Los delegados republicanos votarán el primer día de la convención

The Fix:

Delegates from each state will cast their votes for president on the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday.

(...) Convention spokesman Kyle Downey said the states will vote in alphabetical order, as opposed to the occasional approach of trying to rig the process so a specific state — for example, Mitt Romney’s home state of Massachusetts — puts him over the threshold he needs to secure the nomination.

(...) All of Romney’s opponents except Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) and Rick Santorum have released their delegates, with Newt Gingrich releasing his today.

Santorum is expected to release his delegates this week; Paul is not expected to release his.

Some have suggested Paul could win as many as 500 of the 2,286 delegates at stake. But those close to the situation suggest the number will be closer to 200, and Paul campaign manager Jesse Benton says the campaign has identified 373 delegates and alternates (alternates generally don’t vote).

“We have identified every RNC delegate and alternate, both bound to us, bound to Romney or unbound, and have 373 delegates and alternates that support Dr. Paul,” Benton said.

That’s about the only drama that will take place Monday. The rest is basically a formality and a campaign rally.

While the vote will pave the way for Romney to officially win the nomination, he won’t actually accept that nomination until Thursday. That allows the party to continue spending primary funds (which it cannot legally do after he’s officially nominated) during the intervening three-day period and makes for a grand finale at the end of the convention.