United States and Vice President of the United States shall demonstrate the support of a majority of the delegates from each of eight (8) or more states, severally, prior to the presentation of the name of that candidate for nomination. Notwithstanding any other provisions of these rules or any rule of the House of Representatives, to demonstrate the support required of this paragraph a certificate evidencing the affirmative written support of the required number of permanently seated delegates from each of the eight (8) or more states shall have been submitted to the secretary of the convention not later than one (1) hour prior to the placing of the names of candidates for nomination pursuant to this rule and the established order of business.

A plurality is different from a majority.  Only states that have been winner-take-all can be assessed as a majority (e.g. Florida, South Carolina, Ohio, and Arizona, so far).  Cruz won proportional Utah by a clear majority.  But what about the other states that award delegates proportionally and in which no one has won a majority outright, but a mere plurality? 

For a rundown of the states and the distribution of the delegates, please click here: Election 2016 – Republican Delegate Count.

According to that source, no one has won an outright majority of delegates in eight states, and that might never happen if Kasich comes on strong in the East and Northeast in the winner-take-all states there.  It seems that in a shared delegate vote count, Trump and Cruz would not qualify (so far) under a strict interpretation of 40B.  To repeat, they have a plurality of delegates, not a majority, more often than not.  So Cruz had better reconsider what he wished for in a March 30 interview on the Hugh Hewitt Show, when he insisted that Rule 40B should stand.

Therefore, it is essential that the GOP Rules Committee abandon Rule 40, which was written for 2012, just to block Ron Paul from raising a stink during Romney's clear and clean primary victory.  It's an obsolete rule, written for a no longer existing context.

The GOP needs to have a wide open convention, after the first ballot voting takes place and no one manages to get to 1,237 (even after wooing the unbound delegates).  We need the best nominee.  And Rule 40 limits our options to get there.  Once again, abandon it.

James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, where he has posted Ten reasons not to vote for Trump, Bill Clinton nudged Trump to run in the GOP, Tough immigration questions for Ted Cruz, and Men in Black at the GOP convention.