Sorry if this is jumping ahead a little too far.
March 11, 1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower, the former Allied commander in Europe during WWII, surprisingly wins the very first Republican primary in New Hampshire despite not even having a candidacy. This convinces candidate Earl Warren to leave California and begin actively campaigning, abandoning his policy of "staying above the fray".
March 18, 1952: After a solid week of campaigning in Minnesota, Earl Warren manages to tie for third place with Robert Taft (formerly considered the front runner for the Republican nomination). Harold Stassen wins a comfortable but small margin above Dwight Eisenhower.
April 1, 1952: Nebraska is a very tight race, with Robert Taft winning by only a few points above Dwight, followed by Warren and then Stassen. In Wisconsin, Taft and Warren have a statistical tie, followed by Stassen in a distant third (the Draft Ike movement doesn't appear in Wisconsin).
April 3, 1952: Eisenhower announces that, while honored by the love and support he's received from the "Draft Ike" movement, he does not feel comfortable leaving his position in NATO. [OOC: I'll let you guys decide what's going on internationally that Ike doesn't want to leave NATO]
April 8, 1952: In Illinois, Taft crushes the primary, followed by Stassen and Warren tying in a very distant second/third.
April 15, 1952: Earl Warren wins his first primary in New Jersey, picking up support from the Eastern Establishment led by former candidate Dewey. He is trailed by Taft and more distantly by Stassen.
April 22, 1952: Earl Warren wins his second primary Pennsylvania, followed distantly by Taft and Stassen (both place about the same).
April 29, 1952: Earl Warren wins his third primary in Massachusetts, trailed by Robert Taft.
May 6, 1952: Robert Taft comes back with a vengeance, crushing the Ohio primary.
May 13, 1952: Robert Taft wins his fifth primary, this time in West Virginia.
May 16, 1952: Earl Warren wins the Oregon primary by a very hefty margin.
June 3, 1952: Earl Warren wins his fourth primary in California while South Dakota Taft wins.
July 7, 1952: The Republican Convention begins with Taft and Warren having fairly equal delegate totals, with Stassen and Eisenhower both having a few to themselves as well. MacArthur immediately gives his 10 delegates up to Eisenhower to be done with them.
July 9, 1952: Harold Stassen, who is no big fan of Robert Taft, decides to give his share of delegates up to Earl Warren.
July 10, 1952: Dewey is able to introduce and pass a "Fair Play" proposal to remove a handful of Taft delegates whom some said were obtained illegally. It narrowly passes.
July 11, 1952: Dwight Eisenhower gives his delegates to Robert Taft. Before Fairplay Taft and Warren were within fifty delegates of each other, but afterwards the margin was bigger and Earl Warren is declared the winner of the Republican nomination for President.