Cruz and other Republicans are hoping to choose delegates for the summer convention who might switch their allegiance away from Trump should multiple votes take place to choose a nominee. North Dakota Republicans chose their “free agent” convention delegates over the weekend, and Politico reports that nearly all of them prefer Texas Sen. But about a third say that rather than vote for Cruz or Trump in the general election, they would stay home, vote for a third party or even vote for Clinton. Cruz has 474 and Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 145.
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Voters are lining up across Wisconsin to cast their ballots in the state’s presidential primary.
All the rallies in the world from “Trump Nation”, as Stone calls the real-estate mogul’s supporters, aren’t likely to get many party leaders to back Trump’s nomination.
While the delegate math from Wisconsin may not give Sanders much of a boost, there’s no question winning the state helps maintain perceptions he has some momentum after six wins in the last seven contests (with the only loss being Arizona).
“We understand what it means to have principled conservative leadership”, Walker said.
But Sanders has a more complicated task than Cruz in slowing his party’s front-runner, since Democratic delegates are doled out on a proportional basis rather than the winner-take-most formula used in Wisconsin by Republicans. Donald Trump needs to win 2/3 of remaining bound delegates.
Cruz runs well among those who said they are “very conservative” as he has in previous primaries, but he also edges out Trump among those who said they are “somewhat conservative”.
Some voters, like Pam Gruettner, said they had backed Trump at first, only to be turned off by his behavior and outlandish statements, especially in the raucous GOP debates. Heading into Tuesday’s primary, Sanders needed to win 67 per cent of the remaining Democratic delegates and uncommitted superdelegates through June to be able to clinch the Democratic nomination.
He criticized the state’s two most popular Republicans, Gov. Scott Walker, a onetime presidential rival, and House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, and turned off many by insulting the looks of Cruz’s wife, Heidi, in a posting on social media. Koch and his brother David, said the unnamed source, “appreciate the agenda [Ryan] has pursued as speaker, including opposition to tax extenders and heightened warnings against corporate welfare – positions that contrast with the admittedly vague portfolio pushed by Donald Trump”.
“This fevered pipe dream of Washington that at the convention they will parachute in some white knight who will save the Washington establishment, it is nothing less than a pipe dream”, Cruz told reporters.
The former secretary of state is under intense pressure to match the fundraising juggernaut that is the Sanders campaign.
The Texas senator insists he still has a “clear path” to winning the 1,237 delegates needed to claim the Republican nomination. “Tonight, we have hope for the future”, he said. When including superdelegates, the party officials who can back any candidate, Clinton holds a much wider lead – 1,712 to Sanders’ 1,011.
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“The truth is, we were outraised and outspent last month, and we could very well lose the Wisconsin primary tonight”, Clinton’s campaign acknowledged in a fundraising email. So far he’s won 37 per cent. The Club for Growth, which has endorsed Cruz, is spending $800,000 on ads that promote voting for Cruz – not John Kasich – as the best way to ensure a Trump defeat.
