Free Republic

Cruz’s path to defeat before the convention is simple: Lose Indiana, lose California decisively, and lose the war for Pennsylvania’s 54 unbound delegates. Within the past 24 hours, there’s new evidence that we’re on track for all three. I covered the battle for Pennsylvania last night and noted that some private polls of Indiana have the race there tight, with Trump possibly out to a small lead, but here’s the first solid evidence from a public poll that that state is tilting against Cruz. To think, after all the time we’ve spent obsessing over delegates, they’re probably not going to...

The results of the first statewide poll for Indiana’s upcoming primary show a small lead for party front runners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, with a tight race on both sides of the aisle. The WTHR/HPI Indiana Poll has Trump with a 6-point lead over his closest challenger Ted Cruz. The poll indicates a record turnout will favor Trump over the other candidates. The results prove just how pivotal Indiana's primary race is going to be nationally. Republican Presidential Primary Donald Trump 37% Ted Cruz 31% John Kasich 22%

“Locked up” in the sense that more than half the delegation will be loyal to Kasich, that is, not “locked up” in the sense that Kasich is going to win the primary in two weeks. As noted this morning, Indiana will be crucial in determining whether Trump clinches the nomination before the convention or not. Thirty delegates will be awarded to the statewide winner and another 27 will be awarded to the winners of the state’s nine congressional districts (three delegates per district, of course). If Cruz were to sweep, that’s 57 delegates that would be bound to him...

It may be Indiana or bust for Donald Trump. If the polls are right, he will dominate in New York on Tuesday and in the coming races across the Eastern Seaboard. He could win nearly all of the delegates at stake — keeping him on a narrow path toward the Republican nomination. That would set him up for what will probably be the most important test of the race: Indiana on May 3.

Trump announced Wednesday that his team hopes to seal a presidential nomination for him in the Hoosier State. “It’s an honor to have someone of Rex’s caliber and prestige, wisdom, and all his years of experience here in Indiana,” said Tony Samuel, the Vice Chairman of the Trump Indiana Campaign. A longtime establishment Republican is siding with the anti-establishment candidate. Trump’s top brass in Indiana is Rex Early, the former Indiana GOP Chairman who worked on the Reagan and Dole campaigns. “The reason I’m here today is I’ve got eight grandchildren and I detest the situation we have coming out...

One need not support formal term limits to recognize the existence of informal ones, and the tightening polls in the Indiana Senate Republican primary suggest voters there may be starting to think Senator Richard Lugar has been in Washington long enough. The conventional wisdom has been that the six-term incumbent Lugar is a safer general-election bet than his opponent, state treasurer Richard Mourdock. But the primary has heretofore shown Lugar to be out of touch with Hoosiers, an institutionalized Capitol Hiller who for a spell was ruled ineligible to vote in his own primary after a local board determined he...

With half of the precincts reporting in the GOP Senate primary race, former Indiana senator Dan Coats is preparing to celebrate. Coats shot to an early lead and is holding strong while his opponents Marlin Stutzman and John Hostettler are splitting the rest of the votes. The Coats campaign has a small ballroom at the downtown Indianapolis Marriott hotel booked until midnight. Coats has already practiced his victory speech on the podium at the hotel. But the Republican Senate hopeful still has to beat four other candidates in Tuesday's primary election. State legislator Marlin Stutzman is said to have the...

Saturday afternoon the doorbell rings while I'm watching the Cubs game. I open the door - there stands a mid-50s man with a clipboard. He's wanting me to vote for Hillary Clinton in the upcoming Indiana primaries. No, I say - "we're Republicans here and I could never bring myself to vote for Hillary Clinton". "Won't you just vote for her in the primary then" - he asks, "and then vote for McCain in the fall." No, I say - "If I was going to vote for a Democrat, it'd have to be Obama because of my absolute disdain for...

CROWN POINT, IN | Indiana's Democratic chairman said his party is ready to challenge the votes of any lifelong Republicans who attempt to vote as Democrats in the May 6 primary. Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker said he is concerned Republicans may try to cast crossover votes to skew results in the close presidential primary between U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. "I'm only talking about crossover with mischievous intent," Parker said of his party's plans to challenge suspicious voters. "If there is a coordinated effort by Republicans to affect the outcome of our primary, that would be...

http://www.jconline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070819/ELECTION01/708190344 Due to copyright issues, link only....