Cruz Collects More Delegates
Politico (cached link, no links for bullies):
Cruz crushes Trump in weekend delegate fight
Ted Cruz notched another delegate landslide Saturday, stretching his advantage in a competition that might never occur: the second ballot of a contested Republican National Convention in July.
Cruz won at least 65 of the 94 delegates up for grabs Saturday (he may have won more than 65, but Kentucky’s 25 delegates haven’t revealed their leanings). The Texas senator has so thoroughly dominated the fight to send loyalists to the national convention that if front-runner Donald Trump fails to clinch the nomination on the first ballot, Cruz is well-positioned to surpass him — and perhaps even snag the nomination for himself — when delegates are free in subsequent convention rounds to vote for whomever they want.
It’s all going to come down to Indiana (where Trump leads by 5 points in the polls) and California (where Trump leads by 15 in the polls per the RCP average, and 27 points if you believe Fox Trump News).
I’m trying to be optimistic, but it ain’t easy. When you’re depending on California Republicans, you’re in trouble.
delegates aren’t things for to use goldy sacky tricks to collect
they’re people, with feelings and dignity and yearnings for a better tomorrow
you earn them with the votes, the hopes, the fears, the dreams of the american people
Mr. Cruz is cheapening democracy, making a twisted tawdry goldy sacky parlor game of it, and it’s so so sad to me
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 1:28 pmI believe the Field poll numbers, not the rest of them. There are a lot of Trump supporters who are not registered Republicans and are going to be SOL at the polls. There are no Cruz supporters who are not registered Republicans.
The CA GOP is solidly behind Cruz. He is already organized in the state. Trump will blow in in late May in places calculated to stir up demonstrations and get news.
It will help a lot if Kasich is done by then, of course.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/24/2016 @ 1:36 pmI am much more hopeful at this point about CA since it is closed, than wide open Indiana, where HRC voters can now cross over with impunity. However, it is very difficult to believe Trump will fail to garner enough of the unbounds to put him over the top on the first ballot.
Rubio’s ego killed Cruz in Arkansas and Missouri, and Kasich’s is about to kill him in Indiana.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 4/24/2016 @ 2:31 pmCynthia Lewis (I), Roy Rose (I), Ruth Rose (D), Lauren Rose (D), Kim D. Lee (D), Sung Sook Lee (D).
That’s just a handful of those “There are no Cruz supporters who are not registered Republicans” who in fact are supporting Cruz that I know. How many do you know? And every single one except Ruth was for Trump and I turned them. Ruth was for Hillary and Roy turned her.
Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 4/24/2016 @ 2:34 pmThere’s a plausible theory out there that Charles Black (Kasich’s campaign manager), Paul Manafort (Trump’s new campaign manager) and Roger Stone (Trump’s best buddy, who was responsible for the despicable Enquirer scandal hit piece), who are also coincidentally partners in the lobbying group, Black, Manafort, Stone & Kelly, are colluding to eliminate Cruz with a pact between Trump and Kasich. In which case, conservatives are screwed. Luckily for me, I have no moral dilemma when it comes to the general election, because I live in the bluest of blue states, so my vote won’t count, anyway. But even if I lived in a swing state, I don’t think I could possibly bring myself to pull the lever for the crooked, lyin’ Trump. And every time he projects his dishonesty onto Cruz, that likelihood dwindles further. No, too late. It’s gone.
RRFCL (ef2ffa) — 4/24/2016 @ 2:48 pmIf Trump is the nominee, and nothing else comes up, the Libertarian Party is going to get a double-digit vote.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:04 pmcruz kids are crack-addicted to the Dire Prediction
you realize that’s the antithesis of his ersatz sunny morning america reaganesque optimism he tries so so hard to project using his limited emotive skills
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:20 pmExcuse me Mr. happyfeet, you know I love ya but who has the “sunny morning” campaign slogan: MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN?
Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:28 pmthat slogan implies something very not-sunny about where we are
it’s defiantly unreagan
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:31 pmyour tax dollars at work
Astronaut runs marathon in space — but slower than on earth
this kind of sleazy nasaslut decadence is not just disgusting it’s
really really disgusting
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:32 pmFor me the sunny slogan is “Put Obama and his Gang in Prison”
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:33 pmyes yes in prison with lois lerner and the execrably corrupt john koskinen
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:35 pmI hate to tell you this happyfeet, but MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN was Ronald Reagan’s motto too!.
Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:37 pmwas it really
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 3:57 pmhappyfeet:
Yes it was:
http://www.truthnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/reegun.jpeg
http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/2015/media/189999/_original/1427289353/1035×1444-Lets-Make-America-Great-Again-Reagan3.jpg
Todd (afce46) — 4/24/2016 @ 4:09 pmthat was a real dick move stealing Mr. Trump’s slogan like that
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 4:16 pmthis #Failifornia republican is seriously considering changing his voter registration to “Independent” so i can vote for Bernie…as is Resident Evil.
not that i want him in office, but better him than Shrillery as the other choice in November.
Trump can carry the state w/o my help.
redc1c4 (f581e5) — 4/24/2016 @ 4:56 pmthis would be the same GOP that went for Neal Cash n’Carry, Obama administration carpet bagger, over Tom Donnelly?
yeah, pull the other one: it’s got bells on it.
redc1c4 (f581e5) — 4/24/2016 @ 5:01 pmLet’s hope that Manafort isn’t able to get Trump’s ground game up to speed in CA by June 7th.
Gerald A (7c7ffb) — 4/24/2016 @ 5:03 pmIs there any reason you’re against Cruz other than that? But by all means go ahead and vote for Bernie instead of the liberal Trump.
Gerald A (7c7ffb) — 4/24/2016 @ 5:07 pmSissy Hugh Hewitt says I can’t get to 1237 on first ballot. Careful, Sissy, or I’ll spill the beans! Sad.
@RealDonaldTrump (bfd5cd) — 4/24/2016 @ 5:35 pmThis notion that Cruz is “establishment” (in the sense, at the very least, of being willing to cut deals to / with the Left) is ludicrous.
Cruz is so conservative that he’s called Mitch McConnell on the Senate floor and refused to apologize. (In fairness to Cruz, McConnell did lie, and water is wet.)
Shorter answer: Tom McClintock endorsed Cruz in January, before there was any chance to see which way the political/ popularity winds were blowing. That took balls.
So is McClintock “establishment” now? Does “establishment” mean “not Trump”?
Mitch (bfd5cd) — 4/24/2016 @ 5:37 pmyes yes harvardtrash goldy sacky hyper-procedural second ballot teddy pie is a quixotic outsider
he has loads of new ideas for example he thinks the Republican Party is a stool sample with three legs: national security, fiscal conservatism, and of course social conservatism
HERESY!
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 5:45 pmManafort will not have access to the resources necessary for an effective ground game. Trump’s “self financing” schtick is as solid as his $6 million dollar pledge to veterans. Deutsche Bank isn’t going to ease loan covenants to Trump to allow him to blow money on a futile effort any more than heavy GOP donors are going to back a horse who is dead in the gate.
Rick Ballard (d7bacf) — 4/24/2016 @ 5:51 pmManafort will so not even
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 6:02 pmi’ve seen the future and it will be
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 6:02 pmYes, over Tom Donnelly. And guess what? The voters in the primary didn’t want Tom Donnelly either.
You may not like the fact that California is 40% Hispanic, but it is and even Trump won’t change it much, or for very long. Adapt or die, as a wise man once said.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/24/2016 @ 6:18 pmlemme guess it wasn’t prince
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 6:20 pmBesides, red, you will never live to see someone you like elected again in California. You should realize that by now. Acceptance is the key.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/24/2016 @ 6:22 pmI see. So it’s our duty to adapt to foreigners taking over the US state by state. It’s our destiny to adapt to a one party democrat rule. It’s our fate to have people come here and instead of adapting to us it is we who are supposed to adapt to them. Wise men don’t adapt or die, they throw the bums out.
Spoken like a true surrender monkey. The Mexicans conquered California without firing a shot. As Cali slowly turns into a sewer like Tijuana it becomes Mexico2.0, how lovely. At least they bring in one profitable business: drug cartels.
Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 4/24/2016 @ 6:40 pmHoagie —
The people of California tried on several occasions to stop this. At every turn the FEDERAL government failed to lift a finger, or when it did, did so to make us stop what we were doing. Proposition 187 would have cut off state funds to illegals, but the courts threw it out.
You may point to SF being a sanctuary city, fut the number of Mexicans in SF is miniscule compared to Southern Cal. It’s like the number of Cubans in Tallahassee compared to Miami.
There was a time when this could be fought. That time is past — NO EFFING THANKS to the rest of the country — and now we have to live with it, and I would thank y’all to keep your hectoring to yourself.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/24/2016 @ 6:55 pmThe ONLY way to go forward in California is to co-opt the Mexican-American communities into the GOP. People with little contract with them may not realize this, but they are religious and hard-working and VERY desirous of a middle-class life for themselves and their kids.
But, no, we have very loud people who keep screaming “Beaner!” at every opportunity and wonder why the GOP’s base keeps getting smaller and smaller as the demographics change.
As I said, adapt or die. If you choose the latter, be quick about it please.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/24/2016 @ 7:05 pmgoing forward in failifornia lol
that can’t happen unless the geriatric pee-stank guvtard is honest enough to call it feudalism
happyfeet (831175) — 4/24/2016 @ 7:08 pmSo, aside from your cheeky “thank y’all” you blame the rest of the country for the government and condition of California. You may be correct in an abstract way but I’m honestly not in a position to determine that since I don’t know enough about the inner workings. It seems a shame and is quite frustrating that Americans don’t seem to have control over their own future any longer. Seems our manifest destiny is to become a banana republic.
Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 4/24/2016 @ 7:13 pmHoagie,
Being a fifth generation Californian, I am loath to give up. Also, snow is nice for skiing on and playing in, but that’s all I have to say for it.
There was a time when everyone spoke English, rush hour was when it took an extra 20 minutes to drive from Santa Ana to Van Nuys (neither place speaks English now), Prop 13 would pass with 2/3rds of the vote, and the GOP usually won the electoral votes.
Then the immigration started and nobody stopped it. When the state finally woke up in the 90’s, the feds made it clear that it was their job alone, and they preferred not to. And now, we are at 40% Hispanic.
To say we are surrendering may be correct. No guns, no ammo, and surrounded. I’d call it trying to find a better way forward, and folks who think it’s a good idea to stand on the ramparts and pour down oil like old red just aren’t clueful.
I really do hope that the door gets shut. Won’t help California directly, and probably not Arizona or Texas. Most of these folks are citizens, and no matter what happens to the illegals, they and their kids will stay. All the border states are going to have to reach out to these HARD WORKING people and point out that the GOP values work, and faith, and responsibility and the other guys don’t.
Does anyone have a better plan?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/24/2016 @ 7:36 pmGenuinely new news: “Cruz and Kasich devise strategy to keep Trump from clinching three primary states.”
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 8:26 pmThe deal is only for OR, NM & IN. The WaPo article I just linked says: “[B]oth the Cruz and Kasich campaigns said they intend to compete hard in the remaining states, signaling that the scope of their unorthodox arrangement will be limited.”
Nevertheless, pundits for the next 24-48 hours will be pondering a Cruz-Kasich unity ticket. While that still strikes me as unlikely, I nevertheless like the dynamics this sets up for the last third of this primary cycle, comprising the last states and the convention. From small acorns ….
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 8:33 pmThe obvious downside to this move, by the way, is that it give ammo to Trump to claim that he’s the “outsider” and anti-establishment candidate.
But anyone — everyone — who’s capable of swallowing that hoax did so months ago.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 8:38 pmI would vote for either a Cruz/Kasich or Kasich/Cruz ticket, and I would not consider it “settling”. Ok, not repugnantly “settling”. It is not Cruz’s rebelliousness that I want in a President — it is his character and intellect. I will not fool myself that Kasich is not business as usual but if I squint a little I can see him as merely King Log. 😉 Cruz 2024?
nk (dbc370) — 4/24/2016 @ 8:44 pmEnormous development (Hat Tip to Beldar) but I’ll be very surprised if it works in Indiana. kasich fools (voters) will be much more likely to migrate to Trump. Ignorance and willfulness like that which any Kasich voter possesses can’t be swayed by strategic and tactical considerations.
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 4/24/2016 @ 9:04 pmUgh. Don’t trust or like Kasich. Would rather he suspend his campaign. Don’t think this will work as well for Cruz as he will want.
NJRob (a07d2e) — 4/24/2016 @ 9:21 pmyes, but he doesn’t want to do it, for quixotic reasons, remember john weaver is running this thing, and he was running the very ‘electable’ huntsman, stuart spencer, the dinosaur is also on his team, poaching delegates, along with charlie black,
narciso (732bc0) — 4/24/2016 @ 9:30 pmI don’t know how many voters will go along with this persuasion — that is to say, I don’t know how many Kasich voters might pull the lever or punch the chad for Cruz in Indiana, or Cruz voters who might do the same in OR and NM.
I will apologize first for, but nevertheless — as a history buff and Churchill fan, both of which Cruz is — I will indulge myself in a Churchill anecdote of extremely doubtful provenance:
Kasich is now actively “in play”; part of the beauty of this deal is that it gave him the face-saving but entirely illusory sop of getting “two states for one.”
In political reality, this is effectively the first round in the selling of John Kasich and his small but genuine pool of potential delegates whom he might sway could get him the nomination. Even this small and unenforceable deal means confusion to Trump’s camp.
The unaddressed wild card, as far as deal-making goes, remains PA. That’s a state whose significance will still be a matter of spectacular doubt well after the counting of the last ballot, due to ambiguities and clouds in the congressional district-by-district delegate selection process there.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 9:36 pmHorrors. That last (#44) from me had this: “In political reality, this is effectively the first round in the selling of John Kasich and his small but genuine pool of potential delegates whom he might sway could get him the nomination.”
The last phrase ought to have been deleted; the sentence should have read:
“In political reality, this is effectively the first round in the selling of John Kasich and his small but genuine pool of potential delegates whom he might sway.”
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 9:38 pmEd, there are two things we know for sure about this campaign:
The people who love Trump love Trump.
— And —
The people who hate Trump hate Trump.
Our team, thus defined, outnumbers theirs. I hear you, and I have no reason to disagree with your assessment that if they couldn’t vote for Kasich, some significant number of Kasich voters might gravitate to Trump rather than Cruz.
But we’re already talking about people who are Sancho Panza to Kasich’s Don Quixote at this point. I think this will result in a net positive in votes for Cruz at the margins in Indiana. And the fact that Cruz agreed not to press in OR and NM surely reflected polling for those states which suggested Cruz wasn’t giving up anything much of value to his campaign; if it helps Kasich deprive Trump of even one more net delegate, that’s a good thing.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 9:43 pmMore subtext: While this deal holds, we’re unlikely to see Kasich sniping at Cruz or vice versa.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 9:47 pmAnd predictably, Trump melts down on Twitter:
And:
So if they’re mathematically dead, Donald, why are you spending your Sunday evening tweeting about them?
Basically it’s August 1940, folks, and the Battle of Britain. For Cruz fans right now — and indeed, even for the merely #NeverTrump crowd — these are the times that test our souls, and never will so many (the world) owe such much (saving it from Trump) to so few (those of us who stop him). And the convention won’t be the end, or even the beginning of the end. But it will be the end of the beginning.
(Told y’all I was feeling the Churchill tonight.)
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 10:20 pmThe best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
nk (dbc370) — 4/24/2016 @ 10:32 pmBeldar, this is NSFW, but National Lampoon did this parody of Churchillian humor:
http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/archive/index.php/$file%3E$file%3C/a%3E/t-46552.html
Real Churchill retorts replaced with the scatological.
Simon Jester (f8d0e6) — 4/24/2016 @ 10:37 pmIt’s not newsworthy anymore when Obama lies, but among his lies in the past week was a claim that he really, really likes Churchill, no matter what anyone else thinks or says.
Obama lies just for the fun of it. It’s another thing he & Trump have in common, actually.
Beldar (fa637a) — 4/24/2016 @ 10:43 pmSimon, what’s the real one for the poacher on the gallows?
nk (dbc370) — 4/24/2016 @ 10:49 pmAnyone wanna bet that if, by some miracle, DJT agreed to a debate in Indiana, Kasich would not be included, despite having dropped out of the primary there?
Ed from SFV (3400a5) — 4/25/2016 @ 1:34 amCruz and Kasich show Trump how a deal is made and Trump fills his diaper over it. Trump’s actual skill set is very narrow.
Rick Ballard (d7bacf) — 4/25/2016 @ 5:06 amKevin M, keep fighting the good fight and nice vocational ethnic analogy. Here’s another – South Chicago (narrow neighborhood definition) is to Pilsen/Little Village as is Tampa to Miami.
urbanleftbehind (de26ef) — 4/25/2016 @ 6:22 amThat’s the kind of statement that makes me crazy, Mark M. If these are HARD WORKING people, and the GOP values hard work, and faith and responsibility why then are they registering as democrats 6 to 1? Why do they vote en masse for democrat hand-outs and freebees all over including California, Arizona and Texas? I don’t get it.
Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 4/25/2016 @ 6:41 amFrom the Washington Examiner Kevin M:
I apologize for addressing “Mark M” @ 56.
Hoagie ™ (e4fcd6) — 4/25/2016 @ 7:04 amIt doesn’t benefit Ted Cruz to gain a few delegates at the price of a public display of kowtowing to the GOP establishment. He can’t win on the up and up, he’s mathematically eliminated as is John Kasich, all Cruz can do is throw in with the Ohio Also Ran in a desperately self-serving gambit to thwart the voter’s clearly preferred candidate: Donald Trump.
Cruz has demonstrated a win at all costs attitude right from the getgo. In Iowa he pounced on Ben Carson’s decision to visit his home in Florida and portrayed it as Carson quitting the race. Ever since then Cruz has tried to undermine the Primary Election process by joining with the GOPe to maneuver delegates sympathetic to top-down manipulation into position to bushwhack Trump on a second ballot.
Now, Cruz is in cahoots with both Kasich and the GOPe to stop voters from selecting the candidate of their choice. It’s crooked politics dressed up in clever language and stylish lipstick, but it’s still backroom politics and Ted Cruz has sold his soul to the very people who hate his guts the most. It can’t end well.
ropelight (723e1f) — 4/25/2016 @ 7:42 am#58 ropelight, you should submit that to the Daily Kos as a writing sample. They might hire you.
Cruz Supporter (102c9a) — 4/25/2016 @ 7:56 amThe immigration system refuses to admit anyone who can work — it wants aunts, uncles, grandparents and other relatives of those already here. Able-bodied workers are entirely excluded. This is on purpose, thank you Ted Kennedy and the unions. It is no surprise that these people sign up for things like Medicare right off the bat — all you have to be is legal and over 65.
But if you live near these folks, you will know just how industrious and hardworking they are. Do you know any of them personally, Hoagie, or do you just read stuff on blogs?
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/25/2016 @ 8:13 amAs for refugee children getting aid, well, children are NOT ALLOWED to work in the US. And since they are refugees, I don’t see how that is relevant to anything except maybe the government’s definition of “refugee” is overbroad.
I’ve never seen a Mexican beg for money — I have seen many wait all day for work. The day I see white or black people waiting at Home Depot for hard-labor day jobs, instead of the folks you see in the Southwest, maybe I’ll change my mind.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/25/2016 @ 8:25 amBack to the topic though…
Wondering how Cruz is doing with alternate delegates. Something came to mind.
Kevin M (25bbee) — 4/25/2016 @ 8:26 amI actually think the Kasich voters will be more loyal to him than Rubio or Jeb voters (or Carson). Kasich has an interesting lock on Ohio GOP, that has transcended into purple state GOP committees.
Steven Malynn (1d7837) — 4/25/2016 @ 8:42 amKevin M – As a 4th Generation Californian, I have seen what you describe. Yes, the laws and the enforcement of immigration laws are now designed to keep out workers, that is to keep workers from legally working – they are specifically geared to creating a class of workers who can never come out of the shadows, unless they follow the D line to amnesty.
So they allow a mass migration to take the day labor jobs, and these people are stuck in day labor up until the D government gives them amnesty – in exchange for their vote.
Steven Malynn (1d7837) — 4/25/2016 @ 8:48 am