Posted on 03/02/2016 12:04:33 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
In winning Texas by 16 points, winning Oklahoma, winning (as of this writing) Alaska, and finishing second in Alabama, Arkansas, Minnesota, and Tennessee, Ted Cruz has now solidified his grip on second place in the GOP presidential race. He increased his lead over Marco Rubio in states won, votes won, and delegates won--and unless Rubio can win in Florida in two weeks (or John Kasich can win in Ohio), Cruz may soon be battling Donald Trump one-on-one (more or less) for the Republican nomination. But how can Cruz beat Trump?
The number-one thing that needs to be undone from the Obama presidency also happens to be one of the things that Trump knows the least about and on which he has the least-reliable impulses. That thing, of course, is Obamacare. It is not only the centerpiece legislation of Obama's presidency, but opposition to it unites Republican voters across the party more than perhaps any other issue. Trump is extremely suspect on it. But it's hard for Cruz to frame Trump as particularly unreliable on Obamacare when Cruz himself has yet to offer a clear plan to get to repeal. But that could potentially change overnight.
If Cruz were to advance a general-election-ready alternative, it would quench GOP voters' six-year thirst. It would widen and deepen Cruz's appeal with the GOP electorate. And it would elevate the issue of Obamacare to its rightful place in the race--to Cruz's benefit.
Anyone who thinks, like Trump does, that socialized medicine "works incredibly well" in Scotland, that he's going to "take care of everybody" and "the government's gonna pay for it," and that the remedy for Obamacare's 2,400 pages of federal largess is to lock the experts in a room and let them figure out a solution, is profoundly vulnerable on Obamacare. But no one without a general-election-ready Obamacare alternative can effectively prosecute that case.
With his big Texas win in hand, perhaps Cruz will now decide to up the ante on Obamacare. If he does, it could change the dynamics of the race overnight.
Agreed!!!
Cruz or bust!!!
#NEVERTRUMP
What is your favorite restaurant there in Mumbai?
Let them have their moment, it is all over for them next week anyways
That will be his last big night. He has no path forward.
He picked up 125 delegates last night. That is not too bad.
That was some pretty sucky firewall
It didn’t stop anything
He should return it to K-Mart and buy something better
he never won a single county in some states, did not win any counties in VA which is a swing state.
Did not get 50% of his own state. Got e neighboring state and won Alaska by a few hundred.
It was a decent night for him , but to ignore Trump is pathetic by the establishment who has brought voters in, drowned out the establishment so not sure why Ted think sucking up to them now is a good idea as it turns me off from him.
Might as well write in Benghazi Hillary.
but...Who reads the Weekly Standard any more??? and what happened to Bill Kristol on FOX News??? he use to be on the Special Report on a regular basis??? oh well..he is not important any way...
At the same time Cruz will need to explain why he voted for TPP/TPS gutting the country of millions of jobs.
Oh! And you might also want to explain why he voted for the Corker bill and giving Iran $150 billion. Cruz the savior of Israel really helped Israel with this Corker bill.
Let’s have a discussion about the above issues.
By winning more delegates?
At the same time Cruz will need to explain why he voted for TPP/TPA gutting the country of millions of jobs.
Oh! And you might also want to explain why he voted for the Corker bill and giving Iran $150 billion. Cruz the savior of Israel really helped Israel with this Corker bill.
Let’s have a discussion about the above issues.
Got here yesterday and using up the bandwidth? I was here probably 5 years before I ever posted a graphic.
Texas is a big state with a lot of delegates
So yes, that was expected
Good job for Cruz, where does he go from here?
Is he going to win states like New York, New Jersey? California? Michigan?
Trump isn’t the nominee yet??
From the comments here we would think he is moving in the WH now.
So in other words, Cruz or Hillary as she would be the bust?
That’s next week....
Plus he needs to air out the Obama smell out of it as well
Not to mention that W about doubled what Cruz got last night when he ran as sitting Governor in 2000. It was surprising to see the “popular” sitting Senator not come close to 50% in his home state. I would be worried about 2018 if I were Cruz.
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