Your analysis has a few underlying flaws.
1. The general consensus is that Cruz is eligible.
2. The races in the midwest already seem to be messing with your observed trend. Iowa broke for Cruz. Minnesota broke for Rubio. Oklahoma is hard to peg, but it's arguably midwestern and dashed for Cruz.
3. The West is politically mixed. Regardless, the next leg of the trail largely involves closed primaries where the ideological makeup of the state doesn't matter as much as the ideological makeup of the party.
4. What on earth makes Kasich the strongest candidate of the bunch? He has not even come within striking distance of winning a state. Don't fall back on his record. Nobody cares. That isn't even factoring in fundraising capability and activist mobilization.
I could see his supporters possibly breaking for Trump. Possibly Rubio. Definitely not Cruz.
5. It seems to me that hammering Trump for being...well what he is happens to be working. These things happen in cycles. Cruz had his turn between Iowa and Nevada. Now it looks like Trump has his.
Overall, we agree. Trump is either getting nominated or we get a brokered convention. I suppose I just don't see as easy a path to the nomination as you do. That and I happen to think the Cruz-Rubio duo will make for potent opposition.
1. The general consensus is that Cruz is eligible.
2. The races in the midwest already seem to be messing with your observed trend. Iowa broke for Cruz. Minnesota broke for Rubio. Oklahoma is hard to peg, but it's arguably midwestern and dashed for Cruz.
3. The West is politically mixed. Regardless, the next leg of the trail largely involves closed primaries where the ideological makeup of the state doesn't matter as much as the ideological makeup of the party.
4. What on earth makes Kasich the strongest candidate of the bunch? He has not even come within striking distance of winning a state. Don't fall back on his record. Nobody cares. That isn't even factoring in fundraising capability and activist mobilization.
I could see his supporters possibly breaking for Trump. Possibly Rubio. Definitely not Cruz.
5. It seems to me that hammering Trump for being...well what he is happens to be working. These things happen in cycles. Cruz had his turn between Iowa and Nevada. Now it looks like Trump has his.
Overall, we agree. Trump is either getting nominated or we get a brokered convention. I suppose I just don't see as easy a path to the nomination as you do. That and I happen to think the Cruz-Rubio duo will make for potent opposition.
2. My bad, when I say Midwest I mean the Great Lakes. I see those states as the Plains states. Nevertheless Cruz won those states by lying and fraudulent methods. As for Minnesota lol, it's no surprise Trump lost there, it's Little Mecca after all.
3. True and good point.
4. His record is what makes him best indeed. Aside from that just his management style as shown in the campaign proves he's the only one that can reunite the disparate factions of the GOP by peace. Trump can reunite them by strength. The fact Kasich doesn't have big bucks is because he's not a bought off puppet like Cruz and Rubio. That's why Cruz and Rubio are ahead, they're paid off puppets.
5. This I disagree with most, Trump has been dominant the entire time. Even where he has lost he's still come close enough to take a fair portion of delegates, but where he has won he blown out the polls.
Indeed as is oft the case we agree to the ends, but merely not the means lol. I don't think Cruz and Rubio will team up, Cruz is a natural viper, him and Rubio have all ready bit at each other before, I expect they will again.
Lol I guess this is where we enter the Harry Potter allusion for Marco Potter and Cruzdemort:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqwpHjMBwuM
[video=youtube;rqwpHjMBwuM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqwpHjMBwuM[/video]
"Neither can live (politically) while the other survives"
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