Over the past week, Mike Stuart, co-chairman of the Donald Trump presidential campaign in West Virginia, made a lot of calls to Trump supporters running to be delegates to the Republican National Convention.
If a candidate got the call, it wasn't good.
The Trump campaign officially endorsed its slate of delegates to the convention on Tuesday, just before early voting started for West Virginia's May 10 primary, and Stuart made a point to call all of the prospective delegates who'd pledged their vote to Trump but weren't included on the slate.
The purpose of the slate is to get the most delegates that support Trump to the national convention in Cleveland in July. The more delegates Trump gets, the closer he gets to the 1,237 delegates needed to win the nomination.
"If we don't provide voters with a way to maximize the number of Trump delegates that are going to Cleveland," Stuart said, "it's like playing a game of Russian roulette with delegate selection."
Because of complex rules in West Virginia, allocating GOP delegates isn't as straightforward as in other states. Voters choose nine congressional delegates (three from each congressional district) and 22 at-large delegates directly on the ballot. Those at-large delegates have geographic restrictions that limit each county to two delegates, except for the person who receives the most votes overall.
"It is reasonable to think that a voter from Kanawha County would go to the ballot and would choose all 13 [Trump delegates] from Kanawha County," Stuart said. "It would just be a waste of their vote."
So the Trump campaign highlighted 18 delegates committed to Trump, with no more than two from each county, and four uncommitted delegates who have pledged their support to Trump.
"Our concern was that, if we were going for delegate candidates who were committed to Jeb Bush, committed to other candidates who have dropped out, it would become very confusing," Stuart said. "It's much easier for a voter to understand that an uncommitted delegate may support Trump."
The Trump campaign mostly picked delegates whose names came toward the beginning of the alphabet. One exception was Greg Thomas, who is running a super PAC that supports Bill Cole's campaign for West Virginia governor. Thomas is the last out of Trump's 13 Kanawha County delegate candidates on the ballot.
When it came to candidates in the 2nd Congressional District, the Trump campaign endorsed Stuart, Kanawha County state Delegate Ron Walters and former state Senate minority leader Vic Sprouse.
"They went with people who have run for office," said Isaac Noyes "Quintie" Smith V, a congressional district delegate candidate for Trump who didn't get an endorsement. "That seems a little crazy to me."
Smith is listed second on the ballot for congressional district delegates who support Trump. He said that he didn't really get why the Trump campaign would choose establishment figures for a candidate who is running an anti-establishment platform.
"To run as an outsider and then to have insiders on the slate doesn't make much sense," Smith said.
The most recognizable uncommitted candidate that was not supported by the Trump campaign was Attorney General Patrick Morrisey. He has not endorsed Trump.
"We respect our elected officials too much to reach out and ask for an endorsement," Stuart said. "We certainly hope that the attorney general will be on board with the nominee of our party, and I'm confident that he will be, but that's for him to make a decision on."
There is some question of whether the slate will make any difference for voters in the state. Even with the endorsements, Trump supporters will have to either memorize the names on the list or carry something into the voting booth with them.
"I don't have an issue with the slate," said Seth Gaskins, an attorney and Trump delegate who wasn't endorsed. "I do have an issue that the slate will be that effective."
So far, the slate has surfaced on social media, although it was not on the Trump campaign's Facebook page as of Wednesday afternoon.
"We are absolutely confident that Republican and independent voters will be absolutely familiar with our Trump slate to the Republican National Convention," Stuart said, "and we're very confident voters will have this in their hand to take to the ballot with them."
Stuart would not release how he is going to make people aware of the slate, but he said it would be noticeable within the next few days.
"We think our strategy is terrific," Stuart said. "So what I don't want to do is build the Ted Cruz or Kasich strategy."
So far, the Cruz campaign has not published a slate of people to vote for. No officials could be reached from the Cruz campaign Wednesday.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich doesn't really need much strategy. He does not have enough delegates to get all 22 at-large delegates, so his voters can just check all the Kasich-supporting names that appear on the ballot.
When Stuart called the people the campaign didn't endorse, he promised them that they would get to take part in all of the conventions leading up to the national convention (meaning the county and state conventions) and that, when Trump visits West Virginia, they'll get to meet him.
"They're really important to us, and they've been with us since the beginning," Stuart said. "I just hate that we have to put out a slate because of that."
Stuart also told the delegate candidates that they could still campaign.
Smith and Gaskins will hold Stuart to that. Smith is considering taking an ad out in the paper for his candidacy, and Gaskins will continue to reach people via word of mouth and social media.
"I think I still have a duty to reach out for votes, and I'm going to do what it takes to get to Cleveland," Gaskins said.
Stuart is not worried that people campaigning might dilute the Trump vote and allow Cruz and Kasich supporters to be elected.
"I don't think that's going to be a concern," he said.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow @drdesrochers on Twitter.