GOP focus shifts to Texas, Super Tuesday states

Austin American-Statesman
By Sean Collins Walsh - American-Statesman Staff
Feb. 20, 2016

Before the last ballot was cast in South Carolina, Republican presidential candidates were already shifting their attention to the next big primary date on the election calendar: March 1.

Twelve states will be holding GOP nominating contests that day, known as Super Tuesday, and the biggest prize will be the 155 Republican delegates up for grabs in Texas.

Texas this year moved its primary earlier on the electoral calendar to give Lone Star State voters a greater say in the nominating process. An indirect consequence of the move might be that the last Texan standing, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, picks up a crucial victory in the race.

Cruz, who Texas GOP voters supported by a wide margin in his 2012 primary victory en route to winning his Senate seat, will look to seize momentum over real estate mogul Donald Trump in a swath of the Bible Belt tailor made for Cruz's hardline conservative message.

"People will say, 'Of course Ted Cruz won Texas.' But what they need to look at is: How many delegates did he win? And I think Texas is what puts him ahead nationally on Super Tuesday, in the 'SEC primary,' and I think he becomes the front-runner," said Brendan Steinhauser, a strategist who has worked on Senate races for Cruz and rival GOP presidential hopeful Marco Rubio but who is unaligned in the presidential race. "You have to do well nationally that day if he's the guy who can stop Trump."

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/national-govt-politics/gop-focus-shifts-to-texas-super-tuesday-states/nqTSR/

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Predictions?

Rubio will place a distant 3rd, Cruz will win, but there are a lot of lib areas in Texas, so I don't see a landslide win for Cruz.

Super Tuesday and the SEC as a whole will be when campaign organization and ground game will come in to play.  These are two areas that I believe Cruz is far superior to any of the remaining candidates.  I think this superiority will translate at the ballot box and you will see Trump begin to fade rapidly!

Quote from: Solar on February 21, 2016, 07:11:37 AM
Rubio will place a distant 3rd, Cruz will win, but there are a lot of lib areas in Texas, so I don't see a landslide win for Cruz.

Cruz won his senate seat in 2012 by beating democrat Sadler 56-40 %.

Should be an interesting race.

Quote from: Bowhntr on February 21, 2016, 07:24:49 AM
Super Tuesday and the SEC as a whole will be when campaign organization and ground game will come in to play.  These are two areas that I believe Cruz is far superior to any of the remaining candidates.  I think this superiority will translate at the ballot box and you will see Trump begin to fade rapidly!

Bullshit!

Has there been any Texas polls done recently?

Quote from: Coolidge23 on February 21, 2016, 09:26:12 AM
Bullshit!

Well, you showed him. NOT!!!
Now if you'd like to add something other than emotion to prove your point?
That's how debate works.

Quote from: Fishman on February 21, 2016, 09:31:25 AM
Has there been any Texas polls done recently?

Yup

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/tx/texas_republican_presidential_primary-3622.html

Quote from: Coolidge23 on February 21, 2016, 09:26:12 AM
Bullshit!

Nice language.  Your points generally carry more credibility when not laced with profanity.  It's no wonder you support Trump!

Optimism!  a lot can change in a short time.  Kasich and Carson dropping out would help wide the lead over Trump.  Carson endorsing Cruz, and helping campaigning for him might even clear up the negative media crap. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZ-DtdyS8go

Carson, "Over the course of time, and what frequently happens, the good people have already dropped out.  By the time you get to the point you have to decide between the lessor of evils - we don't wanna be in that situation.  We just keep fighting, we keep putting out the information, at some point, people actually begin to get very interested in the actual policies and actual solutions, and not just the shiny objects in the room."

Kavuto, "So, no matter how you perform in SC today...you're still in this race."

Carson, "I will be going on to Nevada, please take note everyone"   blah-blah.

Carson got 8% of the GOP vote, tied with "heavy weights" Kasich and Bush (who just dropped out).

Quote from: Solar on February 21, 2016, 07:11:37 AM
Rubio will place a distant 3rd, Cruz will win, but there are a lot of lib areas in Texas, so I don't see a landslide win for Cruz.

Correctomundo. Dallas-fort Worth are strong holes of Republicans. The Austin area with so many musicians in the area is strongly liberal. Houston proper is also strongly liberal. To the west is Fort Bend County that is very pro Republican. South Texas is pretty much controlled by Democrats and Liberals. If Cruz gets the nomination, he will most probably carry the state big, but there is an awful lot of dislike out of Austin and Houston for him. East Texas is fairly conservative, but SE Texas is and has always been a hotbed for liberals Democrats. It will be some hard slogging even for Cruz. 

Quote from: Coolidge23 on February 21, 2016, 09:26:12 AM
Bullshit!

Thats very Trump like of you. You probably need to practice his favorite word though "Liar!"

Cruz will beat Trump by 3 or 4 percent.

Quote from: Coolidge23 on February 21, 2016, 09:26:12 AM
Bullshit!

Why? Have you seen any indication that Trump is rising above his usual 32%, 70% of the party is voting against him. Even in New Hampshire close to his New York base, where he put in all those resources, even with the airwaves saturated with Trump AFTER he lost in Iowa? Interestingly, enough the GOP is giving victories to the candidate drawing votes from disaffected Dems - Trump.

Texas has a few uber liberal areas. The Democrat caucus could be interesting.