Interesting stuff.
On the one hand Cruz’s conservative support is consolidated, OTOH he’s limited in what he can do to attract moderates.
Fighting for an anti-gay marriage amendment that will never happen is incredibly stupid when we can trust Cruz to appoint SC justices to repeal the previous SC dictat- and all the other outlandish social issue rulings.
And Rubio was their second choice...
You conveniently ignore Cruz' ability to articulate the benefits of conservatism and sell the conservative agenda. Cruz is a very persuasive speaker.
You assume candidates can't change the political landscape and change voter's minds. If that is true, then we are stuck with the status quo forever.