OPINION:
South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham famously said choosing between GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz for president would be like “being shot or poisoned.”
But now Mr. Graham, along with others in the political establishment, have chosen, preferring the poison of Mr. Cruz.
Mr. Cruz, who started 2016 with no notable political endorsements, and continually brags on the stump about having no friends on Capitol Hill, is becoming the last hope for Republicans looking to blunt Mr. Trump’s momentum.
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert endorsed Mr. Cruz the day before the state’s primary, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush got off the sidelines to give the Texas senator the nod on Wednesday, and now it appears Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker will be endorsing Mr. Cruz before his state’s primary on April 5.
“We’re probably going to make a decision this week,” Mr. Walker told conservative radio host Charlie Sykes on Wednesday. “I think it’s probably best in the next couple of days to do something after Easter, where it would have the maximum impact, and, unlike my friend Gary Herbert in Utah the other day, I’m not going to wait until the day before.”
Mr. Walker said his views and beliefs are more inline with Mr. Cruz’s or Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s, but indicated Mr. Cruz would ultimately get his nod.
“If you’re someone who is uneasy with the front-runner, right now there’s really only one candidate,” Mr. Walker told Mr. Sykes. “I think if you’re just looking at the numbers, objectively, Sen. Cruz is the only one who’s got a chance, other than Donald Trump to win the nomination.”
After Tuesday night’s commanding win in Utah, where Mr. Cruz picked up all 40 delegates, he needs to win 83 percent of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination. Although it’s a nearly an impossible task, Mr. Cruz could be able to prevent Mr. Trump from amassing the 1,237 delegates he needs to win the nomination outright, pushing the contest to be decided on the floor of the convention in July.
The Cruz team wants the party, and especially those in the #NeverTrump camp, to unite behind him. There are reports that some GOP financiers are privately urging Florida Sen. Marco Rubio to endorse Mr. Cruz. They’re also pressuring Mr. Kasich to drop out of the race to make it a one-on-one contest so that Mr. Cruz can have a better shot in picking up all the delegates he needs.
“What Kasich can do is pull enough votes away to let Trump win with a plurality, and I’ll give you an example,” Mr. Cruz said in an interview with CNN on Wednesday. “A week ago in Illinois, Donald Trump got 38 percent. … I got 30 percent. Kasich was at 19. If Kasich hadn’t been in the race, we would have beaten Donald Trump in Illinois, and that’s a great example.”
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