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No, PEOPLE already voted. Cruz is using smoky back rooms to further his ends. That’s hardly the same thing and you know it. This is stupid that we even are having this conversation. Seriously, you guys need to check yourselves.

The “rules” were set up for deceit and parry power over the will of the people. If you get the votes you should get the corresponding delegates period. It shouldn’t require ignoring the peoples sacred vote for procedure, but that’s the insane corrupt Republican party that Cruz fans seem so proud of. Trump should have just went third party to begin with there is no reforming the GOP

Cruz is using smoky back rooms to further his ends. That’s hardly the same thing and you know it. This is stupid that we even are having this conversation

First, most backrooms don't allow tobacco use anymore, certainly not in Illinois. If you are lucky, you might get to vape.

Second, part of Trump's strength is supposed to be his business organizational ability. Trump does not lack for financial or human resources. Why is it that the Ron Paul people were able to do this by the book four years ago with a fraction of the resources and no help from the establishment, and Trump can't?

Trump knows how to make a legal contract work to his advantage, he should know how to make the mechanics of caucuses and primaries also work to his advantage, or hire people to do it for him, as these rules have been mostly available for years, to also work to Trump's advantage.

Trump actually did that in one of the U.S. Territories, the Northern Marianas Islands, where Cruz was trying to get an easy majority to get the eight states or territories needed at the convention under Rule 40. Trump "stole" one of the Cruz operatives and got a big majority of the delegates, in part due to his work. Cruz apparently picked the wrong guy, or didn't create conditions to keep him on board, or Trump made him an offer too good to pass up. It doesn't matter. Trump got the delegates that Cruz had prepped. Pretty clever. Trump also has to protect what he has in states like Illinois and Louisiana and South Carolina.

Third, Illinois, like South Carolina and Georgia do NOT have party registration. That's the way it works. Reagan took advantage of this and won plenty of crossover votes in 1976 against Ford in states like Alabama and Indiana, winning them both ... big. There is nothing wrong with Trump winning on the votes of folks who are Democrats or Independents at heart but pick up a Republican ballot in an open primary, because that is part of the rules in play. In those states, if you want to prevent the kind of interloping that happened in McDaniel/Cochran in Mississippi, you have to use a caucus or get party registration at the state level. Trump made a great play in those states, and we will never know what margins he would have if the primaries were closed.

We are seeing that is half the battle. Wars are won by winning the beginning an end of the battle. Reagan was able to get faithful delegations in his states in '76, which is why the contest was so close. If Trump cannot organize or find enough people in Illinois to organize and be Trump delegates, or in South Carolina, or in Louisiana, how can we expect him to organize state organizations (especially since the official ones are hostile to him) to win states in the general election?

I happen to think that Trump could win in November, but this continued carelessness and sloppiness in relation to something where you're setting yourself up to lose needlessly because you don't take care of the whole picture is inexcusable.

Like Romney and John Ellis Bush, Trump is not obliged to spend all or any of his fortune if he doesn't want to. His is less fungible than barons like Soros because Trump has his in hard assets that are not easily liquidated, as opposed to pieces of paper like the Soros-types and the Buffetts have. But, if he loves his country, and I believe he truly does, he will either have to dig into that fortune now to get the mechanics right, or bite the bullet and raise money for real, trusting that his supporters will be happy to give and that he is still going to play his way. His call.

He doesn't need to buy media, he plays them well all on his own, and I respect that. He does need someone to do all the boring stuff that can be done by folks who want to be paid, but aren't particularly interested in influencing the agenda... the Jewish accountant types that he talks about.

Fourth, I don't know about you, but after McCain, Dole and Romney, I want someone who knows how to attack an opponent, any opponent who should be attacked. Both Cruz and Trump have demonstrated that they won't be Dole, McCain or Romney on that score.

Cruz is not running for VP or SCOTUS. Trump is not running for VP or any cabinet position. Both have expressed a willingness for a one on one contest. If we have that, Trump can prove he can win a majority of the vote once and for all. Cruz can prove otherwise, if he can. Trump would clean up in the northeast, Cruz in the mountain states and heartland, with the west coast being the main battleground, with a small advantage for Trump. There is nothing wrong with a contest.

Trump has not been able to get enough Republicans outside of the Establishment to support him in order to claim the mandate. If he can pull it off, by getting his act together and getting his 1,237 delegates. He'll have my vote.