Well as far as Free Republic goes, Cruz seems to have the most support here. Of course FR has proven pretty horrible at picking winners. (Even of the more Conservative part of the contest). Hermain Cain, Sen. Thompson, Duncan Hunter and Alan Keyes were big favorites on FR in the past. FR pretty much hated both McCain and Romney (the latter, more) from the start. But, they still one. So even everyone on FR going all in for Cruz from the start probably won't mean much.
Your advice is good advice, but then again supporters of all the other candidates would say "everyone should rally around my guy NOW, so we can go in united and win!!" too.
It still comes down to "what's the compelling argument for / against them.
I think the willowing will be faster this time than in 2008 and 2012. But the process you describe, the last man standing, is still going to take place.
Here is some old-time conventional election geek wisdom that I think is useful:
Three tickets out of Iowa. Two tickets out of New Hampshire.
Cruz seems likely to get one of the Iowa tickets, and a little less likely to get one of the New Hampshire ones. SO then it goes to South Carolina. I can see him doing very well there.
But there are 19 people in Sababto's current list of GOP challengers. Even saying 1/2 of them drop out before Iowa, thats a lot of people running in Iowa, and a lot of people dropping out after Iowa and New Hampshire.
At this point it looks like Jeb, Rand, Cruz, Rubio, Walker and Huckabee have a shot at still being around in South Carolina. The rest seem unlikely. (I maybe discounting Santorum, he won Iowa, so he probably has a shot there to at least get 3rd and stay alive for a bit.)
Cruz posses all the best attributes of the others,
No, not really. Walker has more experience in an executive role, and has a proven record of winning in a Blue / Purple state. Rand has much lower disapproval ratings, he is often described as more likeable. Etc.
That's why we have primaries, after all.
Republican voters' search for a nominee has been, all along, a "Waiting for Godot" drama. Santorum was the only candidate competing in Iowa who had not gotten his turn in the sunshine until the cold of winter ...If Iowa hands a win to Cruz and he finishes second in New Hampshire he's the front runner going into South Carolina.Months ago, Iowans chose Michele Bachmann only to discover she was weak on facts and had no chance of winning the contest. Next came Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who flubbed his debates. In their continuing search for Anybody But Romney, Iowa Republicans turned to Herman Cain, but then scandal hit. Next up was Newt Gingrich, who seemed to have everything they wanted. Gingrich did have everything, including -- as a Romney "hit-ad" put it -- "more baggage than the airlines."
Iowa voters then sampled Paul, a man that many decidedly feel is not a conservative, mostly because of his foreign policy. Everyone, including Gingrich, jumped on Paul, accusing him of being not sufficiently worried about a nuclear Iran. As a result, Iowans who want someone with strong conservative credentials fled to Rick Santorum, the only candidate left standing, but one they likely met at an event or two.
I think the process works in his favor.
Iowa's three tickets: Cruz, Walker and Rand.
New Hampshire's two: Jeb and one of those three.
South Carolina will sort the men from the boys, but you'd have to like Cruz's chances there.