Mass. Delegation Is 'Very Strong' For Donald Trump, But Not All Are On Board

CLEVELAND, Ohio — At Tuesday's Massachusetts delegation breakfast, which takes place each day at the delegation's hotel in the Cleveland suburbs, Peter Fariel asked a pointed question of the morning's featured guest.

"I'd be interested in your perspective on the history of Donald Trump's use of eminent domain power of the state to seize private property from small landowners," Fariel said. "And whether you think that's consistent with looking after the little guy."

The guest was actor John Ratzenberger, who played Cliff the mailman on "Cheers." Ratzenberger is a Trump supporter. Fariel, an alternative delegate from Rockport, is not. He wanted Marco Rubio.

"I think he would have been a great nominee," Fariel said of Rubio. "Obviously, he's not going to be."

Fariel is very much in the minority in the Massachusetts delegation. He points out that Trump supporters were elected to most of the state's delegate slots, including the slots bound to Rubio, Ted Cruz and John Kasich.

"This is a very strong delegation for Trump. ... Yet there are still those among us who continue to support other candidates or are concerned about the ability of Donald Trump to win in November."

Peter Fariel, alternative delegate from Rockport

"This is a very strong delegation for Trump. I would say nationwide, it's one of the stronger delegations," Fariel said. "Yet there are still those among us who continue to support other candidates or are concerned about the ability of Donald Trump to win in November."

On Monday, dissenters erupted in a failed attempt to allow delegates to vote their conscience, rather than the candidates they're bound to.

Delegates from other states walked out, but no one from the Massachusetts delegation did.

Lou Murray, a Trump delegate from Quincy, dismissed the floor fight.

"It was parliamentary theatrics at its best," he said. "We have a couple of people who, they just haven't seen the light yet, they will. The contest is over, we're all uniting around our candidate: Donald J. Trump."

Murray watched the proceedings from a place nicknamed "The Crow's Nest," way up in the arena, where senior Trump staffers watch and make sure everyone sticks to the script. Murray says he's happy with the convention so far.

"How did I think things went yesterday? I thought they went fantastic. We have tremendous energy in the arena," Murray said. "It was a very emotional day yesterday. We talked about some very hard issues, probably things the Clinton campaign didn't want us to talk about, since Hillary Clinton has compromised our national security with her 'emailgate.'"

Trump supporters would like to turn the focus to those issues, and away from party in-fighting. But others, like Peter Fariel, are unimpressed by the convention so far. Fariel plans to stay for Tuesday night's delegate vote, when dissenters could take another stand. After that, he's not sure if he's going to stick around.

"I haven't made up my mind," he said.

Fariel is still holding out hope that what he calls a "true conservative" will run as an independent. And while he's certainly outnumbered, he's not alone.