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You are here: Home / 2016 Campaign / Could Cruz End Up as the Establishment Choice?

Could Cruz End Up as the Establishment Choice?

March 7, 2016 at 10:15 am EST By Taegan Goddard 24 Comments

Rick Klein: “What if the establishment lane was never open for business in the first place? What if the problem wasn’t traffic problems, or a Bush in the road, or that fancy boots got stuck in sticky pavement? With Chris Christie and Jeb Bush gone, and Marco Rubio and John Kasich left scrambling to win their home states, Republicans are facing the prospect of seeing Ted Cruz emerge as their main alternative to Donald Trump. That may be a prospect less likely than Trump as frontrunner: Cruz could wind up being the establishment’s actual choice in a winnowed field.”

“Trump can be beaten – his most recent showings suggest new and continuing vulnerabilities – though not by just anybody, it would appear. By all appearances, Rubio has only gotten weaker from attempts by the party’s elected leaders and money folks to rally behind him. Cruz needs to be careful what he wishes for, on a couple levels. Asked about a contested convention, Cruz said on CBS that powerbrokers choosing a nominee at a convention would be ‘illegitimate’ and ‘wrong.’ We’ll see how he feels as we get closer to Cleveland.”

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Filed Under: 2016 Campaign Tagged With: Ted Cruz

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About Political Wire

goddard-bw-snapshotTaegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.

Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.

Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.

Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.

Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.

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