Posted on 03/23/2016 7:19:21 PM PDT by jazusamo
The Republican establishment is sending in the cavalry for Ted Cruz, the latest unexpected twist in a presidential race that has defied all expectations.
Many prominent members of the GOP establishment intensely dislike Cruz. But they now acknowledge that he is the best option — perhaps the only option — to deny Donald Trumptheir party’s nomination.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush jumped on the bandwagon on Wednesday with a surprise endorsement of Cruz, describing the Texas senator as “a consistent, principled conservative” in a Facebook post.
Bush’s admiration for Cruz was noticeably lacking during the Floridian’s own run for the White House, when he mocked the Texan for political expediency. During one town hall meeting in New Hampshire, Bush said that Cruz had believed in immigration reform “until he went into the witness protection program.”
Bush is just the latest establishment figure to throw support to Cruz.
Mitt Romney, the party’s 2012 nominee, urged voters in Utah — a state in which he has deep roots — to support Cruz in caucuses Tuesday night. Though Romney stopped short of a full endorsement of Cruz, he went as far as to record robocalls on the senator’s behalf in which he said that it was “time for Republicans across the spectrum to unite behind Ted.”
Cruz won Utah in a landslide, though he lost the night’s biggest prize, the Arizona primary, to Trump.
Another late entry into the Cruz camp is South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, who recently helped raise money for the Texan’s campaign. Less than a month before, Graham had joked that “if you killed Ted Cruz on the floor of the Senate, and the trial was in the Senate, nobody would convict you.”
The newfound enthusiasm for Cruz looks to some like an admission that desperate times call for desperate measures. But skeptics suggest the effort is doomed for precisely that reason.
“These guys look like all desperation and as if they have really no means, or ability, to speak to the core constituents who are supporting Donald Trump,” said Michael Steele, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. “At this last minute, it’s, ‘Now we support Ted,’ after you spent the best part of a year telling America how much you hate him.”
“It’s disingenuous,” Steele added. “People aren’t stupid. They see it for what it is.”
Cruz’s chances of winning the nomination outright appear small, as he now trails Trump by 275 delegates. The magic number to clinch the GOP nomination is 1,237.
Cruz currently has 463 delegates to Trump’s 738, according to a New York Times count. That means Cruz would need to win around 90 percent of the remaining 848 delegates in the contests. For Trump, the equivalent figure is just 59 percent.
But some Republicans suggest that if Cruz could get close to Trump’s number — and keep the businessman a significant margin short of 1,237 — there may be a chance of the nomination being wrested away from Trump at the convention.
Conversely, however, if Cruz does not significantly narrow Trump’s advantage, it will be all over, bar the shouting.
“If [Trump] loses, it has to be legitimate,” said Ed Rollins, a Republican strategist who has worked for conservative presidential candidates in recent cycles, including former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Rep. Michele Bachmann (Minn.). “If he comes in 50 or 100 votes short, it’s going to be awful hard to take it off him. But if Cruz got to within 100, that could be different.”
Many insiders are dubious of the idea that the new tide of establishment support for Cruz will catalyze a movement of primary voters toward him. But they note that major fundraising players formerly allied with Bush could now come over to Cruz’s side.
With primaries still to come in large states with expensive media markets, including New York, New Jersey and California, campaign cash will be important. So will having money available right until the last day of voting in the GOP race, June 7.
The establishment shift could have another effect, too. The third candidate who remains in the GOP race, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, has been seeking to position himself as the standard-bearer for establishment hopes. But Kasich’s campaign is ailing badly: He has won only his home state and, on Tuesday night, came in behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in Arizona, despite Rubio having ended his campaign almost a week before.
The move by big centrist names toward Cruz is “sending a clear message to Kasich that it is time to get out,” said GOP strategist and Hill contributor Matt Mackowiak. “He is playing spoiler, he has no real path to the nomination. People who would be for him are choosing to be with Cruz because he has a better chance. That is a powerful thing in and of itself.”
Whether it will be powerful enough, however, is an entirely different question. The geographical territory for many of the remaining contests — particularly the large number of Northeastern states that have still to vote — favors Trump. So too does the absence of caucuses from the rest of the calendar, as those contests have been favorable to Cruz.
Looking at the overall picture, some Republicans say it may be too late.
“If they had taken Donald Trump’s candidacy seriously from the beginning — if they had not misread the message that was coming from the voters who were supporting him — perhaps this thing would have played itself out differently,” Steele said.
I too worry about the damaged goods impact on either Trump or Cruz.
But in the end we will either stop Hillary or we won’t. If hurt feelings trump (absolutely no pun intended, trust me) voting to keep Hillary out of the Oval Office then we are really totally lost as a nation.
It’s all downhill for Cruz from hereon. He’s shot his wad.
Please realize the GOPe could hardly give a crap what you or anyone else thinks. Go ahead and vote 3rd pary - fat chance you're going to win. It seems most people cannot figure out that the GOP doesn't really care about winning elections.
First & foremost, the GOPe cares about maintaining the party apparatus. Without a functioning organization, party leaders wouldn't have an effective way to siphon off $billions in contributions (bribes) and $trillions from budgetary allocations.
The reason the GOP hates Trump is two-fold:
- He either doesn't get how the game if played, hence the hints that he's not really very successful; or
- He's a narcissistic buffoon, spilling the beans to the rubes and promising reform to enthusiasts who don't have a clue how the US actually operates.
Why the GOPe hates him is very telling - they cannot imagine anyone willingly exposing the secrets of the mob. As anyone can clearly see, he's the only one out there taking the positions he's taking.
Hundreds, no thousands of others in his position toe the party line. Not one of them breaks the code of omerta; anyone who has a clue stays mum.
It is of critical importance that the GOP is wrested back from the mob. The organization itself, not elected political positions, is their lifeblood. That's why they don't care about Trump running 3rd party and/or losing to Hillary.
They couldn't possibly give a sh!t about minor policy differences as long as the uni-party is in agreement with respect to open borders, endless war, demographic/cultural change, and international banking.
I’m writing in Trump and screw the GOP and democrats ,never voting for a professional politician or member of the uni-party again nor giving any support .
Did you sign the Trump petition?:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3412763/posts?page=2
“They couldn’t possibly give a sh!t about minor policy differences as long as the uni-party is in agreement with respect to open borders, endless war, demographic/cultural change, and international banking.”
True and that’s why also they the uni-party support Canadian Cruz and the uni-party are against Trump
I couldn't agree more...I prefer Trump but I'll vote for Cruz in a second if he gets the nomination and will not bad mouth him now.
Trump used to be a member of the “mob” establishment. Why do you think Trump turned on them ? I think Trump saw it was wrong and actually does want to save America and us because we happen to live here and are Americans unlike Canadian of Cuban domionist father Rafael “ted” Cruz.
But in the end we will either stop Hillary or we won’t.
It’s good to see a Cruz supporter who understands who the real enemy is.
I think your prediction from an earlier post is about 100 delegates short for Trump. And I think a Trump nomination would be delicious on so many levels.
I honestly don’t think Cruz can win in Nov no matter what the early polls say. I look at the electoral map from 2012 and I can’t see him turning any of the 0bama states.
But I don’t want 0bama on the supreme court, hundreds of thousands of muslim refugees, amnesty, etc, so I will go down with Cruz if it comes to that.
The only way I vote Trump 3rd party is if he’s ahead in a 3 way contest.
I think that if Trump hits 1237 and then spends weeks or months in the media as “the presumptive nominee” it’s going to be beyond the pale, even for the GOPe to take the nomination from him at the convention. I don’t think they’ll try.
Some of the GOPe is behind Trump.
Like Christie and Scott and Giuliani and Huckster, among others.
The day after the Florida primary. (That’s really helpful, sin’t it?)
And instead the Cruzers called Sessions a Judas because he endorsed Trump.
HMMMMM.
Desperation...
Must be a rude awakening to see the undisciplined constituency acting out.
I was considering voting for Ted, but after jeb endorsed him, no way! I’m voting for Trump!
>>And instead the Cruzers called Sessions a Judas because he endorsed Trump.
I wouldn’t call him that and neither did Ted - ‘disappointed’ I think was his word.
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