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Link only due to copyright issues: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/2016/04/09/ted-cruz-scores-near-sweep-district-committee-delegates/82831640/

Most of the focus for the presidential primaries in both parties goes to New York, the next event on the schedule and the second-largest basket of delegates in the sweepstakes. On the GOP side, the polling shows a lopsided contest, with Donald Trump trouncing Ted Cruz and gaining a majority in every survey since the beginning of March. The leftover attention after New York generally falls to California, the biggest prize, and Pennsylvania, where most delegates will be unbound at the convention anyway. Hardly anyone has paid attention to Indiana, which holds its primary on May 3rd and has 57...

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — It’s not easy being a Donald Trump supporter in Colorado. Becky Mizel, a prominent Trump volunteer and former county party chairwoman in the state, was standing at the entrance to the Colorado GOP Convention, waving a slate of delegates the Trump campaign has endorsed to send to the national convention. With her arm still in the air, she needled a volunteer tasked with setting up Trump signs outside of the arena where the convention is being held, and was upset because they went missing. “Somebody stole them,” Mizel said under her breath, sounding irritated but unsurprised....

The assumption for months was that everything would fall into place. That there was no need to really dig in, that the outcome was obvious. And then, too late, it became clear that this optimism was unfounded. Or maybe not too late, but late enough in the process to mean that folks would have to scramble. And now everything is up in the air. The paragraph above describes the Republican establishment’s attitude about Donald Trump’s candidacy, obviously. But it also describes Trump’s push for the nomination itself. From the moment he stepped onto that escalator on Trump Tower until about...

So, you want to be a delegate to the Republican National Convention? You could have a rare opportunity to help make history, if none of the Republican presidential candidates reaches the target 1,237 delegates needed to clinch the nomination on the first ballot. And maybe — just maybe — billionaire businessman Donald Trump will take you for a spin on Trump Force One. Now, if you're looking to jump on the bandwagon today, the bad news is it's probably too late. Most state parties haven't picked their delegates yet, but in general, they're looking for people who have demonstrated loyalty...

To his credit, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas admits he is not a warm and fuzzy guy. In the town hall before Wisconsin's primary, he acknowledged, “What I will say is I'm a pretty driven guy. That has pros and cons. I have always been a very driven guy.” In a GOP debate in October, he offered, “If you want someone to grab a beer with, I may not be that guy. But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done and I will get you home.” Now it is true that the most...

While anything COULD happen at the convention, it’s likely to come down to Trump or Cruz. I still can’t stand even the sound of John Kasich’s voice. Now that we have that out of the way, it’s pretty clear that the Republican primaries and convention come down to a choice between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Speculation otherwise — including conspiracy theories — does not seem to live in the real world, according to Charlie Cook: "Whenev­er I hear Re­pub­lic­ans wax on about the pos­sib­il­ity of nom­in­at­ing someone oth­er than Don­ald Trump or Ted Cruz — talk­ing up John Kasich,...

Ted Cruz continues to rack up delegates in Colorado with another clean sweep today, bringing his total in the state to 18...

Businessman Donald Trump is still the front-runner, both nationally and in Indiana. But Republican insiders across the state said in interviews Wednesday that the momentum there is now with Cruz, a shift that predated his resounding defeat of Trump in Wisconsin. The timing is crucial. Early voting started Tuesday; absentee ballots hit mailboxes in late March. The Cruz campaign deployed the Texas senator's father, Pastor Rafael Cruz, to Indiana for the week to woo voters, and is transferring its Wisconsin team there to begin field operations. As Cruz was enjoying his big victory Tuesday evening, his father was addressing a...

The most extreme Senator in recent memory has a realistic shot at becoming the most extreme nominee, basically ever Back at the beginning of the year, before any of the primaries, I wrote here on Salon that the Republican race would end up being between Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. Despite the GOP establishment’s blithe assurance that one of the golden boys of the “deep bench” would inevitably prevail, it always seemed unlikely to me. A majority of Republican voters are now extremists of one kind or another and Trump and Cruz are their logical representatives. It’s democracy in action....

Donald Trump can only wish that every Wisconsin county had been La Crosse County. While U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz picked up 48 percent of the million-plus ballots cast in Wisconsin’s Republican presidential primary Tuesday to Trump’s 35 percent, La Crosse County voters favored Trump 41.4 to 37.2 percent. And University of Wisconsin-La Crosse political scientist Joe Heim was a little stunned by the action at the polling places, calling La Crosse County’s turnout of 61.8 percent of registered voters “pleasantly shocking.” What didn’t surprise Heim was Cruz’s overall performance. “He had the right strategy,” Heim said of the Texas senator...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Donald Trump dominated Virginia's coal country in the March GOP primary, but Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's strength with party insiders may win him the support of the area's delegates to the Republican National Convention. Trump's campaign is set to face a crucial first test of its organizational strength in Virginia when state Republicans begin electing delegates Saturday. Those delegates could ultimately help decide who becomes the Republican presidential nominee at a contested national convention. A few hundred Republicans are set to gather in Wytheville, a town of 8,000 in the state's southwest corner....

A source close to Donald Trump’s campaign verified Politico’s recent report of “disarray” inside Donald Trump’s campaign. “There’s truth to that,” the veteran political strategist said. Breitbart News learned that the Trump campaign is struggling to organize and settle the power struggle inside the campaign after new-hire Paul Manafort was brought on to lead the campaign’s delegate strategy. Manafort met with Trump on Wednesday to discuss strategy. Also, CNN reported a potential shake-up with Trump’s campaign staff. “Campaign changes could be in the works after the billionaire lost the Wisconsin primary and is facing an uphill climb to clinch the...

The following is a column by Scott Rasmussen. Despite the fact that they are currently bitter opponents, there are a lot of reasons to believe Donald Trump and Ted Cruz could end up working together in the fall campaign. The basic reason is simple -- it's in each of their best interests to do so. In fact, we already see examples of pragmatism drawing them together. Both Trump and Cruz are calling for Ohio Governor John Kasich to get out of the race. Additionally, both Trump and Cruz have a shared interest in keeping the Republican Establishment from stealing the...

Not the first time that Stone has complained publicly about Team Trump being out-organized, and not the first time, oddly, that he’s used pro-Trump Breitbart to do it. How come? Why would a man who has Trump’s cell phone number insist on knocking his team’s capabilities in print instead of complaining to the boss himself? The woman who ran Wisconsin for Trump previously ran Oklahoma for Trump. Trump lost. Prior to that, she had never run any political campaign, so there was no depth of experience. This is something I see again and again, particularly at the ground roots level....

Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are almost tied for the Republican nomination, according to CNN's Political Prediction Market. The billionaire businessman's odds for the nomination are at 47% while Cruz's odds are at 46%. Ohio Gov. John Kasich's odds for the nomination are at 4%. The Political Prediction Market is an online game that is administered by a company called Pivit. It functions like an online market and allows Internet users to predict the outcome of the 2016 election....

DENVER (AP) — While the focus of the Republican presidential campaign shifts eastward to the New York primary, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is pivoting west, where he is quietly trying to chip away at Donald Trump's lead in the race for convention delegates. Cruz won six pledged delegates during a pair of obscure, congressional-level Colorado GOP assemblies on Saturday. He is also poised to make gains in several other western Republican contests, including a possible sweep of Colorado's remaining assemblies, due to conclude Saturday. Cruz's success in the complex delegate game is helping him counter Trump's headline-grabbing wins in big...

After Donald Trump's drubbing in Wisconsin, the Republican front-runner needs to move into "the trench warfare phase of the campaign," political consultant Roger Stone told Newsmax TV on Wednesday. "You need to recruit to your side people who know the rules, who know the bodies, who know the leaders, who know the process," Stone told "The Steve Malzberg Show" in an interview. "It's the pain of inexperience, but enthusiastic first-timers and advance men are not going to win this nomination. "Trump needs help," he added. "First-rate help is available to him." Stone, who described himself as "merely a dedicated Trump...

Pollster and president of the Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)aligned Super PAC “Keep the Promise” Kellyanne Conway told Breitbart News Daily host Stephen K. Bannon that after its big 13 point win in Wisconsin Tuesday night, the Cruz campaign will begin “to focus very earnestly on different Congressional districts and on the areas within a state that are most hospitable” to Cruz’s message and candidacy, as opposed to simply looking at entire states in many cases. “You have to slice and dice,” said Conway. In these upcoming states, some are winner take all like New Jersey, so we have to play...

With his decisive victory in Wisconsin, Sen. Ted Cruz has not only shaken up the Republican presidential race, but heading into the homestretch, he has suddenly become the odds-on favorite to win the nomination in Ohio. With 16 primaries and caucuses remaining, Donald Trump has to win 70% of the delegates to secure the 1,237 needed to win a first ballot at the Republican convention. Several states are coming up that are more favorable territory for Trump than Cruz, especially New York and Pennsylvania where Trump still has significant leads. Even so, winning more than two thirds of the remaining...