The charge instantly put Cruz and his supporters on the politically self-destructive path of defending the arcane rules of GOP delegate selection while Cruz was also posing as a political outsider intent on upending Washington's cronyism, corruption, and failed policies. Lyin' Ted indeed! And in the meanwhile, Cruz never developed and communicated clear and compelling policy ideas to galvanize public attention and support. Despite lush funding, a solid campaign team, and great intelligence, Cruz has never quite developed a signature issue or even a good campaign slogan.
Oddly, Cruz is mostly in agreement with Trump on the immigration issue but has squandered that advantage by sniping at Trump instead of developing an image as a courtly and super-polite, super-smart version of Trump. Mike Tyson might have advised Cruz not to try out-punching someone who is a better puncher than you are. Stay out of his reach, outsmart him, and wear him down. Indiana may now go for Trump and have Cruz dazed and reeling before he and his campaign can develop and apply such insights.
>The plan worked in the sense that Cruz’s campaign managed to get many of his supporters named as delegates pledged to Trump on the first ballot. Unfortunately for Cruz, that success opened him up to Trump’s smash mouth charge that the delegate selection process was rigged by party bosses to favor Cruz.
The part that still shocks me is how proud Cruz and his supporters were about it. If they’d done it quietly it might have worked. Or even if they’d hadn’t rubbed it the faces of Trump supporters.