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As much Drama Queen nonsense as most are posting here, this debate changed nothing... no Rubioesque self inflicted gun shot wounds to the head by Trump (though some here seem to incorrectly thin he did) and no grand slams by Cruz..

Their numbers will remain effectively unchanged. Among Bush/Rubio/Kasich bunch up a few points may shift after this, but in terms of the top of the heap, this debate changed nothing, as much as the screeching by supporters of various candidates wish it may.

I hate to break this to the Cruz backers, but Trump is not going to shoot himself in the head like Rubio did, and if Cruz wants to take him out, he has to deliver a headshot, Trump is not going to die a death of a thousand cuts, or be brought down by a body blow or two.

As long as Trump is in the race Cruz is locked in no better than 2nd place, his campaign of ideological purity for the conservative cause isn’t going to break him out, this election is not about ideological purity... rarely is it. For Cruz to get higher nationally he’s got to get rid of Trump, and frankly I don’t think has the skills to do it... without him in the race, maybe he could pull off the nomination, but even then I am dubious of his chances. With Trump around, Cruz’s chances are nil for the nomination.

Cruz has a nice lock on the ideological voting block, but as you are seeing, that isn’t enough to win an primary.. in fact, it never has been. If that’s all you get to support you, you lose the primary. That can anger you all you like, but that’s just how the numbers play out.

Here’s some more truth for EVERYONE.... until Trump or Cruz get above 45% in the national polling independently the establishment candidate is NOT LOCKED OUT. As long as Trump and Cruz combine to 60% of the vote or less and neither is independently at 45% or better, all it takes is the establishment bloc to finally coalesce and the race is theirs.. We are not past the point of that happening yet.

Honestly I think you are going to see Trump top that 45% nationally shortly, but until one of them does, the path that an establishment candidate wins by plurality is a very real scenario.