Saturday, April 9, 2016

Did Ted Cruz Win Wisconsin Or Trump Lose It? The Distinction Matters

Donald Trump’s angry quest for the Republican presidential nomination, once considered inevitable, took a serious hit Tuesday.
Ted Cruz won the Wisconsin primary. Or, more accurately, Trump lost the state vote.
Cruz captured 48% of the vote and 86% of the state’s 42 delegates to the July convention. Trump got only three delegates and 35%. The Ohio guy, who’s won only Ohio, got no delegates for his 14%.
In fact, John Kasich, who slogs on with no mathematical chance of winning the party nod, still has fewer delegates (143) than Marco Rubio (171), who gave up what seems like months ago. Trump has about 740; Cruz slightly more than 500.
The Wisconsin balloting came after the worst week of the campaign for the New Yorker. It’s likely a major turning point for several reasons.
Most importantly, it showed the real estate mogul, who once seemed impervious to his own chronic gaffes, is indeed subject to the same rules of political gravity as non-gazillionaires, at least in the Heartland. Remember, Trump lost Ohio, too. And Minnesota. And Kansas. And Iowa. And Oklahoma.
Is Donald Trump the N.Y. Mets of politics?
The upcoming schedule including New York would seem to favor Trump. But then not that long ago Wisconsin was a gimme for him. Now, Trump’s got to win bigger to reach a convention majority.
Even when Trump wins, he can still lose. Trump took the Louisiana primary vote. But because Cruz’ crew is smarter on party rules and better organized — Oh, look! — Cruz emerged from those swamps with more delegates than the 18 Trump got for victory. The billionaire blames others. Sound familiar after seven years?
Read the rest of Andrew Malcolm's op-ed HERE.

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1 comment:

cimbri said...

Krauthammer made some good points on the Wisconsin primary. He was amazed and stunned that Trump got 35% in a state, after Cruz got endorsements and personal appearances from Governor Walker and Speaker of the House, Ryan. Plus WI borders IA and MN, favoring Cruz geographically.

I'm a Trump supporter, and am pleased that we came away with 6 delegates, based on everything being against us in WI. Every delegate serves to make it that much tougher for Cruz, because in a few weeks, he will be mathematically out of it. His only argument will be "I'm not Trump!". That won't be enough and Trump will start rolling up huge victories. Cruz will limp into Cleveland with 700 delegates, way below striking distance of Trump's numbers.