Posted on 02/09/2016 11:08:25 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
MANCHESTER, N.H -- If Marco Rubio won the Iowa caucus by finishing third last week, Ted Cruz just won New Hampshire.
Cruz (R-Texas), the actual winner of the Iowa Republican caucus, finished third in the New Hampshire primary Tuesday night, behind life-sized Chucky impersonator Donald Trump and Ohio Gov. John Kasich. In other words, he lost.
But don't count Cruz out quite yet. Just two of the 48 states have voted, and Cruz has the money -- and the polling numbers -- to stay in the GOP race and, potentially, win it.
Cruz, a methodical politician, plotted a course to the nomination months if not years ago, with a strategy to stay in contention long enough to make it a one-on-one race with an establishment-backed candidate.
Along the way, he has amassed tremendous resources. Super PACs that back Cruz have raised more than $42 million; his campaign has raised more money -- $47 million -- than any other Republican, save Ben Carson, who spent much of it on fundraising expenses. And he has the most cash on hand for the stretch run -- $18.4 million as of Feb. 1 -- despite already spending $28.4 million.
In New Hampshire, Cruz spent little of that money, with rival Rubio (R-Fla.) throwing nearly 30 times what Cruz did at the state....
(Excerpt) Read more at huffingtonpost.com ...
If Huff Po is backing someone, they think he’s easy for Democrats to beat.
Look for the guy they absolutely hate and are bashing on their page 1. That’s the one they fear.
Keep reading: They don’t “like” Ted Cruz, they’re warning their comrades not to ignore or underestimate him.
The Huffington Post had a complete meltdown over Trump’s victory this evening! It is actually almost entertaining to read.
open primaries, liberal state.
Open primaries are a stupid idea.
45% of voters weren’t Republicans, insane.
Cruz is smart not to spend money there.
They should be celebrating a victory for one of their own
From a commenter:
Cruz won by not losing big. I may not have these numbers exactly right but I think I am in the right ball park. Cruz spent like $500,000 on commercials in NH to come in third while Bush spent like $37,000,000 to come in fourth. Kasich put all his eggs into NH to come in second far behind Trump and not much ahead of Cruz. If you don’t think that is a win for Cruz, you lack imagination. The real test will be South Carolina where Cruz has been making an effort.
Yet he still beat Bush, Rubio, Christie and the rest.
And the SEC primaries where he will most likely gain more delegates than anyone else.
I agree that this was a good night for Cruz. He beat all of the serious candidates to oppose Trump for the nomination (Kasich is a regional candidate with no support outside of NH). His chief opponent for the Role of anti Trump (Rubio) took a potentially fatal wound in NH and Ben Carson also did so poorly that it may cause the rest of his voters to abandon him. If Cruz can pick up a significant share of Rubio and Carsons support then he will be in a very good position to defeat Trump in SC.
Yep. Rubio and Jeb are spending tons and tons of money and getting nothing to show for it.
I didn’t expect Cruz to do as well as he did. For spending the least amount of money via superpacs and for spending a low amount of time campaigning there, he managed a narrow third place behind men who spent a lot of time and resources there.
Trump was the easy winner as expected, but it was far from being a bad night for Cruz. Kasich deserves congratulations for earning the only delegates he’ll get this year.
The Trumpeteers will fail to see the strategic depth of the Cruz campaign and crow about winning a blue state but they’re in for a rude awakening when South Carolina votes. Rubio and Bush will not have the decency to drop out until the voters of South Carolina deal the establishment candidates a death blow but I’m sure they’ll dump a ton of money. Ted Cruz should focus on his ground game and campaign as hard as he did in New Hampshire.
From another commenter:
Psst. For a bonafide Iowa caucus winner, 12% in New Hampshire is far from a win. (Unless defeating Jeb by 1% qualifies as a consolation prize.)
Cruz got 11% of the vote, lost big to Trump among conservatives in every category, a yet is the real winner in NH.
Denial is NOT a river in Egypt.
New Hampshire has an open primary. How many of Don Trump’s voters were actually Democrats?
that means Trump is much more electable in the general election than a far right wing ideologue
So let's write it again. Democrats, by law, could not vote in the republican primary.
So let's write it again. Democrats, by law, could not vote in the republican primary.
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