Posted on 04/15/2016 8:57:58 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
He won a big victory in Wisconsin. He pierced the Donald Trump mystique. He even got some of the Capitol Hill lawmakers who regard him as a revolutionary and renegade to slink cautiously into his corner. By all logic, this should be a Ted Cruz moment — if only the next primary weren’t in New York.
But on Tuesday, New Yorkers go to their polling places, and though Cruz has been the beneficiary of the calendar before — his performance on Super Tuesday helped force out of the race Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a demographically identical and philosophically similar rival — his success still depends on another man to stumble.
Or — just as frustrating to a man with a sense of destiny and a fast-forward vocabulary of ambition and determination — his success requires another man to fail to stumble across the finish line represented by the figure 1,237, the number of delegates required to win the Republican presidential nomination in Cleveland this July.
And even if that other man — Manhattan businessman Donald Trump, as the whole world knows — fails to clinch the nomination as the last primary votes are cast June 14, when the District of Columbia’s tiny Republican minority goes to the polls, there is no guarantee that the remainder candidate, which is what Cruz is, would prevail in a contested or open convention.
All of which is why, though the cage fight between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont is great sport, and perhaps precursor to an upset, the struggle between Trump and Cruz is more compelling.
“The focus of New York is on the Republicans, period,” Richard Ravitch, former head of the New York City transit system and a former Democratic lieutenant governor, said in a recent telephone conversation. “Bernie and Hillary are going to campaign, and they are going to fight, but it’s the Republican mash-up that’s really worth watching.”
That’s because, for all unexpecteds in the Democratic race — no one on New Year’s Day thought a 74-year-old self-proclaimed Democratic socialist from a state with three electoral votes would defeat the mighty Clinton machine in Michigan and Wisconsin, states carried by Clinton’s husband, Bill — the Republican race is a symphony of surprises.
The first of those surprises was that a candidate such as Trump would be a serious threat to win the GOP nomination. The second was that voters would tolerate torrents of invective and insult from a candidate for a position that Franklin Roosevelt, the president against whom modern presidents are measured, described as being primarily an office of moral leadership.
Now, as some powerful Republicans seek to deny Trump the party’s presidential nomination, some of the assumptions about Cruz are being challenged, especially the twin notions that the Texan could win no adherents among party leaders and that he has no ties to Republican thinkers and theorists.
In the event, Cruz has been Velcro to all manner of Republicans who agree with the notion that he is the only living soul who stands between Trump and the scene many Republicans dread the most: the real estate-and-casino tycoon standing with his arms raised high as balloons and confetti rain upon him in Cleveland.
Cruz, whose rhetorical repertoire includes the phrase “Washington cartel,” now has the support of increasing numbers of important GOP fundraisers. He has the allegiance not only of perhaps the most conservative lawmaker on Capitol Hill, Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, but also of, among others, former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who once suggested that deciding between Cruz and Trump was a Hobbesian choice.
“Whether it’s death by being shot or poisoning, does it really matter?” he asked.
In truth, Cruz has stronger relationships on the House side of the Capitol than he does on the Senate side, where he has toiled for about three years and, according to multiple accounts, set a Washington record for alienating his colleagues. But many of his Senate aides formerly worked in House offices and, in an example of how Washington works, they provide a bridge to their former bosses and their former colleagues.
Also, long before he formally entered the presidential race, or even before he mounted his 21-hour filibuster in 2013 against Obamacare, likely undertaken to attract attention from devout conservatives, Cruz began establishing himself as a moderator in forums designed to combat moderation in his party. These events, attended by Republican lawmakers and top staff, were convened to examine contemporary issues from a conservative viewpoint.
Now, those relationships — in some ways more important than ties within the Senate chamber — are bearing fruit. This is as former Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas launches a massive effort to pull in more senators, perhaps Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the first black to be elected to both the House and the Senate and a conservative avatar, or Sen. Steve Daines, whose principal political attribute is that he represents Montana, which votes June 7 and could be important in blunting Trump’s drive to the nomination.
Of such things a convention majority might be built — or at least a wall against Trump. But first there is the New York primary.
Trump holds many, if not all, the cards. He was born in the state, reared in Queens, and works and lives in a glittery Manhattan tower that bears his name. Not since early February has his advantage in New York State polls fallen below 26 points, flaring to 52 points a month ago but now cruising along at just over 30.
Yet Cruz is playing on a bigger field, trying to peel off first-ballot votes from delegates elected but not formally pledged, or strategizing to conduct guerrilla wars in state capitals, such as Bismarck, North Dakota, and Denver, where delegates are floating like uncharged molecules and might ultimately become, in the Cruz mold, free radicals.
So while the television cameras are on the outdoor game — rallies, street encounters, visits to ethnic enclaves and upstate urban centers — Cruz is playing the sort of indoor game where he has surprising strength. Ted Cruz might have his moment in Cleveland.
The Democrats, who OWN the Wisconsin vote, needed Ted the Unipatsy to take the heat off the Red Queen.
And so they pulled "Weekend At Teddie's" over the finish line last Tuesday.
If Trump was the easy one to beat, Trump would have won Wisconsin, and Teddie would have been in the rear-view mirror.
But that didn't happen, did it? LOL! :)
I believe that young Tediie has soiled himself in that cartoon...
So your contention is that Wisconsin Democrats crossed-over to vote for Cruz? Is there any conspiracy theory that the Trumpkins won’t entertain? I’ve seen the National Enquirer, the “Ted’s dad knew Lee Harvey Oswald,” the Colorado nonsense and others, but this one is just laughable.
Have one of those for Trump getting slaughtered in Georgia, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Colorado or California?
Regarding Colorado, Cruz got trumped.
I like the graphic.
From the article:
“helped force out of the race Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a demographically identical and philosophically similar rival “
Yowzers! Comparing Cruz to Rubio. I am not sure that is absolutely correct but it is close enough to hurt
Cruz = Movement
Aye, it is.
I’ve seen the National Enquirer, the “Ted’s dad knew Lee Harvey Oswald,” the Colorado nonsense and others, but this one is just laughable.
You're a propaganda guy, not a data guy, so I get that you don't understand the numbers.
You're probably not TOTALLY innumerate, but perhaps "challenged" would be the kind phrase. :)
I had one of those this morning.
Fortunately, like Ted, it didn't make a splash...
Kim Jong Cruz and his GOPe buttbuddy Rents Peanuts are still buried in the Colorado Tar-Baby up to their elbows...
Looks like "fortune" is NOT smiling on Ted. :)
The Trump campaign truly is to presidential politics what Trump University was to higher education!
I’ve been diving into what happened in Colorado.....WOW! Cruz was more than on his game.....he was working a system inside a system and won!....Absolutely mind-boggling!..and few realize what work it took.....just stunning!
If we are fortunate to get this man elected to the Presidency....Washington elites will have more than they they imagined in dealing with Ted... for he knows well their game too.
Colorado GOP is Animal Farm in reality... some animals are above the rest... Short term victory for Cruz... especially since he will not win that state come November, if he steal the delegates he needs for that coveted nomination. Cruz has totally distorted the 'face of Jesus'.
If you think working hard within the rules is stealing delegates, just think of it as Eminent Domain.....
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