David Wasserman: “Cruz and Kasich would be odd bedfellows within today’s GOP. But the truth is, if they want to thwart Trump, their only hope may be to coordinate a last-ditch, two-front assault on the front-runner. If they don’t start divvying up turf, Trump is much more likely to prevail on the first ballot in Cleveland.”
“It’s possible, as Sean Trende has persuasively argued, that Kasich’s continued candidacy helps Trump much more than it hurts him. We may never know. But even after being mathematically eliminated from winning 1,237 delegates, Kasich seems to have made up his mind. And rather than piling on with calls for Kasich to drop out, #NeverTrump forces might be better off considering Kasich’s usefulness in the later stages of the race.”
“There are still a few states that award their delegates proportionally where a continued three-way race could help drive down Trump’s share of delegates: New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blamed “Donald Trump and his henchmen” for planting a National Enquirer story that accused him of extramarital affairs, the Washington Post reports.
Vehemently denying the story as “garbage” and “complete and utter lies,” Cruz also took his longest step yet toward refusing to back Trump if he won the party’s nomination: “I don’t make a habit out of supporting people who attack my wife and attack my family.”
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Gov. Chris Christie “coached Donald Trump prior to the final GOP presidential debate and is becoming a key conduit to the candidate for policy experts, donors and potential backers who now believe he will be the Republican nominee,” NJ Advance Media reports.
A new Gallup poll finds that just 30% of Americans say the presidential election process is working as it should, down from 37% in January.
“The decline is driven mainly by Republicans’ increasingly cynical views as the campaign season has progressed. The percentage of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who say the election process is working has fallen from 46% to 30% since January. Democrats’ and Democratic leaners’ views haven’t changed.”
“I’ve had talks about being presidential, about toning it down a bit, appealing to a broader group of people. You did notice that he wasn’t nearly as caustic in the last debate. People appreciated that. It’s a matter of cultivating and capitalizing on that.”
— Ben Carson, quoted by Politico, on advising Donald Trump.
A new CNN/ORC poll finds that 57% of American voters say that President Obama and not his successor elected in November should be the one who gets to nominate the next Supreme Court justice.
A Quinnipiac University poll released found that 62% of voters said the Senate should consider Merrick Garland’s nomination, and a CBS News/New York Times poll suggested that 53% of Americans would like the Senate to vote on his nomination.
Jonathan Chait: “First, they recognize that his deep unpopularity among the general public makes him a historically awful nominee. Second, his egomania, lack of interest in policy, and history of off-the-reservation statements and behavior give them justifiable reasons to doubt he will stay committed to their agenda even if somehow elected. And third, they find his persona repellant.”
“That last factor — the visceral loathing for the man himself that pulsates among his opponents — has become the highest-order question in the Republican race. Other Republican candidates, who began the race defining themselves on their own personal and ideological terms, now define themselves in relation to Trump’s persona.”
Republican operatives are investigating rumors that Sen. Ted Cruz has had extramarital affairs with at least five different women, the National Enquirer reports.
Gawker: “The actual story—which is not online, but which Gawker has obtained a copy of—does not name any of the women with whom Cruz purportedly was involved. Descriptions are given for each, however, and at least one should sound very familiar to folks who have been following this election.”
“He has put the right issues on the table both for the Democratic Party and for the country in general so I’m still cheering Bernie on.”
— Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), quoted by the Associated Press.
Chris Cillizza: “If I told you at the start of the 2016 race that Mitt Romney would vote for Ted Cruz in the Utah caucuses and that Jeb Bush and Lindsey Graham would endorse the Texas senator’s presidential campaign, you would have laughed. Probably loudly.”
“While Trump publicly dismisses talk of a battle in Cleveland, he is quietly assembling a team of seasoned operatives to manage a contested convention. Their strategy, NBC has learned, is to convert delegates in the crucial 40 days between the end of the primaries and the convention – while girding for a floor fight in Cleveland if necessary.”
A new Basswood Research survey in Wisconsin shows Sen. Ted Cruz leading Donald Trump in the GOP primary race, 36% to 31%, followed by John Kasich at 21%.
Interesting: “Cruz’s lead expands dramatically in a head-to-head contest with Trump. If Kasich were to drop out before the primary, 48% percent of respondents say they would back Cruz, compared to just 36% for Trump.”
A new Emerson College survey shows Cruz leading with 36%, followed by Trump at 35% and Kasich at 19%.
First Read: “Note her public events since Tuesday: a counterterrorism speech at Stanford after the attacks in Belgium, and then a homeland security forum at the University of Southern California. And today, per NBC’s Monica Alba, Clinton surrogates like former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta will hold a conference call contrasting her foreign-policy/national security approach with the Republican candidates.”
“Now that pivot could be somewhat risky for Clinton, given that Bernie Sanders will likely close his delegate deficit in this weekend’s three Democratic contests. But the trends are unmistakable: Democrats are turning to the general, while Republicans are likely bracing themselves for another four months of what we saw this week.”
Sen. Ted Cruz told WTMJ that he didn’t attack Donald Trump for many months because he didn’t want to end up as “roadkill.”
Said Cruz: “When we started, there were 17 candidates in this race. It was a wonderfully diverse, talented, dynamic, young field. It had really incredible talent. If you look at a number of the candidates that took on Donald Trump early on, they ended up as roadkill.”
He added: “Our objective was simple from the beginning, it is to win this race, to win the nomination and then beat Hillary Clinton and turn this country around. And not be roadkill. I am very strongly committed on the anti-roadkill approach.”
“A majority of Republican insiders say Donald Trump should not get the GOP presidential nomination if he falls short of winning a majority of delegates – even if Trump amasses more than any of his opponents,” Politico reports.
“Roughly six-in-10 Republicans said the party should nominate another candidate if Trump finishes with a plurality, rather than the required 1,237-delegate majority necessary to claim the party nomination.”
For members: How Trump Could Lose at the Convention
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence (R) “says he believes a bill banning women from getting abortions because of fetal genetic abnormalities such as Down syndrome affirms the value of all human life,” the AP reports.
“The Republican governor signed the contentious measure into law on Thursday, making Indiana the second state with such a ban.”
In recent weeks Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-FL) “has been telling some Democrats in his district he would vote for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump if those were his two choices,” CBS Miami reports.
Said Curbelo: “I think both Donald Trump and Mrs. Clinton are flawed candidates, if you look at the polls the majority of Americans have negative views on both of them. So I am going to wait and see what happens on our side, but I have already said I will not support Mr. Trump, that is not a political decision that is a moral decision.”
Taegan 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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