Crunch Time for the Stop Trump Movement in California

As the curtain rises on this weekend's California Republican Party Convention in Burlingame, supporters and opponents of Donald Trump know this is where the GOP front-runner will likely be crowned or stymied in his bid for the nomination.

Trump's impressive romp through this week's five Northeast primaries gives the New York businessman a sling-shotted arrival at the three-day gathering, where he, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich will all seek to charm, cajole and convince activists and prospective delegates.

The convention comes at the end of a week where the Cruz and Kasich campaigns announced an unorthodox and shaky (some would say desperate) strategic alliance. That "collusion," as Trump calls it, was foreshadowed by the Stop Trump movement here in California.

That effort is headed up by a trio of Republican consultants, a few wealthy donors and activists all trying to build a wall, so to speak, between Trump and the 1,237 delegates he needs for the nomination.

"It's an opportunity to hit the reset button," said GOP consultant Rob Stutzman, one of the leading architects of the effort to stop Trump in California.

Their strategy is simply to avoid splitting the anti-Trump votes between Cruz and Kasich. To do that, however, they'll need to use polling to figure out which of the two candidates is strongest in each of the state's 53 congressional districts, and then go all out to help that candidate get the most votes and the three delegates that will be awarded in each one.

"In some districts, voters need to understand that hitting the reset button is a vote for Cruz. In some districts, hitting the reset is voting for Kasich -- probably in the Bay Area, for instance," Stutzman said.

Easier said than done.

Since Cruz and Kasich aren't exactly interchangeable on the political spectrum, that's not a natural sell. And the difficulties of making it work were evident within 48 hours of the Cruz-Kasich alliance being announced, when Kasich refused to tell his supporters in Indiana to vote for Ted Cruz.

How serious is the anti-Trump movement?

"It's getting a lot of media attention, because the people who are behind it are connected to the media " said Harmeet Dhillon, vice chair of the California Republican Party. "But in terms of an organized movement, I think the rank-and-file Republican voter is focused on 'Stop Hillary,' they're not focused on stopping Trump.

"I would say Donald Trump was not the most popular candidate at the beginning for most Republicans. They were supporting someone else. But if they're convinced at the convention or by social media and seeing the nonstop Trump coverage in the national news that he's the best candidate, I think that people will get behind him. The same is true for Ted Cruz."

As Trump's path to the magic 1,237 delegates widens, there does seem to be, if not enthusiasm, a resignation among party leaders that Trump may be unstoppable.

Trump kicks off this weekend's convention as the featured luncheon speaker Friday, an event party officials say sold out within 48 hours.

Protesters are expected to be out in force as well outside the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport, where the event will occur. The Burlingame police have requested assistance from San Mateo County law enforcement agencies and the state Office of Emergency Services in anticipation of up to 5,000 demonstrators outside the hotel. Contingency plans are also in place to receive help from Alameda County if things really go south.

John Kasich is the Friday night dinner speaker, while Saturday will be dominated by Ted Cruz. He's the lunch speaker and his would-be running mate, Carly Fiorina, is the featured guest at dinner.

But as he has for the last six months, confounding critics and the other candidates, Trump is likely to dominate discussions among political insiders this weekend in Burlingame.