Cruz-Kasich Plotting Their Doom?

With more losses waiting for Ted Cruz and John Kasich in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island in Tuesday’s “Acela Primary”, the two also-rans announced their agreement to join forces against Donald Trump.

We learned today via a new report from CNN that the man who has won just one state and has garnered 267,263 fewer votes than Marco Rubio who dropped out of the race for president five weeks ago, approached the Cruz campaign just after the Ohio governor won the primary in his home state.

Cruz initially did not respond, but in the following weeks talks between the two camps started in earnest.  They reached an agreement after working out the details of an alliance during last week’s RNC meeting in Hollywood, FL.

The bombshell announcement came shortly after the Fox News Town Hall in Philadelphia on Sunday night.  The premise of their strategy dangerous gamble to stop Trump in primaries in Indiana, New Mexico and Oregon will see Kasich fold his tent in Indiana to open the way for Cruz and Cruz will do the same in New Mexico and Oregon for Kasich.

The partnership could also help Kasich financially, reports CNN, as his campaign wrapped up March with just $1.2 million left in its war chest.   So pathetic is Kasich’s run for the Oval Office that donations did not come in after he won his home state.  People are not fools.

Conversely, Heat Street noted sources close to the Cruz campaign say that morale is waning as Cruz and his team begins to grapple with the idea they’ve been used to keep Trump out of the nomination.

New PPP polls: Connecticut Trump 59 Kasich 25 Cruz 13. Rhode Island Trump 61 Kasich 23 Cruz 13. Pennsylvania Trump 51 Cruz 25 Kasich 22.

— Byron York (@ByronYork) April 25, 2016

I'm not saying such a deal will work, but a pain killer doesn't always make the headache go away either. Still you gotta try...

— Harry Enten (@ForecasterEnten) April 25, 2016

Here’s a salient point from Hot Air’s Jazz Shaw that bears consideration:

 “  it wasn’t so long ago that anyone with a career in the dreaded GOP establishment wouldn’t spit on Cruz’s head if his hair were on fire. (I mean, it’s not as if any high ranking party members were joking about murdering him on the Senate floor or taking cyanide rather than voting for him, right?) 

As anyone who has watched Game of Thrones will tell you, caution is required if you make a deal with a traitor. If you rely on a victory which requires delegates ostensibly “bound” to Trump but who are willing to sell him out on the second ballot, the loyalty of some of them may well be up for grabs. When the moment of decision comes and someone begins talking about the polls which show Kasich as the only one beating Clinton in the general, how firm will their resolve be? Or if the rules committee completely scraps the current guidelines, will they suddenly get stars in their eyes and go all weak in the knees if the delegates suddenly try to drag a blushing Paul Ryan back onto the stage to admit that he just might possibly, maybe consider accepting the nomination if the entire convention begged and pleaded with him earnestly enough? 

We’re going to have quite a few delegates who are technically bound to Trump on the first ballot, but since the candidates themselves didn’t get to pick them who can really say what’s in their hearts? If Trump can’t lock down 1237 by the close of the California voting I wouldn’t rule out anything at this point.”