[Future Snake Eater]

Meanwhile there are forty-nine other states in which a significant portion of the population abhors New York values and Ted Cruz can gain a lot of support by articulating that point of view.

I'm not a Cruz fan for the very reason you lay out here: he's not a strategic thinker. Your analysis is absolutely right, but he's being tactically engaged and he responds tactically.

[nathanbedford]

If we are identifying a candidate who thinks strategically, certainly our selection would be Ted Cruz and not Donald Trump. Donald Trump has betrayed a myopia in his campaign which has cost him dearly on the ground in delegates which have been scooped up by the strategically thinking Ted Cruz.

Throughout, Cruz has run a strategically planned campaign and stuck to the plan. He never enjoyed the name recognition and the charisma with which television anointed Donald Trump and which permitted Donald Trump to run an ad hoc campaign far removed from strategic thinking.