Iowa GOP chairman: Delegation to cast ballot for Trump

JOHNSTON - The Iowa delegation to the GOP national convention plans to cast its ballot for Donald Trump even though he didn't carry the state, Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said Friday.

Kaufmann conceded Iowa Republicans are in 'various degrees” of support for Trump. Some are thrilled, some are accepting, and 'we have people who are in the process.”

However, the 'never Trump” movement is a 'tiny, tiny, little minority of people with large megaphones.”

People who 'feel the need to have that internal, heartfelt, passionate conversation in front of cameras and in front of journalists (are) bent on self-promotion and could care less about our first-in-the-nation status and the integrity of our process,” Kaufmann added Friday after taping Iowa Public Television's 'Iowa Press” along with Iowa Democratic Party Chairwoman Andy McGuire.

Suggestions that the Iowa delegation might cast some of its votes for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was the caucus winner, or some other candidate, is 'hypocritical … nonsensical, and it's not going to happen,” Kaufmann said. 'Donald Trump is our nominee.”

McGuire believes Iowa Democrats also are uniting behind the party's presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton. She said the party is stronger as a result of its competitive caucus campaign.

'We had more new people than the Republicans did at the caucuses, and we have a lot of enthusiasm,” McGuire said. People are getting involved because they want to make sure party leaders are talking about working men and women, equality, equal pay and minimum wage.

'So we're really talking about issues that are core to the Democratic Party, and they will really help us energize our party,” McGuire said.

She played down suggestions that Clinton's supporters and those of her rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, are 'keeping score” in terms of which camp elected more of its members to state party posts.

Rather than identify themselves as Sanders or Clinton supporters, McGuire said Democrats are talking about a progressive, inclusive party.

'I don't think there is any kind of us-against-them,” she said.

Kaufmann said if Trump is not the only candidate whose name is placed in nomination, the 30-member Iowa delegation would then cast its votes to reflect the Iowa caucus results. In that case, Cruz would get eight delegates, Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio would each get seven, Ben Carson would get three, and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee would each get one delegate