A vote for anyone but Cruz is now a vote for Trump.
Frankly, if Donald Trump really wanted to make America great again, he’d drop out and throw his support to Ted Cruz.
yep, just a question of who plays Establishement spoiler Kaisch, Bush or Rubio.
Such bias in all media today. Cruz is the story because NH wasn’t fertile ground and he didn’t put all that much into it.
Then why wasn’t Trump the real story in Iowa, much truer for him there.
Or if you don’t want Trump, you’ll have to turn to Cruz.
What if you don’t want Cruz, do you then have to turn to Trump?
Media still controlling our votes, just coming at us from different sides.
If true, bad news for Cruz. Indy’s will make the call and he’s got problems there.
Trump Cruz, Cruz Trump, me I like it!
Right, Trump has more then twice the support that cruz does, but cruz still gets equal billing? No, this is just cruz still trying to ride Trumps coattails, it is not going to work any more. After SC, cruz will be in Jeb territory.
Not so fast my friend.
Kasich has no money. Bush spends $3000 per vote. The powers that be might ground them. Then add Christie getting out.
Rubio becomes THE establishment guy with 30-40% of the vote.
They get Trump and Cruz to kill each other.
Rube moves up the ladder.
Together, I think the two contain the plurality of voters not rabid Democrat. I do hope they come to a meeting of minds and concentrate on completely squashing Jeb Bush’s chances any farther than he’s at today.
It is a one-man race with four guys vying for 2nd through 5th place.
One winner. Trump!
Kasich+Christie+Bush+Fiorina+Rubio = The Nomination
Christie is already out. Kasich will be out soon despite making it respectable. Fiorina is out effectively already.
If you have a cage match between Rubio and Bush, I think Bush comes out ahead.
What you actually have here is a path to the nomination for Bush. It could be Bush versus Clinton once a-freaking-gain.
... and when he takes his oath as President of the United States, these people will continue to say “.... but Cruz and Rubio are the still the front runners!”
The establishment still does not want change
I think this death knell for the establishment is a bit early to write.....
Trump and Cruz will most likely combine to roughly 50% of the vote +/- in the south, how that will be broken up will really be a matter of how well Trump does attacking Cruz and how well Cruz handles it. Given the ads released yesterday in SC, I’d put my money on Trump chipping away at Ted... The kids playing with dolls ad isn’t going to sway anyone IMHO, and while Trumps attack ad is rather traditional, I suspect his tact will be more effective.
With that said, don’t count out the establishment, while I agree with the fact, with the establishment vote fractured its impossible for any of them to win, and NH did not move that fracturing any closer to ending... The difference between SC and Super Tuesday is a full week.. IF, and I admit this is a big IF, IF one of these establishment candidates comes out the clear winner, a week is more than enough time to begin to coalesce the establishment voters toward them. Trump and Cruz are going to be busy with each other, because frankly neither of them can win a 3 man race at this point, while the other is still viable. That doesn’t mean that either of them could not win a 2 man head to head race.... just that as long as its a 3 man race, their combined totals of 50-60% of the vote, will lose via plurality to the 3rd candidate.
If the establishment hasn’t picked a main guy before super Tuesday, then it becomes difficult, but not impossible for any establishment player to win, less and less likely by the day, but that doesn’t mean its impossible. If it winds up dropping to a 2 man race, and Trump or Cruz truly do have a ceiling of 35-40% of the vote, the establishment candidate can slowly and methodically win the delegate count... I don’t think that’s going to happen, but this is politics folks.... Rubio just dropped 10 points in 2 days because he shot himself in the head point blank... no one would have predicted that last saturday afternoon.
We shall see how this plays out... my money at this point still says Trump for the win... but time will tell.
I suspect Rubio and Bush are not dead yet.
Seems better to keep RINOs splitting the RINO vote.
It always was.
The Nation is not yet so stupid as to actually contemplate another Bush Presidency, Rubio shot himself in the foot with his support for Amenesty, Christie shot himself in the foot with his chummyness with Barack Odumbo, Kasich has no appeal beyond a small circle, Huckabee was dead on Arrival, Fiorina was unable to effectively compete, and Carson hurt himself with statements about Gun control and the Pyramids.
Carson was the only real potential contender for Trump or Cruz. Not only did some of his statements hurt him, he came across as too nice of a guy.
This year people want a mean Bastard because they are angry, and they want their wrath directed at those agencies and people they regard as their tormentors.
Trump is obviously a mean SOB, and Cruz has proven he can be a mean SOB as well by bucking the party establishment and calling Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate Floor. (He is.)
Trump and Cruz were always the prime movers in these races. Carson was the only candidate that might have beat one or both of them, but it is now too late for him to do so.
What's not to like?
No, it’s not yet a two person race.
Christie is dropping out. Rubio may (maybe) be able to recover from his terrible debate. Jeb has a chance to consolidate the establishment vote. Kasich has the same establishment opportunity. Cruz and Trump certainly have an advantage, but it’s nowhere near settled that one of them will win.