I do not believe Cruz will be the VP.
I suspect a significant percentage (as close to 100%) of former Cruz supporters will pull the lever for Trump when they get in the voting booth and they see the actual choices in front of them: Trump or Hillary. Consequently, I don’t think Cruz would add that many votes to the ticket.
I know many Cruz supporters disagree—saying they would never vote for Trump. I said the same thing about Romney. Yet, when I got in the booth and looked at the choices—Romney or Obama, I voted Romney.
On the other hand, Rand Paul might encourage a number of Bernie voters to cross over and vote for Trump. Given that they will associate Rand Paul with Ron Paul, who has a sterling reputation when it comes to being anti-establishment.
And that’s what this election is boiling down to, not left vs right, but establishment vs anti-establishment.
Good points! :-)