Ted Cruz is calling the IN primary “neck and neck” and says he’ll stay IN the Republican presidential race for as long as he has a “viable path to victory”. “But if I were Donald Trump, I wouldn’t have come over and talked to you”. He told Bash that many conservatives are unifying behind his campaign and called both Trump and Hillary Clinton “rich NY, big-government liberals”.
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“I am in for the distance”, Cruz said.
Trump can’t win enough delegates Tuesday to clinch the Republican nomination. Cruz and John Kasich had tried to derail Trump’s efforts by announcing that they would get out of each other’s way in states the other was likely to win.
The results may also place extra pressure on Cruz to perform well in Tuesday’s in primary, where recent polls show his support flagging in the face of Trump’s momentum.
At a stop in Monday in Marion, Indiana, Trump supporters confronted Cruz.
“What do you like about him?”
Trump made clear Monday that he would keep up his accusation that Clinton is playing gender politics: “We’re making a list of the many, many times where it’s all about her being a woman”.
“It’s virtually impossible for Secretary Clinton to reach the majority of convention delegates by June 14 with pledged delegates alone”, Sanders said. Then, Cruz or another candidate would have to beat him when delegates gather in Cleveland in July.
He said the voters do not want Cruz and that he is running against two other GOP candidates. “The entire country is depending on the state of IN to pull us back from this cliff”.
Cruz and his surrogates have been barnstorming through IN in the run-up to the primary, with the candidate attending five campaign events on Monday.
“Sure, sure, you fight on, but I think it’s pretty tough if it doesn’t work out, based on the analysis I’ve read and the numbers I’ve kind of run up on a back of an envelope”, he said. “And if he loses tomorrow night, he has to once again try and articulate why he is still in this race”. As always with Democratic primaries, margins are what counts since the delegates will be allocated proportionately (27 statewide and 56 by congressional district).
Mr Cruz and his surrogates have been criss-crossing IN for almost a week, and their comments are now tinged with a hint of desperation.
Part of the reason for that, claimed Nehring, is that Trump “consistently smears” GOP activists and volunteers by calling them party bosses and insiders.
Polls show a close vote is likely.
“We need every single vote”, he declared at Bravo Cafe in Osceola, where he predicted a tight finish the next day.
The strategy seemed to unravel even as it was announced.
But with Cruz disliked by many of his colleagues in Congress, and his campaign failing to rebound, there were increasing signs that the establishment nonetheless has accepted backing Trump.
Trump’s advantage comes even as he’s getting badly outspent on advertising in the state.
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As Cruz worked the dining room here and a long line winding through the parking lot, a number of supporters alluded to his seemingly perilous position in Indiana. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has spent $1.8 million. Trump is holding a pair of rallies in the state.
