Dick Morris: Cruz victory possible

Donald Trump is most likely to win the GOP presidential nomination. But Ted Cruz definitely has a path to victory if he can win key contests.

Trump’s current delegate lead over Cruz and John Kasich (Trump has 736 delegates, Cruz 463 and Kasich 143, according to The Associated Press) is more apparent than real. At some point, Marco Rubio is likely to endorse Cruz and release his 171 delegates. Since the Rubio campaign was conceived in the womb of the establishment’s anti-Trump initiative, his delegates are likely to go to the Texan en masse, giving Cruz 634 delegates, only 102 behind Trump.

{mosads}If Cruz wins Wisconsin, he will take most of its 42 GOP votes. And if, on April 9, he prevails in the Colorado delegate selection caucus — there will be no presidential primary or caucus in that state this year — he will get the bulk of the state’s 37 delegates. That should cut Trump’s lead substantially — perhaps to 70 or so.

A Wisconsin win by Cruz, which would be the Texan’s first victory in a major Northeastern industrial state, would show that as Trump’s popularity among women declines, Cruz is in a position to pick up important victories.

The senator can expect to lose the April 19 race in New York (for 95 delegates), the next state in line, but proportional rules may allow Cruz and Kasich to win a third of the delegates.

After New York, Cruz will be competitive and get his share of the delegates in most of the remaining states: Connecticut (28), Maryland (38), Rhode Island (19), Indiana (57) and New Mexico (24). He will likely pick up Nebraska’s 36 delegates and Montana’s 27 in their winner-take-all format, but may lose New Jersey’s 51 and Delaware’s 16 winner-take-all delegates.

Then comes California, with 172 delegates to be allocated proportionately under rules where the winner gets the vast bulk of the seats.

The latest poll, by the Los Angeles Times, shows Trump only 1 point ahead of Cruz in California, 36 percent to 35 percent (Kasich takes 14 percent). That means in March, the billionaire’s lead has dwindled from 11 to 5 to 1. Cruz is catching up fast. If he can keep growing, he will win a large share of the state’s delegates.

At the convention, Pennsylvania and North Dakota could make the difference. While the GOP binds its superdelegates, unlike the Democrats, to vote proportionately as their state has voted, the delegates from Pennsylvania (71) and North Dakota (28) are free to vote as they wish.

In all, it appears unlikely that Trump will win a first ballot majority. With Rubio’s support, Cruz will may well come within a 100 votes of Trump, setting up a second ballot.

At that point Cruz could have an ace in the hole, since he has moved in skillfully behind the primaries that have already been held to get as many second ballot delegates as possible. In many states, like South Carolina, delegates are not selected in the primaries but at subsequent caucuses. If Cruz can fill the seats with delegates favorable to him, they can switch on the second ballot, having satisfied their legal obligations by backing Trump on the first ballot.

At some point, Kasich must realize he has no hope. The fundamental fact is that most Cruz delegates, if released, would probably go to Trump rather than to Kasich, and most Trump delegates would back the Texas senator rather than the Ohio governor. The basic establishment/anti-establishment fault line still has Trump and Cruz on one side and Kasich on the other.

So Cruz may be in good shape to win on the second ballot. If, that is, he can win in Wisconsin and repeat his victories in other Northeastern states.

Morris, who served as adviser to former Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) and former President Clinton, is the author of 17 books, including his latest, “Power Grab: Obama’s Dangerous Plan for a One Party Nation” and “Here Come the Black Helicopters.” To get all of his and Eileen McGann’s columns for free by email, go to dickmorris.com.