[StAnDeliver]

"He will stand alone because all the moral cowards will flock to the ‘winner’ because thats what they will again be told to do."

I get your point precisely, but 2nd IA - 2nd NH- 1st SC - 1st NC or even 2nd-2nd-1st-2nd would put Cruz within reach.

At that point, it's a money game - could he attract enough to saturate Super Tuesday? And that is a real problem - who is bankrolling primary conservatives these days? Adelson? Anschutz? Can't count on Bush's TX crew.

He'd have to have his own monster PAC and all of the Tea Party affiliated.

[Norm Lenhart]

Not when they return to form and run to the rino. History is what it is.

[presidio9]

You are doing your math wrong. After IA & NH, the next primaries will be held in CO, MN NY & UT on February 2. One purple state, two Blue states, and one Red. Romney and Bush will finish 1:2 in at least two of those and one of them will be leading in delegate count.

The way I see it, if Cruz does not win IA or NH, he will be lucky to pick off UT (6 electoral votes). Campaigns dollars are highly reliant on optics, and most campaigns spent at least 1/2 of their initial budget on the first two primaries, hoping to replenish with momentum. At that point, aside from the stubborn (a group which will definitely include Rand Paul), any candidate not in the top four will swimming against the tide.

Ted Cruz is a good man, but there is an excellent chance that he will be done by the 2nd week of February.