Ted Cruz's plan to sink Marco Rubio in Florida

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S

Sean C

Member
From CNN:

(CNN)Ted Cruz is going for the kill shot.

Cruz's aides and allies are preparing an aggressive effort to keep Marco Rubio from winning his home state of Florida on March 15, a blow they hope would render Rubio's path to the GOP nomination unimaginable and force him to withdraw.

A Rubio loss, Cruz's orbit believes, would then set up the two-man race with Donald Trump they believe they are destined for -- and absolutely need -- to win.

"Florida's a burning dumpster fire for Marco Rubio," said Cruz spokesman Ron Nehring. "If he doesn't win his own state, it's hard to rationalize going forward."

The strategy is not without risk: A Trump victory in Florida puts him 99 delegates closer to clinching the GOP nomination, weakening rivals' hopes of keeping him from reaching the delegate threshold and then defeating him at a brokered convention. And keeping Rubio from climbing is likely to cost millions of dollars.
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Ah, Ted, always putting party first.

Gifting Trump the Florida primary to destroy Trump's other semi-notable rival is just putting Trump closer to the nomination. If he gets Florida and Ohio, the nomination is basically assured; even with just one of the two, it's far more likely than not.
 
BennyBlanco

BennyBlanco

aka IMurRIVAL69
ted will send out official looking government documents announcing his plan to personally eat the boogers of every voter in florida
 
S

Sean C

Member
Geg said:
So wait, Ted wants to make Rubio lose in Florida but doesn't expect to win it himself?
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From the sound of it, his plan is to force Rubio out that thus make it a two-man race between himself and Trump, on the assumption that Cruz will then be able to defeat Trump in the remaining states and secure the most delegates, sufficient to insist that he be made the nominee even if he doesn't get a majority.
 
B

Branduil

Member
KuwabaraTheMan said:
Why would he do this?

He needs Rubio to win Florida in order to force a contested convention.
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There's a 0% chance they would choose Cruz in a contested convention. And if Cruz gets second-place, he's in prime position to be the 2020 candidate when Trump gets destroyed in the general.

Cruz' goals, as always, are about elevating himself at the expense of everyone else.
 
R

riotous

Banned
It's not a bad strategy; but I think it would be a coin flip for most Rubio votes who'd they end up casting a vote for between Cruz and Trump. And Trump wins if it's a coin flip.
 
C

Calamari41

41 > 38
He's going for a spot in the Trump administration, possibly as high as VP. Trump may be forced to pick a conservative to keep the coalition together, and I'm sure Ted is asking himself "Why Not Cruz?"
 
K

KuwabaraTheMan

Banned
Gigglepoo said:
But would the RNC choose Cruz in a contested convention? They don't like him, either.
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I think it depends.

I think Cruz's best shot is to get really close to Trump. If the delegate count is something like 1000 Trump, 900 Cruz going into the convention, then a Cruz nomination could seem to have the image of being proper, and not necessarily seem like as much of a fix as giving the nomination to Rubio or someone like Romney. Nominating Cruz could prevent a Trump nomination without completely fracturing the party. Since folks like Graham are already talking about the possibility of supporting Cruz to stop Trump, I think it's possible.

Now, if it's something like Trump: 1000, Cruz: 600, Rubio: 400, then the party is going to fracture with any non-Trump nomination, so they might as well go for someone who is more acceptable to the party as a whole at that point.
 
S

Stinkles

Clothed, sober, cooperative
Thing I hate most about Cruz, I realized last night, is that any time he speaks more than ten words consecutively, he gets this glitter in his eyes like he thinks he sounds like the most inspirational orator in human history.
 
B

Balphon

Member
It seems highly unlikely that the majority of Rubio supporters would go to Cruz.

And I don't see a Trump win in Florida helping Cruz since he will fare poorly in the big Midwestern primaries coming up anyway.
 
K

kess

Member
Yeah, a convention coup that deposes Trump in favor of Ted Cruz would truly cement his long held goal to be The Most Hated Man In America... at which point Trump goes independent and pulls more votes in the general than Cruz.

9JNEw0T.gif
 
B

B.O.O.M

Member
kess said:
Yeah, a convention coup that deposes Trump in favor of Ted Cruz would truly cement his long held goal to be The Most Hated Man In America... at which point Trump goes independent and pulls more votes in the general than Cruz.

9JNEw0T.gif
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At that point trump becomes the VP candidate for HillDawg

world is NOT ready
 
T

Transistor

Banned
kess said:
Yeah, a convention coup that deposes Trump in favor of Ted Cruz would truly cement his long held goal to be The Most Hated Man In America... at which point Trump goes independent and pulls more votes in the general than Cruz.

9JNEw0T.gif
Click to expand...

My god, it would be glorious
 
B

Basileus777

Member
KuwabaraTheMan said:
Why would he do this?

He needs Rubio to win Florida in order to force a contested convention.
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It makes zero sense for Cruz to work towards a contested convention, he has nothing to gain there. If Cruz wants the nomination knocking out Rubio and Kasich are his best chance, though even then the odds would be stacked against him. Really he should be aiming towards setting up his 2020 run and ending with the 2nd most delegates behind Trump is a good way to do that.
 
W

watershed

Banned
Well this is the smartest play for Cruz. If he can get Rubio out he will basically force to coalesce behind him, which would be hilarious. Congressional republicans hate Cruz but would take him over Trump if Rubio was out.
 
A

Already Torn

Banned
watershed said:
Well this is the smartest play for Cruz. If he can get Rubio out he will basically force to coalesce behind him, which would be hilarious. Congressional republicans hate Cruz but would take him over Trump if Rubio was out.
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Yeah. He still has no chance, but there's no way he'd win in brokered anyway
 
L

Loxley

Member
Stinkles said:
Thing I hate most about Cruz, I realized last night, is that any time he speaks more than ten words consecutively, he gets this glitter in his eyes like he thinks he sounds like the most inspirational orator in human history.
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It's funny how Rubio has recently been criticized for coming off as rehearsed and insincere, because Cruz has never sounded like a guy speaking from the heart as opposed to a teleprompter. He's also one of the only people I've ever seen outside of the Miss America pageant who can make a wave look rehearsed.
 
W

watershed

Banned
I think part of Cruz's appearance of smugness, and sometimes he does look way too pleased with himself, is a result of his slightly-melted-face look.
 
W

Wowfunhappy

Member
A Rubio loss, Cruz's orbit believes, would then set up the two-man race with Donald Trump they believe they are destined for -- and absolutely need -- to win.
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Hey CNN writers, please learn to use dashes properly. Thanks.
 
NeOak

NeOak

Member
Stinkles said:
Thing I hate most about Cruz, I realized last night, is that any time he speaks more than ten words consecutively, he gets this glitter in his eyes like he thinks he sounds like the most inspirational orator in human history.
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I commend you Frankie. You can stand more than 10 words.

I can't stand him before he even talks.
 
B

burntchomsky

Member
Branduil said:
There's a 0% chance they would choose Cruz in a contested convention. And if Cruz gets second-place, he's in prime position to be the 2020 candidate when Trump gets destroyed in the general.

Cruz' goals, as always, are about elevating himself at the expense of everyone else.
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Wow...I was suspecting something like this was his reasoning, but that is worse than I had thought, and I think you hit the nail right on the head. This guy is truly a despicable human being.
 
K

Kusagari

Member
I feel like Ted's playing the long game here. The man doesn't care how long it takes to get power as long as he gets it eventually.

He knows that A. Trump can't win and B. Whoever wins the brokered convention can't win because Trump will take them down with him.

So his plan is to come in a commanding second place and use "the GOP didn't pick me at the brokered convention. I was the one who handed the Donald the most losses and am most able to lead this party forward" to instantly place his claim in 2020 whether the establishment likes it or not.
 
T

thefro

Member
Cruz gets enough delegates to deny Trump the nomination at the convention, then throws his support behind him in exchange for the VP slot or a promise to be a Supreme Court nominee/puppet Canadian Prime Minster under the Trump regime.
 
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