I agree Cruz ran a brilliant campaign in many ways. I disagree that if Trump had not entered the race Cruz would win. I think without Trump, the media would have framed the narrative and Jeb! would have won easily.
The author thinks Cruz is done. I think Cruz still has a chance if there is a brokered convention.
Otherwise, the author makes some good points.
Cryptoglobalist Cruz’s career ENDED
when voted to allow the vote
on his ObamaTRADE.
The nails in his political coffin were driven in by
his Gang of Eight and his own, endless , LIES.
LOL! Ted Cruz?
Jeb Bush has run a brilliant campaign, and if it were not for Donald Trump, he’d probably be on the verge of wrapping up the Republican nomination by now.
/Clinton - Bush. Oh, wait…the rest of the ‘rats didn’t get the memo.
Which is completely the problem here ...
I thought Cruz ran a terrible campaign.
Right from the beginning there were really terrible miscalculations. The kind that poisoned all else for him.
Ted isn’t ready for prime time.
If not for Trump , Jeb Bush or Marco Rubio or another establishment pick would be the leading candidate, not Ted Cruz. And we’d be on the road to Romney 2012 redux with low crowds and low enthusiasm
There is a very big difference between knowing full-well how to work with the “rules” and knowing what the VOTERS want. His recent campaign has been nothing but ignoring voters’ will over pandering to bureaucrat party insider delegates. Yeah, I know they were all ‘elected’ - by each other.
Agreed, except I think JEB! couldn’t close the deal, and Little Marco would be the emerged victor. In any case, a disaster for the republic.
I think the low energy Bush would have been the nominee if it weren’t for Trump. He would have run a very low low energy campaign, attracting tiny low energy crowds. He would have run it strictly on the issues, not wanting to venture into anything that could be in any way construed as an attack on the “historic first woman candidate.” At the end of the process he would have given a very low energy concession speech, collected a big pay off under the table, cashed in on a book deal, and picked up big fees for low energy speeches.
When that didn't win him any votes, he tried to manipulate his way by stacking the delegate deck for the post first ballot contests. He didn't realize that this would be perceived as a middle finger salute to the voters.
Then he cut a flimsy back room deal with Kasich which added to his smarmy, smarter and holier than thou appearance.
For a smart guy...he's not too bright.
If not for Donald Trump, Jeb Bush would be the nominee.
Both Cruz and Trump are outsiders, hated by the establishment of both parties. The GOPe would rather have Hillary elected than either one of them. The best path to beat back the establishment is for them to join together. That’s not likely because of the poison between candidates and their supporters.
Never Hillary!
“Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) has run a brilliant campaign, and if it were not for Donald Trump, he’d probably be on the verge of wrapping up the Republican nomination by now.”
In what universe?
If Trump wasn’t in this, then it would have been Jeb wrapping it up, with Scott Walker, Carson, Rubio, Rand Paul, and Rick Perry splitting the rest.
Cruz was in single digits all last Fall. He used Trump to clear out the other contenders so he didn’t have to get his hands dirty.
Without him, he would have been a footnote.
From his recent antics, I'm of the mind that trump did us all a huge favor by coming along when he did.....
I agree. Jeb would have been the man.
I used to love hearing him debate. Now he sounds like some pettifogger twisting the truth in a preachy condescending whiny voice.
Cruz: ‘We Are Neck and Neck in Indiana…This Election, The Next 24 Hours, Are Absolutely Pivotal’
And from a Cruz supporter:
FLOWERS: Ted Cruz, the delusional magician turns desperate
By Christine Flowers, Contributing columnist, Updated: May 2, 2016 7:44 am
Imagine if I toured Pennsylvania wearing a crown, going from every diner to gas station announcing myself as Miss Pennsylvania, even though I never participated in the pageant or won anything.
The point I inartfully am trying to make is that one does not put the cart before the horse, especially if one’s horse is three steps away from the glue factory.
Which brings me to Ted Cruz. The Republican presidential candidate, who is trailing Donald Trump in both delegates and the popular vote, is not only not throwing in the towel, he is wrapping it around his head like a turban and pretending to be a magician who will – poof! – extract a convention victory out of Carly Fiorina’s mouth.
On Wednesday afternoon, Cruz announced that Fiorina would be his vice presidential running mate in the general election, which he has apparently convinced himself he will compete against either Hillary Clinton or the person who hires a member of the Salvadoran drug gang mS-18 to kidnap the former secretary of state and keep her incommunicado until November. Because, essentially, that is the only way Hillary “Make Sure You Don’t Forget the Rodham” Clinton will be AWOL come autumn. She is inevitable.
Cruz, on the other hand, is far from inevitable. His numbers, while better than Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s, are nothing compared with Trump’s juggernaut. And while the political honchos are still weaving scenarios in which there could be a contested convention and Cruz could snatch the nomination from Trump, those of us who are not hitting our heads against the Looking Glass have sadly come to realize it will be a Trump-Clinton contest. This is sort of like the “Rumble in the Jungle” between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, only with more testosterone.
http://www.aurorasentinel.com/opinion/flowers-ted-cruz-desperate-magician/
I think Cruz played the system game well, but did not run a brilliant campaign. Trump entered the race and single handedly destroyed Jeb Bush and by association the other favored old guard establishment candidates in the race. Cruz kissed up to Trump early because he knew Trump was doing a job he could not do, but he miscalculated thinking the people would tire of Trump and by default fall to him.
But for Trump, illegal immigration would not be a discussion point in this campaign to the extent it is now. Cruz would not have been able to move the discussion there as did Trump.
If no Trump, I think we are probably looking at Marco Rubio as the nominee of the Republican Party.
“The author thinks Cruz is done. I think Cruz still has a chance if there is a brokered convention.”
The race ends when Trump hits 1237. Not a day sooner. What I think Druz did very well was push Trump to work harder for the nomination. In the early primaries Trump wasn’t aggressive nor did he have the talent on ha staff to fight a ground war against Cruz. Cuz used that to s advantage.
Trump upped his game and he is almost ready to take on Hillary.