Rules for the June 12 Republican congressional caucus will most likely eliminate some lesser-known candidates early.

State Republican Chairman Murray Clark sent the rules to party chairs and candidates seeking the party nomination to succeed former U.S. Rep. Mark Souder. With 15 announced candidates vying for the spot – more could file as well – the rules will take those with the least support out of the running early.

Clark has called for any candidate who receives less than 5 percent of the vote on the first round to be eliminated. In the second round, candidates with less than 10 percent will be out. After that, the candidate with the lowest vote will be eliminated each round until one candidate has more than 50 percent of the vote.

If, as estimated, 520 precinct committeemen vote, that would mean a candidate will need 26 votes to survive the first round and 52 to clear the second. That could eliminate two-thirds – maybe more – of the candidates in the first two rounds.

The agenda calls for the caucus to appoint the candidate for the full 2011-12 term to be held first, followed five minutes later by the caucus to choose the candidate for the special election to fill the remainder of Souder’s term. A party spokesman said the first caucus will probably be postponed until after the special election caucus. After the special election caucus, many of the losing candidates – or, the party most likely hopes, all of them – will drop out and allow the winner of the first caucus to be the winner of the second without going through the elimination process again.

Courting votes

With just 520 voters, candidates can appeal directly to the electorate in a way they could not normally do in a primary or election. State Rep. Randy Borror held a meet-and-greet with committeemen – with breakfast thrown in free. Candidate Lonnie Powell, a licensed pilot, plans to fly to four airports in the district next Wednesday and has invited committeemen for a free plane ride.

Perhaps the most attention has gone to state Sen. Marlin Stutzman, who invited precinct committeemen to discuss the issues at Friday’s TinCaps game at Parkview Field. His invitation includes a pregame picnic – not at the ballpark but across the street, in the parking lot of Come2Go Ministries.

“I love baseball. I’m a big Cubs fan,” Stutzman said in a phone interview Wednesday.

A precinct committeeman himself, “they do all the grunt work.” With the baseball game, “they can bring their kids to a political event. They don’t have to call a baby sitter. …

“It’s not going to cost any more than what our kickoff for the senatorial campaign cost.”

Interestingly, people I’ve talked to about this are either outraged that a candidate can essentially give gifts to a voter or consider it just another campaign expense.

The game – and the breakfasts and plane rides – should be reported on subsequent campaign-finance filings.