First the NRO/ "Conservative"/GOPe approach was to dismiss him as a buffoon, but that Arizona rally of 15,000 people really woke them up. They stuck with that for about a month.
Next, they brought out the "he's not conservative enough" stuff. Interestingly, had Ted Cruz or Jeff Sessions come out with this immediately, it might have worked. But coming from Jonah Goldberg, Charles Cooke, Jim Geraghty, and the NRO crowd, it was just funny. These were the people who gave us Mittens and McCain.
Then it was, "he says too many offensive/outrageous things. He'll turn off voters." Well, five months of polls say just the opposite. As you point out, he is so anti-PC it is changing the landscape.
At the second debate they began trying to stop him with other candidates---ALWAYS in the back of their minds they would have Marco or Yeb waiting in the wings. First Fiorina, but she flopped even faster than I expected. Then it was Carson, who had a brief moment of glory. Now they are reluctantly writing puff pieces about Cruz. They hate Cruz, but are so desperate to stop Trump now they'll do anything then take out Cruz later. Won't work.
People who liked Cruz were already with him, those who don't wouldn't go near him. Who knows if the latter will go to Trump, but he continues to get people "in the middle," Dems, blacks, blue-collar types, indies.
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