•November 4, 2015•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

For the first time in four decades, Illinois Republicans may well be players in the presidential sweepstakes at our March 15 primary.

In 1976, GOP primary voters gave Gerald Ford a big win in Illinois over Ronald Reagan and thus helped Ford beat the California governor by a nose later at the party’s convention. Ford went on to lose to Jimmy Carter that November.

Since then, the nomination has been locked up long before the Illinois primary. This time around is likely to be different.

First, the GOP has a number of well-funded candidates divvying up the likely votes, with most registering in single digit percentages in the polls.

Second, GOP National Committee rules have been changed for 2016 so that in primaries up to March 14, delegates are to be allocated on a proportional, rather than winner-take-all, basis.

This means that if Donald Trump or Ben Carson wins the most votes in a primary, with say 25 percent of the total, “The Don” or Dr. Ben would receive delegates only equal to about their percentage of the vote. As a result, no candidate will pile up most of those early state delegates.

The Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries take place in February, followed by the “Super Tuesday” or “SEC” primaries March 1, when most southern states go to the polls.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.