Original sentence: After losing California, where Roosevelt had won the primary, the progressive delegates gave up hope.Afterwards, the delegates seated Taft delegations in Alabama, Arizona, and California on tight contests of 597-472, 564-597, and 542-529, respectively.By that time, however, it was too late.Taft had the support of the bulk of the party organizations in Southern states.The delegates chose Elihu Root—once Roosevelt's top ally—to serve as chairman of the convention.These states had voted solidly Democratic in every presidential election since 1880, and Roosevelt objected that they were given one-quarter of the delegates when they would contribute nothing to a Republican victory (as it turned out, former Confederate states supported Taft by a 209-40 margin).They voted "present" on most succeeding roll calls.When the Republican National Convention gathered, Roosevelt was challenging the credentials of nearly half of the delegates
Edited sentence: (These states always voted Democratic in presidential elections, but their delegates had over 300 votes at the Republican National convention.) Taft's managers, led by Elihu Root—once Roosevelt's top ally—beat back challenges to their southern delegations; Taft now had more delegates than Roosevelt.In a decisive move, Taft's people purchased support of the corrupt politicians who represented the shadow Republican party in southern states.Roosevelt's people had made similar purchases in the South in 1904, but this time Roosevelt called foul