OPINION:
Ted Cruz is not going down without a fight.
The Texas senator needs a win in Indiana in order to have a shot at a contested convention, and he’s pulled out all the stops this week in the Hoosier State to get there.
On Sunday, Mr. Cruz announced an alliance with Ohio Gov. John Kasich where Mr. Cruz would focus his time and resources in Indiana, while Mr. Kasich would dedicate his efforts to Oregon and New Mexico.
Although the alliance is a rocky one, was deemed desperate by some and is not guaranteed to work out, what it did do was create the next day’s media narrative. Instead of Monday’s media focusing on businessman Donald Trump’s likely win in five New England states on Tuesday, Mr. Cruz’s strategy dominated the air-waves.
How important is Indiana? Could there still be a contested convention? Will the Cruz-Kasich alliance pan out? Is this collusion?
Whatever you think, it doesn’t really matter. What does matter is Mr. Cruz got the pundits speculating and stole what otherwise would’ve been a Trump-focused media cycle.
Then he did it again on Wednesday.
Instead of looking like a loser after he took a drubbing in all five states the night before, Mr. Cruz spun himself into a front-runner by announcing his vice presidential pick, Carly Fiorina. All the major networks carried the announcement live and Mr. Cruz gave about a 40 minute stump-speech, rivaling the airtime of one of Mr. Trump’s often-televised rallies.
USA Today had him and Mrs. Fiorina’s picture, smiling, above the fold in the paper the next day. So did the Wall Street Journal and others. You can call the move despairing – but it was brilliant in its media savvy and choice.
Mrs. Fiorina’s speech reminded many conservatives in Washington what they hadn’t realized they were missing on the campaign trail. Mrs. Fiorina proved she could charm young, conservative women (yes, with a song), and has the chops to take down both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in a single, precise and unflinching statement (“two sides of the same coin”).
With Mrs. Fiorina on the ticket, Mr. Cruz can now be in two places at the same time in the Hoosier State, an asset he needs given there’s only four days until the primary, and most polls have him trailing Mr. Trump.
Right when you thought Mr. Cruz didn’t have another rabbit up his sleeve, he received the endorsement of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on Friday, who is arguably the biggest Republican name in the Hoosier State.
It was a big get for the Texas senator given Mr. Pence was courted by both himself and Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump said earlier this week he didn’t suspect the governor would endorse anybody, and if he did, it would probably be him. It was an endorsement Mr. Trump was vying for.
Mr. Pence, throwing his support behind Mr. Cruz, doesn’t come without some political risk in alienating Mr. Trump’s supporters within his state. Mr. Pence didn’t have to make an endorsement at all — but it says something that he did.
Maybe it’s that he sees Mr. Cruz’s support gaining in his state, maybe its because his conservative values more closely align with those of Mr. Cruz and he wanted to defend them. Whatever the reason,
Mr. Pence’s support could tip the scale for Mr. Cruz in a razor-thin primary contest.
Like I said before, it doesn’t appear Mr. Cruz is going down without a fight.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.