Posted on 02/24/2016 6:07:02 PM PST by NYRepublican72
Despite taking a tumble in national polls and early voting states, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz still has a 12-percentage-point lead over businessman Donald Trump in the Texas Republican presidential primary, according to the Texas Pulse/Statesman poll released Feb. 24, 2016. On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a whopping 40-point lead over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Methodology: This Texas Pulse poll surveyed about 1,000 likely voters — 620 Republicans and 411 Democrats — between Feb. 19 and Feb. 22.
(Excerpt) Read more at projects.statesman.com ...
“An open convention means that the GOPe is free to PICK THEIR CANDIDATE... and we both know that it won’t be Trump or Cruz.”
That’s absolutely false. The GOPe does not get to vote. The delegates do. And while the GOPe wrote the rules, they do not get to make them up as they go along. They have to follow their own rules.
This means that delegates will still pick the nominee. It would be brokered, which means Trump will do what he does best - negotiate and make deals. In a brokered convention, Trump will almost certainly get the nomination. In fact, that is when he would probably threaten to run third party if he does not get the rightful nomination.
Unless Trump is just a very small number shy of 50% of the delegates, A brokered convention would mean Trump-Cruz or Trump-Rubio. Cruz-Rubio is not going to happen. And A Trump-Rubio could happen but would be a big mistake. Trump would gain nothing and would lose a lot.
He and Cruz are the two candidates that are non-establishment. (Carson is not going to get the VP spot even though he is also not establishment.) Trump said he wants someone who knows the ropes. That’s Cruz. Trump, to my knowledge has only suggested one possible VP pick, and that is Cruz.
Now I know there has been a lot of bad blood, but their partnership is the chance to bury the hatchet and consolidate the base.
Think about it, the anti-establishment vote is so large that the top two candidates are anti-establishment.
Trump needs Cruz supporters, more than any other group, going into the general.
My vote for Cruz in the Texas primary is not a vote against Trump. I prefer Cruz. But I can live with Trump-Cruz.
I wouldn’t get too cocky in your put-downs. Donald Trump has 79 delegates. He has a long way to go. And.....
I WOULD SAY THIS TO THE DONALD TRUMP SUPPORTERS: Think very carefully about what you wish for. You have no idea how strong the feelings against Donald Trump are — even from conservatives. I have voted in EVERY presidential election for 40 years — and I can’t stand Trump. I do not believe I could EVER bring myself to vote for him, and please don’t tell me, I’m helping to elect Hillary Clinton as one Trumpite did. NO, YOU ARE HELPING TO ELECT HER BY NOMINATING THE SINGLE MOST UNPOPULAR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE IN MODERN AMERICAN POLITICAL HISTORY. I resent your dirty tricks (Iowa, etc.) on Ted Cruz, the crudeness and nastiness of Trump, his lies about everything and the fact that I do not believe he is a conservative.
Here’s what Lou Cannon just wrote: Dan Balz of The Washington Post points to vulnerabilities: Trump had the lowest percentage of any South Carolina primary winner in the last 10 contests.
Trump has a solid and seemingly unshakable populist base among working-class voters without a college education. But he also has sky-high unfavorable ratings, with 28 percent of Republicans saying they’d never vote for him. Indeed, Gallup’s surveys show Trump has the highest unfavorables of any presidential candidate in modern history, a net minus 70 among Democrats and a net minus 27 among independents.
THINK ABOUT THAT — Nearly one-third of Republican say they WOULD NEVER VOTE FOR HIM. Think long and hard. You’re the ones helping to elect the evil Clinton woman. If you think you can win a presidential election with 1/4 to 1/3 of Republicans saying they would never vote for your candidate, then you’re the ones with the problem.
What’s Trump going to do — tell people that Cruz isn’t in the state like he did in Sparks the other night when Cruz was across town.
In most cases, I would just say that that was a simple mistake, but after Iowa, Trump is the biggest liar I’ve ever seen in politics. Sound familiar? Everyone who opposes Trump is a liar. The man does NOT remind me of Reagan.
Times have changed ... Reagan was his own man and Trump is his own man ... I don’t think Reagan could get elected if he was running today, he’s far too nice ...the society is far too crass nowadays and Trump knows exactly what it takes to win and will get the job done ..some people don’t grasp this and would be far more comfortable politely losing to the Dims ..
the majority of Conservative Americans are tired of politely losing ...it’s all or nothing brutal politics ..if you can’t handle this , go hide in the basement , we’ll do the heavy lifting ...
“This means that delegates will still pick the nominee.”
Who do you think the delegates are? They are the GOPe. If they are not FORCED to vote for Trump, as they are on the first ballot, then they are FREE to vote for whoever they want.
Otherwise we wouldn’t be hearing all the talk about a ‘brokered convention’.
So yea, vote for Cruz, vote for a brokered convention...but don’t complain here when Bush or Linda wind up on the ticket.
We’ll be the judge of that on Tuesday evening. LOL
I would not want to be Cruz right about now.
Trump may not win Texas, but I wouldn’t bet too many acres on it.
“vote for Cruz, vote for a brokered convention...but don’t complain here when Bush or Linda wind up on the ticket.”
I’m voting for Cruz because he is the only consistent conservative across the board.
If Trump maintains his lead, he will get the nomination. But he will need Cruz supporters to win the general. And the best way to do that is make him VP.
It is too early to be predicting how this will play out. Vote principle. If that is Trump for you, fine. For me it’s Cruz. Things will get a lot clearer mid-March.
If I trusted the party to NOT take over the process in the convention (if Trump doesn’t get to 50% of the delegates), I wouldn’t have a problem with people voting for Cruz.
I’d just hate to see it end up with neither Cruz, nor Trump on the ticket, but instead Bush/Romney or something.
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