GOP leaders are scrambling to minimize Donald Trump's dominance in the polls, leaving many wondering what would happen if no one candidate wins a clear majority before the national convention. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) 
 
 GOP leaders are scrambling to minimize Donald Trump's dominance in the polls, leaving many wondering what would happen if no one candidate wins a clear majority before the national convention. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) 
 
 Republican officials and leading figures in the party’s establishment are preparing for the possibility of a brokered convention as businessman Donald Trump continues to sit atop the polls in the GOP presidential race. 
 
 More than 20 of them convened Monday near the Capitol for a dinner held by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, and the prospect of Trump nearing next year’s nominating convention in Cleveland with a significant number of delegates dominated the discussion, according to five people familiar with the meeting. 
 
 Weighing in on that scenario as Priebus and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) listened, several longtime Republican power brokers argued that if the controversial billionaire storms through the primaries, the party’s establishment must lay the groundwork for a floor fight in which the GOP’s mainstream wing could coalesce around an alternative, the people said. 
 
 The development represents a major shift for veteran Republican strategists, who until this month had spoken of a brokered convention only in the most hypothetical terms — and had tried to encourage a drama-free nomination by limiting debates and setting an earlier convention date. 
 
 Now, those same leaders see a floor fight as a real possibility. And so does Trump, who said in an interview last week that he, too, is preparing. 
 
 Condemnation came quickly after Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump's call to ban Muslims from entering the United States. Here are some notable comments. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) 
 
 Because of the sensitivity of the topic — and because they are wary of saying something that, if leaked, would provoke Trump to bolt the party and mount an independent bid — Priebus and McConnell were mostly quiet during the back-and-forth. They did not signal support for an overt anti-Trump effort. 
 
 But near the end, McConnell and Priebus acknowledged to the group that a deadlocked convention is something the party should prepare for, both institutionally within the RNC and politically at all levels in the coming months. 
 
 [Attacks on Trump just make these voters like him more] 
 
 When asked Thursday about the dinner and convention planning, Sean Spicer, the RNC’s chief strategist and spokesman, said: “The RNC is neutral in this process, and the rules are set until the convention begins next July. Our goal is to ensure a successful nomination, and that requires us thinking through every scenario, including a contested convention.” 
 
 During the dinner, attendees delved into what exactly a brokered convention would look like. It would happen if no candidate was able to win the nomination on a first-ballot vote, starting a multi-ballot exercise on the floor of the Quicken Loans Arena that could extend for hours until a candidate has secured sufficient support. 
 
 Many of the delegates are “bound” on the first ballot, meaning they must support the candidate they chose in primaries or at state conventions. But that restriction would lift if no nominee is chosen. The jockeying for delegates on a second ballot — or third, fourth or fifth — would be intense and full of political dealmaking, thus the term “brokered” convention. 
 
 Upon leaving the Monday dinner, several attendees said they would share memos about delegate allocation in each state as well as research about the 1976 convention, the last time the GOP gathered without a clear nominee. 
 
 1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × People and groups Donald Trump has denounced View Photos Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is not one to back down readily from controversial statements, and the list of those he dislikes continues to grow. Caption Not one to back down easily from controversial statements, the Republican presidential candidate continues to add to the list of people he condemns. Mitt Romney After being attacked as a “fraud” by Mitt Romney, Donald Trump slammed him as a “choke artist” and “failed candidate” who begged for Trump’s endorsement during his 2012 presidential bid. Tom Smart/EPA Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue. 
 
 The rules for selection of delegates are complicated — and largely decided state by state. Most states now elect delegates on a proportional basis, with at-large statewide delegates supplemented by delegates awarded by each congressional district. 
 
 This makes the task of securing delegates more difficult in many states, because Republican candidates must, in some cases, push for support in overwhelmingly Democratic districts. 
 
 They must also qualify for each state’s ballot in order to win any delegates at all, making the arduous series of state-by-state rules governing ballot access a potentially critical factor as well. 
 
 The campaign of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) seems to have mastered the intricacies of state ballot access rules and is said to have qualified in more than 40 states and territories, more than any other candidate. 
 
 The emerging consensus at the highest levels of the Republican Party about how the 2016 race could unfold comes after a fresh wave of polls showing Trump leading in early-voting states and nationally, even as he continues to unleash incendiary comments such as his proposal to block Muslims from entering the United States. It also marks the close of a months-long chapter in the campaign when a brokered convention was considered a fanciful concept rather than a possibility that merited serious review. 
 
 Conservative radio host William J. Bennett, who served as President Ronald Reagan’s education secretary, said the unrest on the right echoes the run-up to the 1976 GOP convention, when Reagan challenged then-President Gerald Ford. But Bennett called this moment “a little more intense.” 
 
 “That said, people shouldn’t be panicking, and I think things will calm down when people in the party leadership realize there are core truths to what Trump is saying and he’s not trying to take down the party. For many conservatives, his candidacy is a positive disruption,” Bennett said. “Let things run their course.” 
 
 If anything, he added, the GOP convention “may get a ton of interest. People will want to tune in. They won’t tune in to the Democratic coronation.” 
 
 Stuart Stevens, a former adviser to Mitt Romney, said the need to plan for a brokered convention is not necessarily all about Trump. 
 
 “Beyond Trump, what you’re seeing is the party bracing for a potential ‘Hunger Games’ scenario where you have a different person win each of the first four primaries and they all have the resources to slug it out until the convention,” Stevens said. “It’s smart to think of contingencies, and if you actually spend time with the numbers, it’s possible someone won’t quickly get the number they need to be the nominee.” 
 
 The prix fixe three-course meal at the Source, an Asian fusion restaurant near the Capitol, was part of a regular invitation-only dinner series hosted by Priebus in which he solicits candid input from party leaders. Those familiar with Monday’s deliberations spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private matter. 
 
 Attendees included Ward Baker, executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee; Rob Simms, his counterpart at the National Republican Congressional Committee; Ron Kaufman, an RNC committeeman and Romney confidant; and pollster Linda DiVall. Whit Ayres, an adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), and Vin Weber, an ally of former Florida governor Jeb Bush, also were there, among others. 
 
 It was not supposed to unfold this way. After Romney’s 2012 defeat, which followed a protracted nomination season, the RNC moved to speed up the process. In August, Priebus predicted a swift and relatively painless nomination contest, two months after Trump jumped in the race. “We’re going to have a nominee probably by the end of March or the beginning of April,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” 
 
 The problem facing the party — a crowded field led by a billionaire firebrand — was evident Thursday, a deadline to qualify for the Virginia presidential primary. According to the state GOP, 13 candidates qualified. Given the acrimony and uncertainty — and the relative ease of fundraising — there is little incentive for any of them to drop out. 
 
 RNC members will huddle in January in South Carolina to discuss the convention. Although no rule changes can be implemented until the convention, the people familiar with the dinner gathering said top Republicans would like to begin that winter meeting with more clarity about how the RNC would handle a contested convention. 
 
 When asked by The Washington Post last week what he thought about a contested convention, Trump said he is getting ready for one. 
 
 “I don’t think it’s going to be a brokered convention,” he said. “But if it is, I’d certainly go all the way — and I think I’d have a certain disadvantage.” 
 
 “I’ll be disadvantaged,” he continued. “The dealmaking, that’s my advantage. My disadvantage is that I’d be going up against guys who grew up with each other, who know each other intimately, and I don’t know who they are, okay? That’s a big disadvantage. . . . These kind of guys stay close. They all know each other. They want each other to win.” ||||| WASHINGTON With Donald Trump leading a splintered field, top Republican Party officials are keeping open the possibility that the fight to be the party's presidential candidate could stretch to the nominating convention in July, officials said on Thursday. 
 
 A so-called "brokered convention," in which no single candidate has a sufficient number of nominating delegates to become the presidential nominee in the November election, used to be a common feature of American politics. But there has not been one in more than 60 years. 
 
 The possibility that the Republican battle for a nominee will extend to the July 18-21 convention in Cleveland was discussed at a dinner on Monday of top party operatives hosted by Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. 
 
 Three party officials said Priebus was asked at the dinner if the party was prepared for a brokered convention, and Priebus said he was. For Priebus, the subject comes up frequently in conversations, the officials said. 
 
 Trump's rise to the top of the 14-candidate field has confounded establishment Republicans who have been waiting in vain for the New York billionaire's insurgent campaign to collapse. 
 
 They are alarmed at some of his incendiary rhetoric and proposals, such as his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States. 
 
 Various scenarios could play out in coming months with the battle evolving into a contest between two or three candidates, with none of them able to gain enough delegates. 
 
 One official at the dinner meeting said the discussion of a brokered convention only came up briefly and that it was not about Trump. 
 
 "It was more logistical in nature, not strategic. It was more like 'are you planning for a hurricane?'" said the official. 
 
 Republican National Committee (RNC) senior adviser Sean Spicer, asked for comment, said the RNC is neutral in the process. 
 
 "Our goal is to ensure a successful nomination and that requires us thinking through every scenario, including a contested convention," he said. 
 
 (Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
– Republican strategists who had spoken of a smooth nomination process just a few months ago are now braced for a battle royal at the Quicken Loans Arena. Insiders tell the Washington Post that GOP bigwigs gathered Monday and discussed the possibility of a brokered convention in Cleveland in July. The party hasn't entered a convention without a clear nominee since 1976, when Gerald Ford narrowly defeated conservative insurgent Ronald Reagan on the first ballot. The Post's sources say the GOP leaders discussed strategies in case there is no clear nominee this time around and no winner on the first ballot, allowing delegates to shift allegiances in what Reuters reports would be the first brokered GOP convention since Thomas Dewey was nominated in 1948. A source tells the Post that some GOP strategists argued for a strategy to make sure there was a clear alternative to Donald Trump in the event of a brokered convention, though another official present at the meeting tells Reuters that Trump wasn't the focus of the discussion. "It was more logistical in nature, not strategic," he says. "It was more like 'are you planning for a hurricane?'" A former Mitt Romney adviser agrees that with the field still crowded, talk of a brokered convention goes beyond Trump. "What you're seeing is the party bracing for a potential Hunger Games scenario where you have a different person win each of the first four primaries and they all have the resources to slug it out until the convention," he tells the Post.