Posted on 02/24/2016 8:30:17 PM PST by TigerClaws
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. â The âsouthern firewallâ Ted Cruzâs presidential campaign has been building for months appears to be crumbling under the weight of Donald Trumpâs staying power and Marco Rubioâs resurgence.
The Cruz campaign told Yellowhammer Wednesday night they are pulling out of the Presidential Forum set to be held at Samford University in Birmingham on Saturday, and will not be holding any other events in Alabama ahead of election day. Senator Marco Rubioâs campaign, however, reiterated their commitment to the event.
The move is one of the most open indicators to date that Cruz has failed to pick up steam in the Bible Belt South, once believed to be his geographic stronghold and his most likely path to the nomination.
Numerous southern states and almost a quarter of the Republican delegates are up for grabs in the so called SEC Primary on March 1st.
Yellowhammer CEO Cliff Sims said Cruzâs exit from the state so close to election day is unfortunate, but not entirely unexpected.
âDecisions like this are difficult for any campaign to make, but they have to do what they think is best,â he said. âOnce a campaign goes into survival mode, sometimes they have to cut their losses and move resources where they can be most effective. A candidateâs time is the most valuable resource any campaign has.â
South Carolina Republican strategist Hogan Gidley said Cruzâs lackluster performance in his home state was the first public sign that Cruzâs southern strategy was not coming together.
âIt does definitely put a dent into the manufactured reputation that Cruz is coalescing all conservatives,â he told National Review. âI think we can put an end to that myth.â
A longtime Alabama political consultant who is not working for a presidential campaign but has seen presidential campaign polling numbers through other state-level campaigns told Yellowhammer Cruzâs path to the nomination could be disappearing.
âIf Cruz â the Texan, the staunch evangelical, the anti-Washington guy â canât win in Alabama and across the South, he canât win,â the consultant said on condition of anonymity so he could speak freely. âIâve seen polling in the last week that shows Cruz in third in Alabama, far behind Trump and behind Rubio, too. It might become apparent after March 1st that Cruzâs goose is cooked.â
Senator Rubio is scheduled to be in both Birmingham and Huntsville on Saturday. Donald Trump is scheduled to be in Huntsville on Sunday. No other Republican candidates are currently scheduled to campaign in the state ahead of the March 1st primary.
Dittos on what you said. IF Trump can get elected. That will be an entire ‘nother story if he loses. That said - I’m not giving up on Cruz yet.
I thought he’d pick Sessions for VP, then I wondered about Scott Walker.
What job has Cruz not done as Senator? He’s out there representing Texas values on the national stage. He hasn’t allowed any bill to pass or not pass based on his vote being absent. If Texans liked Cruz enough to vote him Senator, why would they not want him to be President even moreso? Please don’t speak for Texans if you’re not one of them. You have no standing.
We was cruz in 2nd. He needs to pick up his game.
“accomplishing absolutely nothing notable in the Senate”
Let’s see . . . option #1 = go along to get along with GOP-e or
option #2 = try to talk Mitch and the GOP-e into doing what is right and getting out of their cozy nest or
option #3 cooperate like Rubio tried to do with the slime balls in the Gang of 8,
or option #4 be straight up and just call BS on all of it and filibuster with no support.
You might have some others options, but calling Mitch a liar and trying to filibuster bad bills is fine with me.
FAIR ENOUGH!!! Truce!!!
I agree. I have written some very kind Cruz posts where I admit his chances to win are pretty over but talk about him being more ready in 8 years, etc. it’s the only decent way to discuss this.
BYE-BYE!
I thought Cruz was Canadian?
Trump is ahead with every Republican demographic you can name. He's also won three out of three of the last Republican primaries.
If Ted was all he's cracked up to be, would he be losing to a man with no conservative track record to speak of? Maybe your fellow conservatives have noted more positives in Trump, than they have in Cruz.
Perhaps appearances are deceiving you on both candidates, which would explain why you're puzzled that Trump is winning and Cruz is losing.
But wouldn’t it be so much fun to watch him lose.Remember when Dave Brat beat eric cantor with less money than what cantor spent on steak dinners for lobbist?Come on now you have to admit that was fun to watch and the look on his wifes face said LOSER.
Trumps very vile and nasty means and ways have been transferred to his supporters as I've never seen happen before with a candidate....and fair to say that beyond that I ever heard from even an Obama supporter who would have been zotted for such language.
Not easy to leave the only social site I've posted to all these years....but I do think it's time. ..or at least drawing close to that.
If the Trump worship gets any worse, Jim may need to change the name of the site to Freak Republic.
And with very good reason.....FReepeers have always gone after each others supporters to some extent but never with the vile and tasteless manners I’ve seen and heard here fro rump supporters.....
When some of the Cruz supporters left for another site so they could at least have conversation about Cruz without getting hammered by “gangs” , I understood that though I chose to remain here believing that it would cool down. It hasn’t....it’s gotten worse.
So yes, I have good reason......it’s just hard to let go of something which was significant.....but has turned into something else altogether.
You've got to keep up. New polls show Trump beating Hillary.
It's a moot point anyway, as polls this far out from the general election are never accurate. During this same time period in 1980, Carter was polling 30% ahead of Reagan for the November general.
Do you really think Trumps unfavorables are higher than Hillary’s ??? Trump hasn’t even started on Hillary he WILL decimate her!!! She will scream WAR ON WOMEN and Trump will smash her with what she did to the women abused by Bill!!!
The atmosphere here really has started to stink. I don’t blame you if you find another home, and if you do, please let me know what you find.
That sstill ssmall voicce wass too ssibilant to be God’ss.
I would call backing a non NBC Candian selling out, but that is just me.
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