Well, of course anyone can make any argument they want and people can hope for conclusions. Someone needs to win an actual majority of the votes of the delegates. They are bound on the first ballot, but after that can switch. There are also rules, but the delegates can change the rules by majority vote.

The scenario would be that Trump has a bunch of votes, Cruz has a bunch and then Kasich and Marco have the rest. No one budges. Party Elders urge that the party pick someone as a compromise candidate and everyone switches to them therefore no one wins.

I did a quick bit of research and the last Republican convention that didn't have a first ballot victory was 1948. Interestingly Dewey had 434 out of 1094 on the first ballot 515 on the second, picking up some votes from various of the 7 candidates and then it was unanimous on the third.

I think they are fooling themselves, if Trump (or Cruz) goes into the convention a clear leader they will probably wind up the nominee -- anything else would piss off just too many people.

It's not out of the question for Trump and Cruz to band together and do a Trump/Cruz ticket. If they presented a united front and had the vast majority of the votes it would be hard to argue with them. And they might since both are considered outsiders and have the most to to risk by letting the Party Elders decide.

Of course everyone playing wants to be President, but VP gives you the presumption that you are the front runner in the next one. Certainly Cruz and Rubio (I don't see him as a player in this) are young enough that they will actually be better positioned to run in 4 or 8 years.

You mean Jeb Bush wants to present himself as the compromise? How would that work since Bush dropped out? Wouldn't Cruz say he's the logical choice since he's in second place? If the answer is the establishment doesn't like Cruz either, then why not Rubio or Kasich?

These may be naive questions b/c I haven't studied this process. I imagine these people are obsessed with being president and even if the party establishment offered them some connections with foreign oil deals or financial company advisory positions worth $100 million, the candidates don't care b/c there's only one POTUS and they want to be it. Again, I may be very naive in this thinking.

Anybody want to bet that Jeb is hoping that if Trump can be blocked from winning the first ballot he will be selected as the "compromise" between Trump and Cruz, the two clear leaders?