David Jackson

USA TODAY

Donald Trump's revamped campaign figures to be just as aggressive as his previous version, especially when it comes to securing convention delegates — an effort led by a veteran Republican strategist known for playing hardball politics himself.

Paul Manafort, whose convention experience extends back to the Ford-Reagan battle royal of 1976, has already accused primary rival Ted Cruz and his team of "Gestapo tactics" in rounding up delegates, though he predicted Trump would prevail in the end.

Cruz and his supporters have "taken an approach to some of the county conventions, where they can (do) scorch earth policy and don't care about the party," Manafort said on NBC's Meet the Press. "If they don't get what they want, they blow it up."

After being shut out of delegates during a weekend convention in Colorado, Trump accused Republicans in the state and elsewhere of operating a "corrupt" system that is denying the wishes of the many voters who have backed him.

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Appearing Monday on Fox & Friends, Trump said that "I’m winning the votes by millions of votes but the system is rigged — it’s crooked."

Cruz aides said they have simply out-organized Trump at the ground level, where actual delegates are selected. Spokeswoman Alice Stewart said Cruz's team has earned its success by building "a superior organization" and "working within the process and rules that have been established."

Trump hired Manafort in part to address that issue, banking on his four decades of experience with political conventions.

Manafort played a role in the last competitive political convention, working in 1976 to hold President Ford's delegates against conservative challenger Ronald Reagan. Four years later, he worked on Reagan's triumphant presidential campaign.

After Reagan's victory, Manafort became a founding partner of one of the most influential consulting and lobbying firms in political history: Black, Manafort, Stone and Kelly. From congressional campaigns to legislative fights, the firm became involved in many of the biggest political battles of the Reagan and George H.W. Bush presidencies.

The "Stone" in the title was Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of Trump. The firm also employed Lee Atwater, the famously aggressive strategist for Bush's victorious campaign in 1988.

"They played hardball, but this is a hardball town," said Republican strategist Rich Galen. "If you needed gunslingers, they knew how to shoot."

Another name partner, Charles Black, said "we were pretty good at winning campaigns" and "we never did anything below the belt" in working for clients.

"You've got to be on offense in political campaigns," Black said. "Someone is rising and someone is falling all the time."

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Black, who is now backing Ohio Gov. John Kasich's presidential campaign, praised Manafort's organizing skills, but said he is coming in pretty late to help Trump obtain the delegates he needs.

Like Cruz, Kasich is working to block the New York businessman from winning the required majority of convention delegates — 1,237 — to claim the Republican presidential nomination on the first ballot at the July convention in Cleveland. Delegates gradually become unbound on subsequent ballots, enabling them to back other candidates.

Former Minnesota congressman Vin Weber, who also backs Kasich, said Manafort is a friend and a "first rate" hire, but he is trying to transform a relatively small Trump campaign organization that has not been designed for a convention fight.

"Paul has got to put all this together at once," said Weber, now a partner with Mercury public affairs.

Weber also chuckled at the notion that Manafort would accuse the Cruz campaign of underhanded tactics: "If anybody were to ruthlessly exploit the rules — and it was to their advantage — it would be Paul."

Kasich has also accused the Cruz campaign of inappropriate delegate tactics.

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In announcing Manafort's appointment, Trump said "the nomination process has reached a point that requires someone familiar with the complexities involved in the final stages."

While Trump has won the most primaries and caucuses this election season, votes in and of themselves do not translate directly to delegates. Each state has its own rules for delegate selection, and how they are bound, or not bound, to certain candidates.

That hasn't made much difference in past years because candidates have had their nominations wrapped up well before the conventions. This year, every delegate counts as Trump tries to work his way toward 1,237.

Trump currently has 743 delegates to Cruz's 545, according to the Associated Press. But the businessman has less than half the total awarded so far; Kasich has 143 delegates, while former candidate Marco Rubio still controls 171.

Despite that, Manafort has said he expects Trump to be the presumptive nominee by mid-May.

"It's the process that matters," Manafort told NBC. "If you know how to use the process, the support is there."