Cruz To Focus on Indiana While Kasich Will Try To Win Oregon and New Mexico

Ted Cruz and John Kasich formally announced on Sunday night that they will be coordinating their campaign strategies in an attempt to force a contested Republican convention later this year.

At this point in the race, Ted Cruz and John Kasich have both been mathematically eliminated from winning the majority of the Republican delegates. Donald Trump, on the other hand, is hoping to win the majority of the delegates and could very well do so at this point.

In order to try and thwart "The Donald", Cruz and Kasich will be coordinating their campaign strategies in order to minimize the amount of delegates that Trump wins. Cruz is going to focus on Indiana over the near-term, while Kasich is going to focus on Oregon and New Mexico.

Trump failing to win 1,237 delegates would likely result in a contested convention, which could open the door to Cruz, Kasich or even somebody like Mitt Romney winning the GOP nomination.

Indiana is a strategically important state for Trump, as a loss there would make it quite a bit harder for him for his goal of a majority of delegates. Oregon and New Mexico, on the other hand, are smaller states in which Kasich could use his dwindling funds to more effect.

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As of this moment, Trump is leading in Indiana by between 5-7 points, depending on which media report you read. By focusing on Indiana, Cruz and pro-Cruz/anti-Trump Super PACs can more effectively try to close the gap.

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Donald Trump, as you can imagine, is not happy about this turn of events. He took to Twitter to vent:

"Wow, just announced that Lyin' Ted and Kasich are going to collude in order to keep me from getting the Republican nomination. DESPERATION!"

"Lyin' Ted and Kasich are mathematically dead and totally desperate. Their donors & special interest groups are not happy with them. Sad!"

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Will the Cruz/Kasich alliance have the desired impact? We'll see in early May.


Filed under: General Knowledge