Delegates

Even if Rick Santorum won the presidential preference vote in Tuesday's Illinois Republican primary -- and polls indicate that it's actually Mitt Romney who is the favorite -- he still could lose out in the delegate race. Why? Of all the states that choose presidential nominating delegates in a primary election, the rules governing the process in Illinois may be among the most complicated, requiring Republicans to actually indicate presidential preference twice on their ballot.

 GUANGZHOU, China -- Gov. Jerry Brown bid adieu to dozens of government and business officials who crossed the Pacific to travel with him around China this week. One last time, this group assembled in an opulent five-star hotel - this time the Ritz-Carlton in Guangzhou - ate gourmet food in the 72 nd -floor restaurant, and received a final send-off from the governor who worked the room and mugged for photos with delegates. “To all you people who came on this trip not knowing what you were going to get, I think we all received more than we expected and maybe more than we deserved,” Brown said in a final toast.

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. - California delegates who have gathered here for the Republican National Convention  were unfazed by the cancellation of Monday's events, saying that safety must be the first priority. “So it's official, official-official. They're canceling Monday,” an aide announced Saturday as she read from her iPad in the lobby of the Tradewinds Island Resort, where California's delegation is staying during the convention. “I'm fine with that, whatever they decide,” said Diane McGlinchey, an alternate delegate from Huntington Beach.

Tennessee Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn will lead a House delegation to Britain to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on Wednesday. Announced by House Speaker John Boehner's office Monday, the trip marks a culmination of Republican accolades for Thatcher following her death last week . Thatcher's conservative policies and close relationship with President Reagan won her widespread support within the GOP . “Margaret Thatcher was one of the greatest champions freedom has ever known, and her funeral gives Americans and friends around the world an opportunity to pay final respects,” Boehner said in a statement.

A look at the Democratic delegates DELEGATES White: 66% Black: 20% Latino: 10% Asian: 3% Native American: 1% * U.S. POPULATION White: 71.4 Black: 12.2% Latino: 11.8% Asian: 3.9 Native American: 0.7% * CALIFORNIA DELEGATES White: 47% Black: 16% Latino: 26% Asian: 9% Native American: 2% * CALIFORNIA POPULATION White: 50.3% Black: 6.8% Latino: 30.8% Asian: 11.5% Native American: 0.6% Sources: U.S.

Newt Gingrich is challenging Florida's winner-take-all primary, arguing in a letter that is being sent Thursday that since the state held its primary early it must award delegates proportionally under existing Republican National Committee policies. "The RNC already has an existing rule that any contest held before a certain date ... need[s] to award delegates proportionally," said Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond. "We are writing the state party of Florida to ask them to enforce that rule.

Two days after winning the popular vote in the Michigan primary, Mitt Romney has also been declared the victor in a bitter fight for the state's GOP national convention delegates. After lengthy behind-the-scenes wrangling, the Michigan Republican Party announced Thursday afternoon that Romney would receive 16 delegates and Rick Santorum would get 14. Romney won the popular vote by less than three percentage points, and the two men split the state's 14 congressional districts, each of which awarded two delegates to the winner.

TAMPA, Fla. -- As much as Mitt Romney might wish it, Ron Paul just won't go away. Paul, the Texas congressman with a passionate, libertarian-leaning following, created a stir Tuesday when he made two swings through the floor of the Republican National Committee, shaking hands and greeting supporters -- acting, in short, like a candidate for president. Perhaps more significantly, pro-Paul delegates announced that they had submitted nomination forms from six states that could require that his name be placed in nomination alongside Romney's.

TAMPA, Fla. - It didn't take long for strains within the Republican Party to surface Monday as national delegates got down to work on a final draft of the party platform, one week before the nominating convention opens. Ron Paul delegates are making a diligent effort to wedge the defeated presidential candidate's libertarian ideas into the party document. Among them: curbing the power of the Federal Reserve, enhancing the constitutional rights of individuals and opposing the overseas role of U.S. military forces.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Party regulars and insurgents may be squaring off in a floor fight Tuesday afternoon at the Republican National Convention over just how much control Mitt Romney and future presidential nominees should have over who gets to pick the delegates for future conventions. Sarah Palin and Republican officials from Clark County, Nev., joined what seemed to be a growing ruckus over whether the Romney camp (and presumably a President Romney in 2016) should have veto power over the seating of future nominating delegations.

Lane Kiffin exited the field and hustled up several flights of stairs to greet USC football fans perched atop an observation deck overlooking the Trojans' practice facility. USC's first spring workout was underway, and the embattled coach was eager to start anew, to leave the memory of last season behind. So Kiffin has spent the last five weeks on the move. He ventured to the farthest corner to study linemen in one-on-one drills. He directed the scout team. And he spent long periods camped on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage.

BEIJING - Present your business card with two hands. Go ahead and slurp your soup. Give gifts to clients, but by all means avoid clocks and knives. These are among the cultural hints and etiquette tips that California's new China Trade and Investment Office offered to dozens of political and business delegates traveling here with Gov. Jerry Brown this week. The group arrived Monday, ahead of Brown, who was celebrating his 75th birthday. The trade office will open officially later this week, when Brown and his entourage travel to Shanghai for the official ribbon cutting.

About 90 delegates from business and politics are traveling with Gov. Jerry Brown in China this week. Among them: Rusty Areias: Partner in influential consulting firm California Strategies. Married to a Democratic fundraiser. Jay Behmke : Managing director, Yao Family Wines, owned by former NBA star Yao Ming. Kofi Bonner: President, Lennar Urban San Francisco. Builder. Finalizing $1.7-billion deal with China Development Bank for two San Francisco developments.

WASHINGTON  - The Obama administration Wednesday offered Venezuela a chance to rebuild its relationship with the United States after the death of President Hugo Chavez, who had long railed against the “Yankee empire.” Though the previous day Venezuela had accused the U.S. of trying to destabilize its government, administration officials said they plan to send a delegation to Chavez's funeral this week and want to soon begin a dialogue on...

Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" has been acclaimed not just by critics but by historians as well for its acute and realistic portrayal of the 16th president as he maneuvered to pass the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery in the United States. But the filmmakers got at least one detail wrong: They depicted two Connecticut delegates to the House of Representatives voting against the amendment when, in fact, all four of Connecticut's House members voted for it in 1865. Now, one of the state's current representatives, Joe Courtney, a Democrat, has written to Spielberg asking if the movie could be corrected before it's released on DVD. In a statement, screenwriter Tony Kushner admitted that he deliberately strayed from fact when he put "nay" votes in the mouths of the two Connecticut congressmen - but only to emphasize the dramatic closeness of the vote.

Two Orange County cities want to send a message to Communist delegations from Vietnam contemplating a visit: You are not welcome. Garden Grove adopted a resolution last week requiring a 14-day notice of such a visit, which officials say can provoke protests and create safety risks. Santa Ana officials have directed city staff to draft a similar policy. In addition, Garden Grove's resolution warns that a visiting delegation would be required to pay for any necessary police services if it fails to comply with the policy.

In a city that favors black attire and utter hipness, who are these 4,369 people wearing red, white and blue and getting away with donkey-shaped jewelry? They're Democratic National Convention delegates, and they're in Los Angeles for the first time since 1960.

Get ready for plenty of sound and fury, signifying almost nothing, after Republican voters caucus in Minnesota and Colorado and cast ballots in a statewide primary in Missouri today. With a three-week break ahead in the non-stop GOP voting action, Mitt Romney's remaining rivals for the party's presidential nomination will be seeking a spurt of badly needed publicity from the trio of tests. Polling in caucus states is often unreliable, but Minnesota -- where social conservatives are a strong force inside the party -- may provide the best chance for an upset.

Lawrence Guyot, a civil rights leader who was threatened, jailed and nearly beaten to death in the Deep South in the 1960s and helped lead a drive to register black voters during the tumultuous Freedom Summer of 1964, has died. He was 73. The longtime activist, who had a history of heart problems and diabetes, died at home Thursday in Mount Rainier, Md., according to his daughter, Julie Guyot-Diangone. A Mississippi native, Guyot was one of the original members of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and served as director of the 1964 Freedom Summer Project in Hattiesburg, Miss.

BEIJING - China's leaders are often thought of as men with near-identical suits and hairdos. But among the 2,268 delegates to the 18th Communist Party Congress in Beijing, there are 521 women. So how are they contributing to this much-touted national gathering, which will culminate Thursday with the unveiling of a new generation of senior officials? Judging from the Chinese press, one primary contribution is their looks. On Friday, the People's Daily website published a 14-photo slide show labeled “Beautiful Scenery from the 18th Party Congress.” The slides featured female delegates, many of them ethnic minorities in exotic garb and towering hair ornaments.