He can’t win, so he should get out of Cruz’s way.
I had a fantasy about last night’s debate and, no, thank the Lord, it had nothing to do with Donald Trump.
What if, after putting in an elevating and eloquent debate performance that redeemed his little dip into the gutter with Donald Trump, Marco Rubio had used his closing statement last night to say this:
“For the good of our country and of the conservative movement, which is its best hope, we must rally around one candidate to defeat Donald J. Trump. The only candidate on this stage who has a mathematical pathway to victory is Ted Cruz. For the good of our country I am suspending my campaign as of tonight, and urging all those who want to beat Hillary in November to vote for Ted Cruz. John Kasich, will you join me in putting patriotism ahead of personal ambition?”
Imagine where we would be today if Rubio and Kasich had dropped out after losing the first four straight contests — one each in the North (New Hampshire), the South (South Carolina), the Midwest (Iowa), and the West (Nevada).
EDITORIAL: National Review Endorses Ted Cruz for President
Or even if Rubio had acknowledged the obvious after losing 14 more states before eking out a victory in Minnesota, which remains the sole state he has won?
Or, if that wasn’t enough, if Rubio had simply gotten out and endorsed on March 5 after being skunked in Kansas, Kentucky, Maine and Louisiana. We would now be celebrating this last Tuesday as the election in which Trump’s losing streak continued.
Fortunately, it is not too late.
#share#The truth is, Republican voters are showing a profound and determined reluctance to rally around Trump. Nate Silver just estimated that Cruz would get 80 percent of Rubio voters and two-thirds of Kasich voters if they dropped out. (I believe I was the first to point out the exit polls showing that Cruz would have won Michigan and consolidated almost all the non-Trump vote in Mississippi too.)
Take a look at that Michigan exit poll:
If Cruz had dropped out, leaving Rubio and Trump in a head-to-head matchup, Rubio still would have lost, 46 percent to 41 percent, but Cruz narrowly would have won Michigan head-to-head with Trump, 43 percent to 41 percent.
The truth is, Republican voters are showing a profound and determined reluctance to rally around Trump.
Meanwhile, a raft of state polls shows Trump is having trouble getting to 50 percent anywhere. In Florida, Trump has between 34 percent and 45 percent, depending on the poll. In Illinois, Trump is stuck at 32 percent; in Pennsylvania, 36 percent; in Ohio, between 29 percent and 41 percent. In Maryland, in a just-released poll, Trump is at 34 percent.
Trump is a very weak front-runner. A recent national ABC/Washington Post national poll confirms that if the race narrows to just Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, Cruz trounces the man from Manhattan, 54 percent to 41 percent.
The smart money clearly knows Cruz is the only alternative. Lindsay Graham, who has signaled his willingness to rally around Cruz if Team Romney will let him, also said the obvious: If Cruz gets out, his votes probably go mostly to Trump. If Rubio gets out, his votes go mostly to Cruz.
And yet, in the Wall Street Journal Karl Rove continues the fantasy of the GOP establishment: “At this stage, stopping Donald Trump from winning the nomination will require Republicans to vote strategically, casting ballots for the non-Trump candidate best positioned to win each state.”
#related#No Karl Rove, no Paul Singer, and no whomever is toying with the idea of running pro-choice Condoleezza Rice as a third-party candidate, the only way to stop Trump is to stop dividing the anti-Trump vote as we move to winner-take-all phase: Cruz or lose.
So here’s my new fantasy: After winning in Florida and Ohio, Rubio and Kasich announce they are endorsing Cruz in order to stop Trump.
Because this is not fantasy: It is Cruz or lose; your party, your movement, and your country.