Outnumbered and Outmuscled, Dump-Trumpers Thumped by GOP

CLEVELAND (AP) — The improbable effort by conservatives to deny Donald Trump the Republican presidential nomination at the GOP national convention has succumbed to multiple causes. The failure followed weeks of planning and one ferocious outburst that upstaged nearly everything on the gathering's first day.

The lack of vital signs grew daily and culminated in Tuesday's roll call of the states that formally put Trump over the top.

Conservatives had hoped some delegates would brazenly ignore state party rules and back the candidate of their choice, not Trump.

Colorado delegate Kevin Grantham says party leaders wanted to ensure that Trump became the nominee, "regardless of what the states said, regardless of what the delegates say."

[STORY BY: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS]