CLEVELAND – A longtime member of the Republican National Committee expressed hope today that a move to "unbind" delegates to next week's GOP convention will fail. Steve Duprey of New Hampshire, a member of the party's rules committee meeting today in the convention center, said the push by opponents to Donald Trump's nomination is "the antithesis of what the Republican Party stands for."

CLEVELAND – A longtime member of the Republican National Committee expressed hope today that a move to �unbind� delegates to next week�s GOP convention will fail.

Steve Duprey of New Hampshire, a member of the party�s rules committee meeting today in the convention center, said the push by opponents to Donald Trump�s nomination is �the antithesis of what the Republican Party stands for.�

Duprey said he hopes the #NeverTrump members of the rules panel will be content to air their grievances but wind up not pushing their bid to change party rules that bind delegates to the candidate they pledged to support in state primaries and caucuses. But he acknowledged that both sides have been heavily lobbying on the issue.

Duprey attended many New Hampshire rallies held by Ohio Gov. John Kasich, although he never endorsed a candidate.

This was supposed to be a big day for Kasich�s presidential dream.

It was when his delegate-laden campaign was going to challenge Trump before the rules committee as a precursor to an open convention battle for the nomination next week.

Now Kasich � his quixotic run thwarted more than two months ago � will be nowhere near the committee gathering today and Friday. And while he has voiced support for a rule change allowing delegates to "vote their conscience" regardless of current rules binding them to a candidate, the Ohio governor is not trying to influence the outcome, spokesman Chris Schrimpf said.

But former New Hampshire Sen. Gordon Humphrey, a Kasich delegate and major supporter, wrote an op-ed for Wednesday's Washington Post calling for a convention revolt.

"Trump is dangerous. He operates without a conscience, apparently, and never evidences guilt, shame, embarrassment, remorse or regret. He demonstrates no empathy or sympathy for those he cruelly ridicules," Humphrey wrote.

"The only potential candidate still positioned to offer an alternative to convention delegates is Ohio Gov. John Kasich," the former senator added. "Only Kasich can stave off disaster. The convention is not yet Trump�s, and it could very well be Kasich�s. But Kasich must send a clear signal this week that he is ready to serve if the delegates find Trump unqualified."

The so-called conscience clause is the dream of Trump opponents desperately trying to thwart his nomination. That's unlikely to pass the 112-member panel containing many Trump backers, so the #NeverTrump forces' fall-back position is attempting to muster the necessary quarter of the group � 28 members � to issue a minority report that would come before the full convention for a vote next week.

"I think it's probably going to be close on that because it's a fairly low threshold," Duprey said.

At the same time, pro-Trump members may introduce a measure banning all rule changes until after the convention.

Ohio members of the rules panel are former Ohio House Speaker Jo Ann Davidson of Reynoldsburg, a longtime member of the Republican National Committee and former national party co-chair, and Don Thibaut, chief of staff to Gov. John Kasich when he served in the U.S. House from 1983 to 2001.

Kyle Kondik, an Ohio native now with the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, said the anti-Trump forces are unlikely to taste success.

�For months and months and months, we�ve been hearing about the Republican establishment, how they were going to step in and stop Trump," he told the Columbus Metropolitan Club on Wednesday.

"If the so-called establishment has been getting beat consistently, why would you expect them to win at the last, most-crucial moment, when the odds are the longest?�

Konkik noted Edward Kennedy unsuccessfully tried unbinding Democratic delegates in his 1980 battle with President Jimmy Carter. Kennedy lost the effort, and Carter won the nomination � only to lose to Ronald Reagan in the general election.

That's the main argument, of course, pushed by Trump opponents � that not only will he lose in the fall to Hillary Clinton, he may drag other Republicans such as U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, of Ohio, down with him.

Kondik doesn't think such fears will carry the day for the rules panel, whose deliberations may stretch into Friday.

�Ultimately, I just can�t imagine the Republicans going against the public in nominating Trump,� he said.

drowland@dispatch.com

@darreldrowland