Should Cruz pick his VP this week? (Get Blown Out Tomorrow; ICarly Fiorina For VP)

Hot Air ^ | 2:01 pm on April 25, 2016 | Allahpundit

[Red Steel]

The idea was floated over the weekend by Jon Karl on ABC, as you’ll see below, and started some conservative tweeters chattering. I think there’s more upside to it than downside, but there are downsides.

Cruz needs media oxygen in the next week, a way to have the story not just be Trump's NE sweep. Not a lot of ways to get that.

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) April 25, 2016

Picking a running mate now could limit his dealmaking options at the convention. But first you gotta get to the convention.

— Ross Douthat (@DouthatNYT) April 25, 2016

Cruz is going to get blown out again tomorrow night, which raises the question of how he wants to spend the next week ahead of the big vote in Indiana. If he does nothing, he’ll spend most of his time fielding questions about collusion with John Kasich and whether his wipeout in the northeast proves that the party has come around to Trump. If he names a VP, he’ll spend most of his time talking about his veep pick and how it fits into his vision for America. That’s a move a would-be nominee makes, not an also-ran. Karl suggests, probably correctly, that Carly Fiorina is the frontrunner. Not only was Fiorina the first former candidate to endorse Cruz, she was the first big name to support him after various Washington Republicans had signed on with Rubio. If Cruz were to name her this week, he’d got a ton of buzz for putting a woman on the ticket and Fiorina would instantly be elevated to a super-surrogate who could barnstorm Indiana and other states as a draw in her own right to turn voters out for Cruz. Fiorina was also the most effective attack dog in the field against Trump during the debates. If you wanted someone on the trail on your behalf making the case for why a contested convention, with all the chaos it entails, is a better option than nominating Donald Trump, that’s who you’d pick. And don’t forget the regional play at stake: Fiorina graduated from Stanford and ran for Senate in 2010 in California, by far the most important state left on the board. If she can help Cruz hold Trump down there, that’s reason enough to pick her given its role in deciding the eventual nominee. And Fiorina helps in the general election too, of course, blunting Hillary’s pitch to women voters. There are lots of advantages in naming her.

So what not do it? The risk you run in naming a VP when you’re not the nominee yet is that voters will see it as a stunt, which is what it is, and stunts smell of desperation. That’s extra risky for Cruz given that he’s just pulled another stunt in colluding with Kasich in Indiana. Instead of seeing him as more presidential, some voters may view the veep pick as a gimmick by a fading candidate to try to revive his campaign. On top of that, it would limit Cruz’s strategic options later. Cruz’s chances at the convention may turn on his ability to horse-trade more effectively than Trump. If Trump offers Kasich the VP slot, what does Cruz counter with if that position’s already been filled by Fiorina? In fact, notes John McCormack, if you’re all about consolidating anti-Trumpers and winning California in June, wouldn’t it be smarter for Cruz to offer Kasich the VP slot now? No “alliance” will unite the two camps’ voters like that would. And if Kasich won’t accept the offer now, wouldn’t it be better to wait a few weeks and try again than to appoint someone now in case he becomes more amenable in mid-May? To paraphrase Rod Blagojevich, the vice presidency is a f***ing valuable thing.

I don’t think Cruz can wait for Kasich to figure out what he wants, though. Indiana is must-win. If picking someone this week would help win it, do it and worry about Cleveland the day after Indiana’s in the bag. Exit question: Is there any VP pick who might end up being blocked at the convention? Patrick Ruffini raised that possibility last night in contemplating the possibility of a Trump/Kasich ticket. What if, Ruffini wondered, Kasich made a deal with Trump to endorse him, all but handing him the nomination in exchange for the VP slot, and Cruz’s delegates responded by refusing to vote for Kasich for vice president? Remember, there’s no such thing as a bound delegate when it comes to the VP race; the delegates can vote for whoever they want. Ttypically the nominee’s choice is rubber-stamped, but since many (if not a majority) of delegates at the convention will be pro-Cruz, they’d be free to block Kasich even if Trump picked him. In reality, I doubt they’d have the nerve: Having been forced by the rules to nominate Trump on the first ballot, they’d support whoever Trump wanted for vice president before washing their hands of the general election. But they have the power to block if they choose to exercise it.

.@jonkarl says Ted Cruz may name a running mate soon to shake up the race—and he has a guess as to who that might be https://t.co/c7VhTPFe0V

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 25, 2016

[Diogenesis]

Ashley Goldman Cruz: "Are my rats ready, Lollipop?"

[dp0622]

she’s a weasel. she’ll wait and see if she can make up with trump

[AmericanInTokyo]

If it’s good enough for Reagan to have done it’s good enough for Ted. And yes, it should be Fiorina for a variety of reasons. It’s high risk but also brilliant and he has few cards at this time. I concur and would advise.

[Brookhaven]

Ford won the 1976 contested convention by promising a dozen different people that they would be the VP.

Cruz will do the same thing at the convention to garner votes. Consequently, he can’t name one now.

[chris37]

Ted Sleaze and Snarly Carly.

BOY, THERE’S A WINNING TICKET IF I EVER SAW ONE!

Two of the most unlikable, arrogant, haughty people America has to offer.

And not to mention they both look mahvelous, just mahvelous!

[chris37]

here I’ll post this to you too since you seem stuck on stupid-

Ted Sleaze and Snarly Carly.

BOY, THERE’S A WINNING TICKET IF I EVER SAW ONE!

Two of the most unlikable, arrogant, haughty people America has to offer.

And not to mention they both look mahvelous, just mahvelous!

[tennmountainman]

Cruz won’t be the nominee. He won’t be VP.

All he has left to look forward to is returning to the senate
a more more deminished and hated man.

I doubt he even finishes his senate term.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

It’d have as much effect as picking his nose.

[MayflowerMadam]

Hmmm... Carly and Cruz — two of the most unattractive and unethical people in today’s political world. A match made in Hell. Why not?

[FirstFlaBn]

Mebbe The Cruzer will select a speech therapist to help him with that annoying stammer.

[golux]

I actually like Carly... She’d make a killer VP. Can’t quite understand the virulent opposition to Cruz here... Can’t we remember that our strength is a DOCUMENT, not a zillionaire? In any case it is nice to see the GOP so strong, (relatively.)

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Jimmy Stewart had an imaginary friend, once, too:

;)

[Pollster1]

- Kasich voted for the “Assault” Weapons Ban. https://grabien.com/file.php?id=53463 and as of last year did not regret that vote

- Kasich supported and implemented Obamacare’s Medicare expansion http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/john-kasich-bible-medicaid_us_56140a54e4b022a4ce5fb1e3

- Kasich supports Amnesty for illegals. http://www.ontheissues.org/John_Kasich.htm

- Kasich dismissively said Christian bakers should “bake the cupcake” and participate in a gay parody of the sacrament of marriage, even if it violates their religious beliefs. https://www.frcaction.org/updatearticle/20160225/kasich-pushes

- Kasich supports Obama’s nominee for the Supreme Court. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-kasich-id-consider-nominating-merrick-garland-supreme-court-election-2016/

I’m planning to vote Trump tomorrow. If Trump named Kasich as his VP, I would not vote for Trump - not in tomorrow’s primary, and not in the general election. I’d feel bad about the result of Trump losing, to the extent that my vote mattered, but if he picks a pro-Amnesty insider, I will assume the entire campaign has been a lie:

Cry ‘Havoc!’, and let slip the dogs of war”.
- Marcus Antonius (in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar)

[Gator113]

“Cruz is going to get blown out again tomorrow night....” “Cruz is going to get blown out again tomorrow night....” “Cruz is going to get blown out again tomorrow night....” “Cruz is going to get blown out again tomorrow night....” “Cruz is going to get blown out again tomorrow night....”

Poetry in it’s purist form. ;>)

Go Trump, GO! Go Trump, GO! Go Trump, GO! Go Trump, GO!

[oldmomster]

I’ve never really liked Carly but I can see how she’d bring in some of the wimmen voters.

[jonsie]

Carly would be a great debater against any Hillary VP pick.

[heights]

“Carly would be a great debater against any Hillary VP pick.”

Two weeks after getting the nomination Cruz will be a object of national scorn, hated by 50% of the Republicans and virtually all Independents and Democrats. Who is VP pick will be is unimportant.

[dynoman]

[chris37]

Well, i,i,i,i,i, if, if, if, if... and, and, Ted Cruz.org, Ted Cruz.org.