Whoa. Slow down, Slim. You missed a curve.
That was not my "spread" of 11.5 votes. I was quoting yet someone else who came up with that somewhat artificially created figure.
Yet the 4 votes per precinct methodology was somewhat arbitrary and thus artificial also.
But I see that you did think about it, further;
Bold font added to that last portion by my own hand, if you'll allow.
Or to any other candidate...
You uncovered one of the flaws in simply assigning 4 votes per precinct went from Carson, to Cruz.
If persons were supporting Carson rather than Cruz initially, what else is being ignored (while it was being assumed by Rove that Carson's supporters would naturally go to Cruz, fully across the board) is that Carson supporters may, in part, been supportive of Carson as alternative to Cruz whom they may possibly have already not liked.
So I do agree with you also in the beginning portions of the above portion of your comment, quoted above.
From there on, going by the general direction of the remainder of your comments, this thread, and for the last few weeks, we often part company...
You’re not getting the gist of my point - There is no way to know who would have gotten votes from whom - for ANY of the concerned parties! That is why I will not argue the issue about whether the scheme benefited Carson or any other candidate.
The only issue that matters is that Cruz’ team took a CNN story and expanded upon it to create a false narrative that they knew was not true. However, and as I stated in the last sentence of my post to you, even under these circumstances, I seriously doubt their will be a law suit, etc. To pursue such will be to no one’s be4nefit but the GOPe and the Democrats.