Posted on 02/22/2016 11:31:28 AM PST by Jack Black
Ted Cruz may have a knack for the debate stage and a disciplined, data-driven campaign, but he may also have a huge viability problem.
Cruz’s short-term dilemma has received plenty of attention: Donald Trump is on the verge of a big victory in the South Carolina Republican primary, according to most polls, and could easily capture all 50 of the Palmetto State’s delegates. And if Cruz can’t beat Trump in South Carolina — a Southern state with a large proportion of evangelical and very conservative voters, Cruz’s supposed bread and butter — what “SEC Primary†states can he win on Super Tuesday, March 1?
But Cruz also faces a longer-term, potentially more devastating math problem that has received less attention: The states that are his most natural fits — those with the highest proportions of evangelical voters — are also the least likely to award their delegates on a winner-take-all basis. In other words, Cruz’s votes may not translate into delegates nearly as efficiently as his rivals’.
(Excerpt) Read more at fivethirtyeight.com ...
“Interesting how important the details are this time. The GOP process is quite strange, seemingly designed to prevent another Ron Paul insurgency from bothering the likes of Mitt Romney”
Yes. It was designed for that.
And yes, Trump us Romney, in more ways than one.
He’s the 2016 Romney, new and improved.
Thanks. I searched on the title and Cruz and didn’t find it.
Not sure what else to do.
His campaign has a huge sleaze problem. Lie after lie after lie.
Maybe it’s just not the Cruzer’s year.
But the guy is only 45 years old.
He’s got 3 or 4 more election cycles before he’s even prime POTUS age.
Its a dangerous game.. every one wants to hang on, because they think at the end they will be a king maker if Trump doesn’t have 50% of the delegates, and they have the dozen or so to make a difference.
But Trump is winning big only because the field is fractured. Hahaha... they are shooting themselves in the foot, but can’t stop their campaigns to consolidate an anti Trump vote. Their egos are too big :)
I don’t think Trump is Romney. Trump has broken the process as set up by the party elite. I am off the Trump team at this point but I love the fact that he upset the political class. I have my own issues with his campaign in recent weeks, but despite that I have no allusions he’s on the same side as the consultants and DC elites. Trump has always been his own man for good and bad. He’s got a lot of friends on the left but also on the right. And almost universally his friends were who could get him something. Not necessarily likeminded. He’s largely been supportive of the insurgent tea party since the early days showing up at rallies and events dating back to 2009 and 2010. He and I disagree on a host of issues but agree on a number too.
Two words.
"Open primary."
That’s a lie.
Yes. Unbelievable from the guy who wrote the book “A Time For Truth”. And the guy who supposedly was “the only principled candidate in the race”.
I wish I could get a refund on the book!
No, there are lots of allegations of lying from his political opponents. But there are no actual “lies.”
“I am off the Trump team at this point but I love the fact that he upset the political class.”
Me too.
Except, it is shaping up that he had not really upset the political class in any fundamental or lasting manner.
He held promise to help in doing that.
He is Romney with a common populist touch.
“I have no allusions he’s on the same side as the consultants and DC elites.”
He is not, though, on the other side. That’s the problem.
Trump likes them fine if need be. He is one of them.
Except tha Trump is a total outsider and Cruz is not
Yes there, Cruz has told actual lies. If I document one beyond the shadow of a doubt, will you agree to post, “I acknowledge Ted Cruz is a liar.”? You have to first make the hard and fast commitment; then I’ll document the lie.
Oh sure thing with the DC politicos swearing they will never vote for him
Posted multiple times....
That made it hard for him, and in states like Washington (where I live and attended the caucus) there was lot of shenanigans that went on to push him over the top.
My take is that the rules were altered so that a candidate like Mitt could win more easily with 40% or so. States that had proved troublesome had their rules altered.
For instance, Washington eliminated our caucus (which the Ron Paul forces had learned to dominate) and replaced it with a primary.
The unintended consequence is that a real outsider (Trump) has been the one to get to 40%, and he may well win the nomination with only that level of support, due to the odd rules.
Actually, if you read “Cruz - Can He Win” put out by Cruz’s superpac, he went into the race to be the new Romney. Their whole approach was based on the notion that Romney was such a horrible candidate that enough conservatives stayed home that Obama got elected. So they sent Cruz out as the man would could consolitate all the conservatives, evangelicals, libertarians, Hispanics, etc under one big tent. He would be a better Romney than Romney was, and he’d win.
Well, that ain’t happening. Trump is a force never seen before, the conservative-leaning pragmatic populist who doens’t need the RNCs money or machinery and doesn’t care what they think. He is beholden to no one but himself, unlike Cruz who’s strings are being jerked by his big=money donors.
This leaves the RNC somewhat powerless and forced to attempt to make a flawed first-term Senator with a checkered conservative history into “A Romney that can win.
That ain’t happening either.
Please share what you consider to be one of Ted Cruz’s “lies,” and I will give you the respect of evaluating it.
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