Courtesy Ping
“50+ % are inclined NOT to vote for him”
But under what parameters? With other GOP candidates still alive or in a General vs. Hillary?
Jeff is right.
Cruz is self-imolating beyond this point.
Ashley Cruz should pull out like a man before
he is as hated as Boehner and McConnell and Romney.
He has been exposed with rats, hookers, blackmail,
Fiorino “defenses”, and a father linked with Oswald,
after Cruz INFURIATED FReepers by voting to allow
the vote on SECRET ObamaTRADE for his globalist employers,
facilitators, and controllers.
Nice counterpoint Doc. Prepare for incoming.
If it comes to a contested convention that is the way the process works.
I remember that was the most exciting process I had ever seen.
Everyone including Cruz knew Trump was going to carry New York. What they are NOT saying, is Hilliary and Socialist Bernie Sanders got more votes than Trump did.
“Trump has not offered Cruz a rapprochement (and likely never will)”
Absolutely not true. Trump has publicly mused several times about Cruz as his VP, and Cruz has categorically and publicly rejected that option multiple times.
Yeah.
I think Cruz is obligated to try and get the nomination.
More of us think Trump us not a good representative or standard bearer for conservatism or the Republican Party than support Trump.
Therefore, let it play out.
After the nominee is determined, then whoever the losing candidate may be should support the nominee and all candidates should work for unity to present a united front against the Dem nominee.
Cruz needs money to stay in. How does he get that money after he has been mathematically?
Why do you believe that “50% voting against Trump” is relevant with respect to Cruz? There is no direct correlation.
Reagan was not mathematically eliminated during the primaries. It was only in the leadup to the convention that he swayed enough unbound delegates. I know, my grandmother was one of them.
Well said
Yep cause Ted did so well with those Southern Evangelicals, and Florida and Michigan and Illinois and Nevada and Arizona etc. Trump can only win the Northeast.
Trump was the first Yankee since Sherman to burn through the South. You might want to look at who won there.
Cruz was third in FL and OH. No road leads to the White House without FL. Cruz can’t win it, especially with half the base pissed off because their votes were overturned in the primaries because of backroom deals.
“But the fact remains that outside of Trump’s home region, the northeast, 50+ % are inclined NOT to vote for him.”
In case you have not noticed outside of their home regions even less people vote for Cruz or Kasich.
Personally, I don't think either candidate's support is that inelastic. It may seem that way in the FR echo chamber, but hopefully not in "real life." I will say in contrast that, the longer Cruz waits the less time there is for a thawing of hearts and minds.
Post convention, once engaged with Hillary Clinton, our candidate will be seen in a fresh light and old and hardened positions should soften.
Regarding pulling out, once done the delegates are unbound; the candidate loses control. The state may have some rules for reapportioning delegates before the convention, but if not then rule 16(a)(2) frees the delegates from binding penalties.
-PJ
What disturbs me at this point in the campaigns, though, is the fact that most people are now focusing on numbers and 'nominatability' ... while what should still be the primary issue in the election (i.e., the character, courage, consistency of conviction, vision, integrity and honesty of the candidates) has fallen by the wayside.
I spent this morning in Hershey, PA listening to among the most passionate speeches I have ever heard, delivered by a man who is the first man to come along in almost thirty years who may prove fully capable of filling Ronald Reagan’s shoes. And I spent this evening in Lebanon, PA at a meet and greet with Carly Fiorina, one of the most principled women in America today, entirely devoted to the restoration of the American vision, and unwilling to line up behind those who prefer to base their political endorsements on either empty promises or the bandwagon effect.
Then I came home tonight only to hear the dichotomy from the front-runner: snippets of the typical Trump whining, boasting, name-calling, character assassination, and superficial 'policy' enumeration on tonight's news, and I couldn't help but become even more determined to do my (admittedly small) part to see to it that those in whose presence I was privileged to be today prevail.
I have been campaigning for Ted Cruz here in Pennsylvania for almost four weeks now, and intend to continue to do so until next Tuesday’s primary. No, I harbor no pie-in-the-sky belief that Ted will win the popular vote in the Pennsylvania primary, but I believe he will garner a respectable number of Pennsylvania delegates through a combination of faithful, well-organized grassroots support, honest and tireless campaigning, a knowledge of and willingness to abide by, and work hard within the boundaries of, the primary rules established by each individual state, and a genuine love of, and dedication to, the U.S. Constitution and our Founders’ vision.
To know that running a campaign in that well-organized and completely upright manner has been fiercely and viciously denigrated by Donald Trump is infuriating to me.
Ted Cruz understood the existing ground rules going into this election cycle, set up an organization whose roots were in existence even before he announced his candidacy, and has run an absolutely brilliant campaign, within the prescribed rules, and by exhibiting an organizational ability that completely eclipses that shown by his 'brilliant businessman' opponent.
And yet Trump chooses to crucify an opponent who decides to play by the rules and run an honest campaign, while attempting to self-righteously elevate himself ... a man who knew those rules full well from the word go and, rather than expend the time, energy and research needed to win under them, chose to do nothing more than benefit from them, when he could (and he did, quite often), and whine about them, when they did not work to his advantage.
If Ted is successful in winning the republican nomination (presumably on the second or third ballot in Cleveland), those with whom I have been working here in Pennsylvania will redouble our efforts in looking ahead to November. If he is not successful in his bid for the nomination, we will simply re-group and search our hearts for how best to proceed in doing what we can to see to it that Hillary Clinton never takes up residence in the White House.
An aside: Donald Trump won sixty percent of the popular vote in New York yesterday, yet took home ninety-five percent of the delegates. I have not been able to listen as much of the news as I would have liked to today. Please fill me in on how vehemently he was tearing apart the ‘undemocratic’ primary process in New York, in that the percentage of delegates he won was a full fifty-plus percent more than the percentage of the popular vote that he won. He had to be screaming about the ‘rigged, 100% crooked’ unfairness, right?
Cruz cannot win this, there is zero mathematical way forward for him to win, not even on the so called second ballot.
His recalcitrance in accepting defeat seemingly comes from one of two things:
1. Delusion, perhaps some kind of internal insistence that he alone deserves this.
2. He has struck a bargain with the GOPe to do their bidding in hopes of stopping Trump from the magic number.
Now, Jeff did the math in his vanity, I dare you to follow it or show us any scenario where he can win, it's just not there. The likelihood is so big that Trump will get the 1237, there is little hope in stopping him now. Yes, a miracle could happen, and no it is not likely it will.
With that in mind, I think it would be better for him to not be the turd in the punch bowl. There is so much at stake here. The rat machine is loving every minute Cruz stays in, loving every minute the #nevertrumpers gain, loving every #nevertrump superpac ad denouncing him. They are counting the Supreme Court picks and the losses in the house and senate.
You might think that's okay, but the enemy here isn't Trump, it's the totalitarian left.
For the sake of the party, for the sake of the country's future, he should take a deep breath and unite the party behind the front runner.
If he does not, I personally think his political career is over. If he takes the road to unify, he will regain his political future that was once so bright. He is young, and will go far.
If he chooses to fight on, and wins, he will be supplanted by another candidate, or worse, lose in a landslide as he will not be forgiven for his treachery.
He could become a hero, and supporters that don't understand he will be committing political hara kiri by staying in aren't helping him.
From what I see, Trump is Schwarzenegger redux but with less like-ability and more controversy.
Trump's high negatives and bridge burning are going to make it difficult if not impossible for him to win the general.
Trump has shown no awareness so far that he will need to unite the party in order to win in the fall.
Cruz is the better prepared presidential candidate with clear solutions to our countries problems IMO.
It isn't over til it's over.