It looks like neither Trump nor Cruz will give us any reason to believe they can convince voters to elect them in November.
Woohoo, fellow Americans! It’s a good day.
Wonderful Wednesday news for you: Donald Trump suffered not just a loss yesterday, but a double-digit loss.
You can send all thank yous to Wisconsin. The Badger State’s Republican and conservative power players created a united front against Donald Trump.
Now for a dose of tough news: The recipient of all this “sanity” is none other than Ted Cruz.
I watched his victory speech and found it almost inconceivable, but… Could Cruz be growing even less genuine? He has never been the most natural or authentic candidate, but I don’t recall being this put off by Cruz’s rhetorical style before.
All those pauses. All those little shrug-y laughs...
If I were Republican National Committee head Reince Priebus, I’d start letting voters know the exact reason we hold presidential nominating conventions, as well as the rules governing the nomination process.
In short: The goal is to nominate the strongest candidate.
And it looks like neither Trump nor Cruz will give us any reason to believe they can convince voters to elect them in November.
Just saying. You’re free to disagree — but watch that Cruz speech before you protest too hard.
On to the Democrats!
Bernie fans, you’re in for another day of joy. Sanders beat Hillary Clinton once more, winning 56% to her 43% of the Wisconsin vote. And while Sanders was expected to win, there is no doubt the Clinton camp hoped to see a much closer race.
Take today's Politico headline: “Hillary Clinton Has Had Enough of Bernie Sanders.”
Indeed she has. In the subsequent interview, Clinton questions Sanders’ right to run on the Democratic ticket. Being a registered Independent all these years, Sanders does have some explaining to do regarding his choice to run for the Democratic nomination.
My best guess as to why this hasn’t been risen as a legitimate critique before was the belief held by the Clinton campaign — and certainly by many political pundits — that Sanders had no chance of winning.
Now, it seems Sanders does indeed have a chance; accordingly, we should expect much harsher criticism from Clinton going forward.
And expect that sharper tone to flow both ways. Over the weekend, #OccupyCNN started trending on Twitter. California Bernie supporters gathered outside the network’s Los Angeles outpost to demand more coverage of Sanders, calling CNN the “Clinton News Network.”
Ouch.
I will say, it has been tremendously difficult for anyone to get an ounce of fair time, given the blabbering freak show that is Donald Trump.
So, more power to all those who feel compelled to protest media blackouts of non-Trump candidates.
And both sides might start preparing for the Big O —that is, open convention. With his win in Wisconsin, Cruz just made it much more difficult for Trump to win the 1237 delegates he needs in order to win the Republican nomination outright. And since neither Cruz nor John Kasich (hey, he’s still around?) have any way of getting those numbers themselves, we will be looking at a floor fight in Cleveland.
Give some dark horse points to Kasich, given that it’s all going down in his home state of Ohio.
And if Hillary Clinton doesn’t win the next Democratic primary in New York, then Democrats could be bracing for their own floor fight on their side.
Could be a very exciting summer, friends.
