April 11, 2016 08:59 AM UTC

Colorado may play role in possible Trump challenge at national GOP convention

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• by: Jason Salzman

(There will be metaphorical blood – Promoted by Colorado Pols)

POLS UPDATE: CNN via FOX 31:

By Sunday, the Trump campaign had voiced a litany of complaints about Colorado’s complex process, even though it was obvious on the ground that it had not done the aggressive leg work to court Colorado delegates that the Cruz team had done.

“I win a state in votes and then get non-representative delegates because they are offered all sorts of goodies by Cruz campaign. Bad system!” Trump tweeted Sunday…

He also retweeted a link to a Facebook post where one of his supporters burned his Colorado Republican Party registration over anger at the process at the Colorado state convention.

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The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 11, 2016

Republican Donald Trump is hopping mad at Colorado Republicans:

“The people of Colorado had their vote taken away from them by the phony politicians. Biggest story in politics. This will not be allowed!” Trump posted on Twitter.

In his story about the comments, The Denver Post’s John Frank reported:

The problems with Trump’s ballots [as Frank put it, “riddled with errors”] — and the candidate’s comments — raise questions about whether Colorado will figure prominently into a challenge at the national convention about the state’s delegates.

Another issue that could lead to a challenge by Trump is the fact that Trump actually won at least one straw poll vote earlier this year, and these results could be binding.

National Republican rules state that if Colorado held a straw poll, delegates would be bound to the candidate for whom they voted. That’s one reason Colorado Republicans decided against having a straw poll–in addition to concerns that too many people would show up.

But some Colorado precincts held straw polls anyway, arguably flouting the rules, calling the straw-poll votes symbolic. But straw polls are arguably by definition. And holding them could have violated GOP rules.

Trump didn’t win all of the straw polls held in Colorado, but he won at least one of them, in Adams County, according to a report in The Denver Post.

So Trump’s possible challenge at the national convention could also include questions delegates he should have won due to the symbolic straw-poll process.