Posted on 04/09/2016 10:43:55 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Just over a month ago, after Trumps big win in Nevada and after Cruzs SEC state southern strategy fell short amidst the Trump tidal wave across the south, it looked like Trump had the momentum to prevail against a fractured field. Trump thought it was over, and was confident enough to hold unifying post-primary press conference events like a President. As more March contests took place however, the persistent overperformance of Cruz (in places like Kansas, Wyoming and Maine) and underperformance of Rubio that led finally to Rubios withdrawal after Florida. Despite Kasich staying in, the race has winnowed and clarified to the point where Cruz was finally given his chance to go toe to toe with Trump.
And what happened? While Trump won in Arizona, in part due to early votes in the Arizona primary and a favorable state for his immigration message, since then its been Cruz domination:
◾Cruz won Utah with 69% of the vote, sweeping all of Utahs 40 delegates.
◾Cruz won delegates out of Louisiana that were available.
◾Cruz then won the North Dakota delegate race, taking 18 out of 25 delegates. Trump got only 1 publicly supporting delegate.
◾Cruz won in Wisconsin, getting close to 50% of the vote and winning 36 out of the 42 delegates by winning most Congressional districts, with just 6 delegates for Trump.
◾Cruz won the Colorado delegate selection process, winning all of the delegate races, either with Cruz bound delegates or Cruz-supporting unbound delegates, a total of 34 delegates.
◾Cruz has been winning the other nomination race, the race for actual delegates, even when bound to Trump. In places like Georgia, South Carolina, Massachusetts, Tennessee, and many other states. For example, this weekend in Iowa, a CD is sending #CruzCrew delegates to Iowa.
@CCPAC4Cruz 5m5 minutes ago Sweep for #CruzCrew delegates in #IA02 #OnToCleveland
The Colorado win now gives Cruz the 8th states he needs to meet the Rule 40 (b) requirement, adding CO to TX, ME, KS, ID, ND, UT and WI. More importantly, though, from Utah until now Cruz has won the delegate race: 128 delegates for Cruz, 7 delegates for Trump, 0 delegates for Kasich. Cruz is crushing it. The race has become a race for delegate accumulation, and by shutting Trump down in Utah, North Dakota, Wisconsin and Colorado, Cruz has shifted the terrain enough to make it much harder for Trump to get to 1237. Should Cruz keep Trump under 50% in New York, and force a split of New Yorks delegates, and have Kasich and Cruz both be over 20%, the split in delegates may be something like: 54 Trump, 11 Kasich, 30 Cruz. Then Trumps hill will become steep to the point of impossible.
As of right now, The Greenpapers has soft pledged total at:
◾758 Trump
◾533 Cruz
◾732 available (via primaries) to be bound
◾77 unpledged available
Trump needs 65% of the remaining delegates to get to 1237. Should Trump get 50% of the remaining, above the 45% hes gotten so far, Trump would have 1120 delegates after June 7th. This is why today, PredictIt.org says: Traders give a brokered convention a 70% chance.
With Trumps complete failure to win the delegate race, with him losing steam in primaries and getting punked in almost every caucus and activist-filled GOP convention, its become almost a certainty that if Trump cant get to Cleveland either at or very close to 1237 bound delegates, that he will fail to have sufficient delegates to actually win the nomination.
The convention is an extension of the democratic process. I am confident that we are going to win a contested convention. Ted Cruz, 4/9/16
Cruz will indeed win the nomination on the second ballot should Trump fail to win it on the first ballot. Victory will go to Cruz, the man whos run the best campaign and is indeed the best candidate. And history will look back at this week and the Wisconsin victory and other wins this week as the turning point.
But I didn't know until this day that it was Barzini all along."
An argument could be made for "second ballot" in popular vote. He might do better.
This is the key narrative that needs to get around
In winning the support of the voters, Trump owes the voters - he is bound to represent the best interests of the People. When Cruz "plays by the GOPe written rules" and buys off delegates - and those behind them - he owes his soul to them, not the voters. In other words, the Cruz worm shedding its skin and turning himself into a GOPe snake.
2nd ballot will get the GOP, RYAN. Take it to the bank.
By how big of a landslide is the only question. Well, this and does Hillary bring congress along with her in what will be a vast sea of blue.
Cruz cant do that because he is owned.
From this thread, it appears that everyone is now figuring that out. Cruz is selling his [grinchy cramped] soul one delegate at a time. He is now so owned by so many people he can't figure out whether it's Calgary or New York.
They lose with trump. And trump will not get a majority. No majority = loss.
Why do the rules say 1237? Plurality isn’t majority. Trump will lose.
If the argument is that Trump only has 37% of the vote, Teddy only has 25% of the vote.
You wouldn't detect cronyism if it smacked you on the side of the head like a smelly rotten fish.
Trump's fortune is building buildings, selling condos and leasing commercial space. To do that he has to build the building. Then he has to sell to willing clients one by one. Overspeand on building by a factor of 3 - like the F-35, install service equipment that doesn't work (like the USS Minnesota) and as a developer you are bankrupt utterly - unless the US government is your client.
A real crony looks and smells like the partners in the Podesta Group that catapulted staff positions in the Clinton white house into gazillionaire status representing Russian banks to the US government. That is doing well for doing nothing at all.
Buying, selling and consulting on the F-35 - that is cronyism, doing well for doing nothing at all.
Cronyism is not getting a contract to build a city ice rink and then building it. Cronyism is getting the contract, getting paid and then not building the ice rink.
You are a sellout
Knock off the personal attacks. This is making you look worse than trump.
The writer needs to cut down on meth.
Every time a delegate is turned that is another debt Cruz owes.
Jeb Bush has a better chance of being the Republican nominee than Ted. Hope it was worth selling your core principles.
The old you needs to talk with the current you.
That is only because part of their calculation is that they get to keep the house if not the senate. Again, to repeat what a lot of folks say, they won't even keep town dogcatcher.
“There is no way they are gonna let a non-natural born citizen become the nominee.”
Cruz’s NBC status has been verified in all 50 states, in the courtroom of a PA judge and perhaps in the near future by the Supreme Court. But you probably still won’t change your mind on that even then.
Well, well, well...nopardons raising her hypocritical little head again. Perhaps this time youll choose to answer the questions:
On this thread from 2011:
Meet Donald Trump, Sudden Right-Wing Conservative: Contributions, Abortion, Health Care, and Taxes
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2700816/posts
You said the following about St. Donald:
Paying bribes to pols is one thing, touting them for president, as he did with Hillary, is quite another thing.
What about the rest of the facts, that are in this article? That man nothing at all to you either?
What about his disgusting personal life?
21 posted on 4/6/2011, 9:53:33 PM by nopardons
AND then theres this gem:
Heres a news flash for ya................Trump cant beat Obama! Trump would be even WORSE than Barry! Hes Clintonian re morals, worse than Barry re taxes, and far worse than Hoover re tariffs.
Because he has donated to more Dems than GOPers, is personal friends of the Clintons (he wanted Hillary to be president! ), has mob ties, his SCOTUS picks would be a disaster, as would his other appointments.
27 posted on 4/6/2011, 10:00:37 PM by nopardons
Care to explain? Youve done a wonderful job of explaining all of our concerns about Trump.
A very good point that bears repeating. The only thing these guys have to barter with is power. If they get voted out up and down the ticket, there aren’t nearly enough consultant/lobbyist/cable TV bloviator positions for all of them. Some of these guys might actually have to (gasp!) work for a living.
Ironically, the GOPe is trying so hard to hold on to its power that it might end up losing everything. These guys are really earning the “Stupid Party” moniker this year.
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