Facing imminent failure in his presidential campaign, 45-year-old Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) picked 61-year-old former Hewlett-Packard CEO and presidential candidate Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Losing the I-95 primaries in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast to GOP front-runner Donald Trump by huge margins, Cruz can no longer argue with-a-straight-face he’s remotely competitive in the GOP primary race but, more importantly, in a general election against Democratic front-runner Hillary Rodham Clinton. Unlike Cruz, Trump’s proved he can win the delegate-rich states in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Deep South, now turning to the West Coast. Cruz’s bible-belt appeal doesn’t translate into a national campaign, something GOP insiders, led by the “never Trump” campaign refuse to accept. Former GOP candidates, like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, don’t care about November.
Leading the charge against Trump, Jeb, with help from other failed GOP candidates like, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Sen. Marco Rudio (R-Fl.) and former 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney have only one mission: Sabotage Trump. Jeb’s cadre would rather see Hillary in the White House than Trump, hijacking the GOP with the help of Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus. Priebus talks a good game about GOP “transparency,” talking as if a brokered convention is inevitable. With 988 delegates, Trump has so far eclipsed Cruz’s 562 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s 153. While Cruz seemed competitive, Kasich has won nothing other than his home state of Ohio, only because Democrats were allowed to vote for him against Trump. Without Ohio’s “open” primary, Kasich would have lost Ohio to Trump by wide margin.
Cruz’s decision to add Fiorina to the ticket when he has no path to the nomination other than a brokered convention shows utter desperation before next week’s May 3 Indiana primary. With or without Fioriana, it’s doubtful Cruz can stop Trump from winning or at least racking up delegates in Indiana. “Carly is bright, knowledgeable, brings great financial expertise and she’s a woman,” said Gary Aminoff, co-chair of Cruz’s Los Angeles County Campaign. Cruz strategists hope that Fiorina appeals to California voters, something so questionable, so suspect that the risks far outweigh the benefits. Carly isn’t well liked in California and certainly not on the national stage where she ended her campaign Feb. 10. Picking Fiorina could make things worse for Cruz in Indiana. Primary voters didn’t like it when Cruz cut a deal with Kasich to run by himself in Indiana.
Taking a beating in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Delaware, Cruz can no longer argue he’s a viable candidate. Not only is he mathematically eliminated from the GOP contest, he’s run out of explanations why Trump continues to win states by a landslide. No matter how much Jeb & Co. despise Trump, it’s more difficult to ignore the will of GOP primary voters decisively voting for Trump. Whatever conspiracy exists behind the scenes in the stop Trump movement, it’s too late to ignore the will of primary voters. “Carly has incredible appeal to so many people, especially in California,” said Doug de Groode, a Cruz fund-raiser based near Los Angeles. Carly had so much appeal she finished the New Hampshire primary with 4% of the vote before dropping out. Aligning with a failed candidate, Cruz exposes his desperation before Indiana.
Behind closed doors at the RNC, Priebus needs to face reality, rein-in the not-so-covert anti-Trump cadre led by Jeb and other former candidates, looking for revenge, not what’s best for the GOP. What could be better for the GOP than to win the White House? Saying Trump would destroy the GOP is preposterous. Anything that can help the GOP retake the White House helps the Party, regardless of ideology. Whether Trump’s an ideological conservative has nothing to do with the GOP. What’s good for the conservative movement isn’t necessarily good for the GOP. Letting an ideological conservative like Cruz lead the Party would lead to failure. Trump’s shown he commands a wide appeal in geography and ideology, attracting independents and cross over voters. Cruz only appeals to a narrow swath of religious and social conservatives, not enough to win the White House.
Picking Carly for VP, Cruz hurt his already failing campaign heading into Indiana. Trying to sell Indiana voters that he’s still viable after losing the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic badly, beaten by lowly Kasich in four-out-five-states, could boomerang. Cruz hopes only to take more delegates away from Trump, preventing him from reaching the magic number of 1,237 to win the nomination. Whatever happens with the delegate count, Republicans have no candidate other than Trump to compete against Hillary. Arguing about dubious national polls matching up candidates against Hillary is no way to win elections. Trump’s proved he can win over GOP voters in key states needed to win a general election. Cruz’s appeal comes from low population rural GOP states, without having much bearing winning national elections. Kasich proved he’s not fit to win anything in November.
