We told you this morning that, while U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida had finished second in ballots cast in Tuesday's Republican presidential primary in Georgia, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas came in second to businessman Donald Trump when it came to awarded delegates.
Cruz received 18, and Rubio won 14. Trump received 40. (These figures are slightly different from numbers pushed out by the wire service this morning.)
Just a few minutes ago, we got the explanation from reporter Stephen Ohlemacher of the Associated Press on how the news organization determined who got what:
Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio won the same number of statewide delegates – nine apiece – because their statewide vote totals were very close. They both got about 24 percent of the vote.
However, Georgia Republicans allocate most of their delegates – 42 out of 76 – according to the vote in individual congressional districts.
The short answer is, Cruz came in second in more CDs than Rubio. Rubio's votes were bunched in two CDs – CD 5 and CD 6.
Here is the longer answer:
Each CD has three delegates. Georgia GOP rules say if you get a majority of the vote (50%+1), you get all three. Otherwise, the winner gets two and the second-place finisher gets one.
Every CD was a 2-1 split because no candidate got more than 50% in any CD.
Trump won all but two of the CDs. Rubio won the other two.
However, Cruz came in second in 11 CDs and Rubio came in second in only one.
So, Cruz got 11 CD delegates and Rubio got five.
Cruz: 9+9 = 18.
Rubio: 9+5 = 14.
Note: I still can't call second-place in CD 11, which is why four delegates have yet to be allocated.
Thus endeth the math lesson.
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