“The delegates really take this very seriously,” Kasich said during a news conference in New York City on Thursday. “They begin to realize they are making a choice that can affect the United States of America and frankly the entire world.”

Kalmbach said the Kasich campaign has dozens of staff members and volunteers dedicated to the delegate-wrangling process, including longtime Republican strategists Stu Spencer and Charlie Black. They both participated in the 1976 Republican convention, when Ronald Reagan unsuccessfully challenged President Gerald Ford for the nomination.

Many of the same staff members who helped in the 2012 campaign to take control of the state party are also involved, Kalmbach said. In that fight, Kasich allies identified which members of the 66-member party committee were aligned with the governor or could be persuaded to back him, and they ran loyalists against those who weren’t.

In some cases, the Kasich team had multiple people talk to committee members to gauge whether their answers were consistent to test whether those who said they backed the governor were being honest.