Posted on 02/21/2016 9:42:56 PM PST by Red Steel
Unlike more moderate New Hampshire, Ted Cruz needed to do more than merely finish well in South Carolina - he needed to win. The Cruz campaign pulled out all the stops in a manic effort to secure victory.
Instead, it appears he will finish a distant second or third to Donald Trump. It is a finish that has his donors reconsidering the longer term viability of a campaign that is now for the first time in weeks, said to be spending far more dollars than it is taking in.
And where Marco Rubio now appears poised to receive an influx of Establishment GOP dollars, Ted Cruz is likely to see supporters who have already been hit hard for donations, begin to pull back from doing so even as Cruz's deeper pockets supporters do the same.
The campaign is not yet broke, but it spent big in South Carolina and now is facing a much thinner budget as it prepares to hang on for the March 1st Super Tuesday primary - a primary that requires a campaign to be replete with cash - not depleted. If The Cruz campaign is to survive beyond Super Tuesday, it will require nothing less than some version of a political campaign miracle.
Grumblings began last week regarding the need to win in South Carolina, and to its credit, the Cruz campaign did everything it possibly could to make that happen. It failed, and though Senator Cruz will no doubt put on a grim smile as he is forced to portray failure as a kind of symbolic victory, it will prove a very tough sell.
"It will be like Iowa."
That was the promise Ted Cruz made to South Carolina supporters prior to today's voting.
The results have proven otherwise and indicate a result much more similar to Donald Trump's dominating win in New Hampshire vs Ted Cruz's narrow victory in the Iowa Caucus and it is starting to appear as if Ted Cruz does not enjoy the kind of broad-based appeal that will allow him to win a primary election, let alone the General Election.
That is a hard truth made harder for the senator's still many supporters.
The question now in the coming days and weeks will be who among the candidates who remain will supporters of Ted Cruz ultimately gravitate to. Will it be the unconventional candidacy of Donald Trump, or the more mainstream establishment choice that is Marco Rubio?
What those Cruz supporters decide might very well then decide who ultimately wins the GOP nomination.
UPDATE: Ted Cruz indicated his need for money during his South Carolina concession speech as he implored his supporters to go to his website and donate to the campaign.
DEVELOPING...
Well, you just inspired me to donate to Cruz. Thanks!
If Ted Cruz doesn’t pull off major wins on ST, he’ll probably have to drop out.
The reality being that unless he can figure out how to expand his base quickly, he’ll be a historical footnote.
Like Rick Santorum.
Like it or not, Ted Cruz is done! The GOPe will try to coalesce around Boobio., but even they are likely to be too late unless they can get K-sick to quit and throw his support to Boobio. The real question is where will the Cruz people go with Ted suspends his campaign. I personally hope Trump reaches out to him, because he’s a valuable player who can help Trump win and also help craft a new Administration.
Hey, his wife knows a lot of big bankers who will make some personal loans.
Of course, we still don’t know if he paid them back for the other ones.
How could he pay back that much on their salaries with all of their personal expenses?
Inquiring minds want to know?
“Well, you just inspired me to donate to Cruz. Thanks!”
Talk about a hopeless endeavor, lol, but it’s your money you waste, thankfully not the taxpayers.
Yup...it is time for Ted Cruz to make nice with Donald Trump. I have always thought that a Trump Cruz ticket would be great.despite all the fighting between them I still think it would make a great winning ticket
He can’t win the primary with only social conservatives & libertarians.
You need broad-based support to win the GOP nomination and the other thing is Cruz’s brand of conservatism is too conservative for the average GOP voter.
The party is no more a good fit for him than it was for Jeb Bush.
Get ready for your inbox to be filled with money-begging Cruz spam!
Ted needs mega donors?
What happened to that groundswell of small donors? The veritable multitudes of ordinary people funding Ted’s campaign?
Creepers told me he had a secret army. Where’s the secret army!
There are 31 republican primaries and caucuses between now and March 15. Trump is expected to win big in Nevada on Tuesday. Trump is also leading in most of the 14 Super Tuesday contests on March 1st. If his campaign is strapped for cash now, it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to mount an effective campaign in all 14 Super Tuesday states. There are also 4 republican primaries on March 5th. Unless, he is able to win more than one of these contests, he may find that his contributions will dry up. Who wants to contribute to someone who is always fighting for 2nd or 3rd place?
The strong points of Cruz’s campaign have included some of his speeches and some of his debate performances.
The weak points have included getting too sidetracked in GOP squabbles with his fellow candidates, weak defenses of his strong conservative voting record (more of a TEA Party record than any other candidate by far), and his failure to project a tough Texan image that is forever irritated by the DC of Obama and the Dems. He let Trump get to his right on Muslim immigration and that about sealed the deal even though Trump will squish on that issue soon enough.
Ted “Creflo Dollar” Cruz gave an impassioned plea for donations? Bet that was a day ending in y.
I can't look.
Ted's got the NBC question hanging over his head. Unless that's resolved by no less than the Supreme Court, he's getting nowhere close to the Oval Office. Not even as VP, who must also be eligible.
Fasting with Beck
If the best he can do is finish a distant second ST, I don’t see a path for him going forward.
The reality is people are not interested in contributing to someone who can’t win.
Just ask Jeb Bush.
He's in quite a lock now. With Trump, Rubio, and Carson all agreeing that Cruz is running a deceitful campaign, and being quite clear about that, where would increased support come from?
Add to that, his campaign has been labelled as dishonest. That means all but Cruz's true believers are now skeptical of all of his convoluted explanations for stuff he's supported. He's no longer the great debator, great strategist, or inspirational speaker.
Let's add to that. We haven't seen what the piece of paper is that states that Cruz is a US citizen.
See post # 3.
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