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03-06-2016, 02:16 AM
In just the last week, Donald Trump boasted about the size of his prick in a presidential debate and refused on national television to distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan. After months of nothing mattering, something may finally have mattered.
Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who Republican elites are reluctantly eying as their last hope to stop Trump, trounced the reality TV star in two of the four GOP contests on Saturday night, in Kansas and Maine. Trump dominated in the other two states, Kentucky and Louisiana. Marco Rubio was barely heard from.
Cruz said his victories marked "a real shift of momentum" among Republicans determined to take down Trump. Earlier Saturday, he also won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
"I think what it represents is Republicans coalescing, saying it would be a disaster for Donald Trump to be our nominee," Cruz told reporters at an Idaho event. "They recognize, if we're divided, Donald wins. And if Donald wins, in all likelihood, Hillary wins."
The Texas senator didn't have much of an answer, though, when asked how he planned to overtake Trump's staggering lead in the number of delegates (https://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries). Heading into Saturday night, Trump had 338 delegates and was polling at 43 percent nationwide, compared to Cruz's 254 delegates and 17 percent popularity.
"Well, listen, Donald has a delegate lead right now," he said. "We'll see what happens after today."
But the nomination is about more than just math. The GOP establishment is aiming to keep Trump underneath the threshold of 50 percent of delegates, to block him from securing it outright. If Trump is polling poorly by the time he limps into Cleveland, he'll be vulnerable to a power play at the party convention. Cruz feels like he's well positioned to be the Trump alternative (though, who knows, Republicans could always put forward someone popular, like House Speaker Paul Ryan, to be their nominee at the last minute).
Saturday night was a major victory for Cruz symbolically, but in terms of actual delegates, it was a relatively minor setback for Trump. And there are several caveats: Cruz won in caucus states, where turnout is much lower, and they favor candidates who are extremely well organized, rather than ones like Trump, who are bringing disaffected voters back into the system. Only two remaining states (https://www.gop.com/2016-gophq/event_schedule/?schedule_type=primary), Hawaii and Utah, hold caucuses rather than primaries.
Trump's still leading Cruz by roughly 100 delegates, and looking ahead to the next primary elections -- Michigan and Mississippi are on March 8th -- Trump is poised to win there. He's polling far ahead in Michigan, (http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-michigan-presidential-republican-primary)where his populist message around the offshoring of jobs resonates, as does his appeal to rank racism and his promise to "build the wall." There is little polling in Mississippi, but Trump previously won neighboring Alabama in a romp.
Another factor behind Cruz's wins on Saturday: 82 percent of the Republicans voting were white Christians (http://publicreligion.org/2016/03/republicans-in-march-5th-primary-states-include-larger-concentration-of-white-christians/#.VtuHUvkrLIU), an even higher percentage than on Super Tuesday. That advantage shrinks going forward, as does the percentages of very conservative voters (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/upshot/the-way-ted-cruz-won-in-iowa-suggests-trouble-ahead.html) in some of the March 15 states like Florida, Illinois and Missouri. (Cruz tends to win with people who go to church every week, while Trump wins among the broader group of people who simply say they're an evangelical Christian.)
Cruz's strategy to win the nomination has been visible for months, and is being executed in the methodical style Cruz is known for. In October, The Huffington Post reported (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/president-ted-cruz_us_563225bfe4b0631799111c1c) that Cruz knew he wasn't an attractive enough candidates to be a majority's first choice, but he wanted to hang around long enough to be an acceptable alternative. It's working.
The night left the GOP establishment's preferred candidate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, even further hobbled. He didn't break 20 percent in any of Saturday's elections, and he's trailing badly in his home state, which votes March 15th. The only other GOP candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, was dead last in nearly all of the night's elections. He's still holding out to deny Trump a win in Ohio, where he's running close with the front-runner (http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-ohio-republican-presidential-primary).
And for Trump, the hits keep coming. He stopped in Wichita, Kansas, for a rally Saturday, then went to a caucus to lobby for support. He was roundly booed. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/donald-trump-booed-kansas_us_56db3418e4b0ffe6f8e9a445?utm_hp_ref=poli tics) “I was definitely part of the booing,” said Ben Chambers, 24, of Wichita. “I’ve been listening to what he says and I’m not buying it, plus the guy can’t even spell the name of our town.”
From there, Trump hopped on a plane for Florida, where he asked his crowd to hold up their right hands (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/donald-trump-right-hand-salute_us_56db50d8e4b03a405678e27a?86djwcdi)and pledge their firm support for him.
Samantha-Jo Roth reported from Wichita. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/donald-trump-booed-kansas_us_56db3418e4b0ffe6f8e9a445?utm_hp_ref=poli tics)
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-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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More... (http://feeds.huffingtonpost.com/c/35496/f/677045/s/4e0f7023/sc/7/l/0L0Shuffingtonpost0N0C20A160C0A30C0A50Cted0Ecruz0E beats0Eback0Edonald0Etrump0Ein0Etwo0Estates0Eshift ing0Erace0In0I93921360Bhtml/story01.htm)
Ted Cruz, the Texas senator who Republican elites are reluctantly eying as their last hope to stop Trump, trounced the reality TV star in two of the four GOP contests on Saturday night, in Kansas and Maine. Trump dominated in the other two states, Kentucky and Louisiana. Marco Rubio was barely heard from.
Cruz said his victories marked "a real shift of momentum" among Republicans determined to take down Trump. Earlier Saturday, he also won the presidential straw poll at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
"I think what it represents is Republicans coalescing, saying it would be a disaster for Donald Trump to be our nominee," Cruz told reporters at an Idaho event. "They recognize, if we're divided, Donald wins. And if Donald wins, in all likelihood, Hillary wins."
The Texas senator didn't have much of an answer, though, when asked how he planned to overtake Trump's staggering lead in the number of delegates (https://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2016/primaries). Heading into Saturday night, Trump had 338 delegates and was polling at 43 percent nationwide, compared to Cruz's 254 delegates and 17 percent popularity.
"Well, listen, Donald has a delegate lead right now," he said. "We'll see what happens after today."
But the nomination is about more than just math. The GOP establishment is aiming to keep Trump underneath the threshold of 50 percent of delegates, to block him from securing it outright. If Trump is polling poorly by the time he limps into Cleveland, he'll be vulnerable to a power play at the party convention. Cruz feels like he's well positioned to be the Trump alternative (though, who knows, Republicans could always put forward someone popular, like House Speaker Paul Ryan, to be their nominee at the last minute).
Saturday night was a major victory for Cruz symbolically, but in terms of actual delegates, it was a relatively minor setback for Trump. And there are several caveats: Cruz won in caucus states, where turnout is much lower, and they favor candidates who are extremely well organized, rather than ones like Trump, who are bringing disaffected voters back into the system. Only two remaining states (https://www.gop.com/2016-gophq/event_schedule/?schedule_type=primary), Hawaii and Utah, hold caucuses rather than primaries.
Trump's still leading Cruz by roughly 100 delegates, and looking ahead to the next primary elections -- Michigan and Mississippi are on March 8th -- Trump is poised to win there. He's polling far ahead in Michigan, (http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-michigan-presidential-republican-primary)where his populist message around the offshoring of jobs resonates, as does his appeal to rank racism and his promise to "build the wall." There is little polling in Mississippi, but Trump previously won neighboring Alabama in a romp.
Another factor behind Cruz's wins on Saturday: 82 percent of the Republicans voting were white Christians (http://publicreligion.org/2016/03/republicans-in-march-5th-primary-states-include-larger-concentration-of-white-christians/#.VtuHUvkrLIU), an even higher percentage than on Super Tuesday. That advantage shrinks going forward, as does the percentages of very conservative voters (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/06/upshot/the-way-ted-cruz-won-in-iowa-suggests-trouble-ahead.html) in some of the March 15 states like Florida, Illinois and Missouri. (Cruz tends to win with people who go to church every week, while Trump wins among the broader group of people who simply say they're an evangelical Christian.)
Cruz's strategy to win the nomination has been visible for months, and is being executed in the methodical style Cruz is known for. In October, The Huffington Post reported (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/president-ted-cruz_us_563225bfe4b0631799111c1c) that Cruz knew he wasn't an attractive enough candidates to be a majority's first choice, but he wanted to hang around long enough to be an acceptable alternative. It's working.
The night left the GOP establishment's preferred candidate, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, even further hobbled. He didn't break 20 percent in any of Saturday's elections, and he's trailing badly in his home state, which votes March 15th. The only other GOP candidate, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, was dead last in nearly all of the night's elections. He's still holding out to deny Trump a win in Ohio, where he's running close with the front-runner (http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2016-ohio-republican-presidential-primary).
And for Trump, the hits keep coming. He stopped in Wichita, Kansas, for a rally Saturday, then went to a caucus to lobby for support. He was roundly booed. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/donald-trump-booed-kansas_us_56db3418e4b0ffe6f8e9a445?utm_hp_ref=poli tics) “I was definitely part of the booing,” said Ben Chambers, 24, of Wichita. “I’ve been listening to what he says and I’m not buying it, plus the guy can’t even spell the name of our town.”
From there, Trump hopped on a plane for Florida, where he asked his crowd to hold up their right hands (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/donald-trump-right-hand-salute_us_56db50d8e4b03a405678e27a?86djwcdi)and pledge their firm support for him.
Samantha-Jo Roth reported from Wichita. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=entry/donald-trump-booed-kansas_us_56db3418e4b0ffe6f8e9a445?utm_hp_ref=poli tics)
Sign up here to get an email (https://actionnetwork.org/forms/sign-up-to-get-ryan-grims-bad-news-in-your-inbox)when reporter Ryan Grim publishes a new story.
-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. (http://start.westnet.ca/newstempch.php?article=terms.html/) It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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