What happens to the Gingrich/Huntsman/Santorum delegates?

What happens to the Gingrich/Huntsman/Santorum delegates?

Can they possibly go to another candidate or are they forced to support the candidate who won them?

Read my thread here:

RON PAUL Expected To Get Rick Santorum's Delegates

www.abovetopsecret.com...

All references are from Wikipedia:

The 2012 Republican presidential primaries are the selection processes in which voters of the Republican Party are electing delegates to the Republican National Convention of the party. This convention nominate a candidate to run for President of the United States in the 2012 presidential election. There will be 2,286 delegates chosen,[6] and a candidate must accumulate 1,144 delegate votes to win the nomination.

So basically, delegates are being selected or elected to represent their respective districts. The key is that some are binding, some are non-binding. Note:

To become the Republican Party's nominee for the 2012 presidential election a candidate needs a majority of 1,144 delegates to vote for him. The 2012 race is significantly different from earlier races. Many states have switched from their old winner-take-all allocation to proportional allocation. Many remaining winner-take-all states are allocating delegates to both the winner of each congressional district and the winner of the state. The change was made to prolong the race, giving lesser known candidates a chance and making it harder for a frontrunner to secure the majority early. It was also hoped that this change in the election system would energize the base of the party.

But the "elections" per state that are going on now are more or less a fancy poll:

But the actual election of the delegates are many times at a later date. Delegates are elected in different ways that vary from state to state. They can be elected at local conventions, selected from slates submitted by the candidates, selected at committee meetings or elected directly at the caucuses and primaries. Until the delegates are actually elected the delegate numbers are by nature projections, but it is only in the nonbinding caucus states where they are not allocated at the primary or caucus date.

This is because those votes (committed delegates) dont mean anything if a candidate does not receive 1,144 once all states have "voted".

If that happens, the GOP enters an "open convention" aka "brokered convention".

A brokered convention is a situation in United States politics in which there are not enough delegates won during the presidential primary and caucus elections for a single candidate to have a pre-existing majority, during the first official vote for a political party's presidential candidate at its nominating convention.

So, to answer your question, if I understand this correctly: if Romney does not win 1144 delegates right now (does not receive the 'nomination'), we enter the open convention, in which all 2286 delegates are unbound.

I have a suspicion on why Santorum and Gingrich dropped out early. Here

Apparently, in order to even be on the first ballot at the convention, a candidate has to have the majority of committed delegates in at least 5 states. Gingrich has no chance of meeting that criteria and Santorum may not meet it either if his caucus state wins are taken over by Ron Paul supporters and delegates. So if delegates committed to those two candidates may not be able to vote that way if those candidates aren't on the first ballot.

Ron Paul supporters take over Romney delegate process

The above link shows how Ron Paul supporters can elect a slate of delegates, which theoretically are committed to Romney, but may not vote for him on the first ballot. Keep in mind that if Ron Paul supporters dominate a state convention, they can not only dominate the delegate selection process but also the state party apparatus itself. What's to prevent a state convention, dominated by RP supporters from declaring that delegates to the national convention can vote for whomever they wish on the first ballot. Then Romney's lead could very well vanish. Let's hope so.