First, there is a window to lock down delegate commitments between the last primary on June 7 and the convention start on July 18.

“You’ve got 40 days between the last primary and the convention,” Bennett says, “to go woo the appropriate number of unbound delegates.” It’s a long time if the gap is small.

“You still have a chance to put together 50 or 75 delegates to win on the first ballot,” Bennett says, “that’s Phase One.”…

An operative on Trump’s convention team, who was not authorized to speak on the record, described Phase Two as an effort to prevent attrition in that balloting.

“Our goal,” the aide says, “is to make sure every delegate Trump has now stays a Trump delegate on the second ballot.”

The horse-trading also intensifies on later balloting.

“It’s every man and woman for themselves,” Bennett said, “and that’s when the negotiations start.”