Politics –
Kasich – Rubio Ticket In The Works?
Look out, Donald Trump — Ted Cruz, John Kasich and the bulk of the Republican Party has placed a bullseye on your back and is out to get you at all costs.
Politics
Earlier this week, it was discovered that Cruz and Kasich have joined in tandem to stop Trump by any means necessary.  They’ve chosen to divvy up states between them and not compete against each other in any of the upcoming states. Instead, their plan is for Cruz to compete heavily in Indiana, while Kasich will compete only in Oregon and New Mexico.  They will not battle each other, but will only battle Trump in the hopes of preventing him from gaining an additional 109 delegates from those states.
If that wasn’t enough, ultra conservative donor Charles Koch of the infamous Koch Brothers announced that he has so little faith in Donald Trump as a potential Commander-In-Chief, he has come to the realization that Democrat Hillary Clinton might make a better president than “The Donald.”
Ouch!
Oh, but the anti-Trump sentiment doesn’t end there. Now there’s word that Gov. Kasich is remaining in the race to serve as more than just a spoiler.  He actually has concocted a master plan with Florida senator and former GOP candidate Marco Rubio to seize the nomination during the expected contested GOP convention this summer.
Donald Trump needs 1,237 delegates to win on the first ballot at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Every political pundit alive has already predicted that it will be next to impossible for him to reach that figure prior to the convention, since he would need to win well over 50% of the remaining delegates to do so.  In fact, they say he won’t get close to that mark even with uncommitted delegates.
With Cruz and Kasich remaining in the race through Cleveland, they will not only halt Trump’s march to the nomination, but will each have a sizable delegate total by the time they arrive at the convention — which should be more than enough to keep both of them in the conversation among delegates.
Politics
Once the first ballot is taken and no candidate has enough delegates for the nomination, it will become a veritable free-for-all, since delegates will no longer be required to remain committed to their original candidate and will be free to vote for whomever they wish. That is when “Plan B” will kick into high gear.
Gov. Kasich will then remind delegates that in head-to-head match-ups, Ted Cruz has lost every poll to Hillary Clinton at least 55% of the time. However, he will add that he has never lost a single poll to Hillary Clinton in 2016, is broadly acceptable to both Party elites and conservatives, and is by far the most accomplished Republican primary candidate left in the race.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting. When Marco Rubio “suspended’ his campaign, he deliberately held onto all 172 delegates he won. Why did he keep them instead of release them when he left the race? It was so he could create a “Unity” ticket with John Kasich in Cleveland —- one that would have somewhere between 350 to 600 delegates on the first ballot at the Convention, depending upon the amount of delegates John Kasich wins going forward. With that amount of delegates, Kasich and Rubio could wield some enormous power on the convention floor — which is exactly what they are expected to do.
A Kasich – Rubio ticket would appeal to both mainstream Republicans (Kasich) and Tea Partiers (Rubio), to both white and Latino voters, to younger voters who want to see someone relatively young on the ticket, to those looking for a ticket that holds both executive and legislative experience at both the state and federal levels, and to those who believe members of a presidential ticket should hail from a major battleground state (Ohio and Florida).
If this plan falls into place as described, it would be the final nail in the Trump coffin. It would also be horrible news for Democrats, who are set for a landslide win of epic proportions against Trump and anybody on a potential GOP ticket.
Stay tuned…
Oh boy this is scary. I didn't even think about something like this before. Truth was always saying Katich is the one guy who was always the adult in the room. Then you add in a latino and figure in the state of Ohio and Florida, that could be real dangerous. I know DJ was saying we need to root for Trump because if Repubs pull something like this off at the convention they can save their party. I hope not though and I think Hillary better start pulling out Julio Castro as a running mate. He's young and latino and way more exciting than her. Democrats are going to need somebody like him if Repubs pull this rabbit out the hat.
Hey, thanks for the shout-out BD.
Yes. I have long considered Kasich to be the only possible serious threat to Hillary, though I had put his chances of actually beating her at slim…very slim.
But I had also pointed out that Kasich stands litle-to-No chance of winning the Repub nomination because frankly, a rather sizeable portion of Repub-base voters can't stand him and will NOT vote for him under any circumstance. (SEE his total of 1 primary win thus far)
Trump now refers to Kasich as Mr. "1 for 41"…and he's correct. To date, Kasich has won only One state – his home state of Ohio. That's it.
While Rubio, on the other hand, has won 2 or 3 primaries they weren't big states and most telling- he FAILED to carry the Biggest prize for himself -his own home-state of Florida.
Added to all that……….
Though the deal between Kasich and Cruz is legal I believe it's going to backfire big-time especially when it comes to Kasich and the perception that he's the only *principled* Repub in the bunch. I know that my opinion of Kasich has certainly changed since I became aware (via MSNBC) that the Kasich camp had dogged Cruz to go along with this collusion for 2 months before Cruz finally agreed to do so.
Suffice it to say, I don't think much of Kasich anymore. IMO, his deal with Cruz smacks of arrogance, cynicism and desperation on the part of both men. And, I believe, it probably kills any chance of Kasich beating Hillary now no matter who he picks as his VP…least of all Rubio (who btw is Cuban -not quite the same as Hispanic).
Not to mention that Kasich colluding with Cruz to deny Trump (the actual winner) the nomination feeds right into Trump's claim that the entire GOP primary elections process is "rigged" and corrupt."
As I've previously expressed, the GOP is d*med if they do…and d*mned if they don't…nominate Trump.
….and on a related note…….
"Trump has the one thing his GOP foes lack: democratic legitimacy."
Cruz and Kasich might well outmaneuver Trump and keep him from his magic number with wins in Indiana, New Mexico, and Oregon, even as the bumbling start to their nonaggression pact has left them looking more like the Superior Foes of the Donald than than actual competitors. But it won’t matter either way. Whether he gets to 1,237 or not, Trump has an unbeatable advantage—democratic legitimacy. And if Republican leaders try to take the nomination from his hands, he’ll have a powerful rallying cry:
They’re trying to steal your vote.
For once in his campaign, he would be right. To take the nomination from the candidate with the most votes is to tell ordinary Republicans that their ballots don’t matter—that the will of elites outweighs the will of the voters. That many of those elites are elected officials—and themselves accountable to voters—doesn’t matter; that they might make a good choice doesn’t matter, either. What matters is the widespread belief that votes count and that voters have the final say on the choice of nominee. Ignoring this belief wouldn’t just confirm every possible critique of “the establishment”; it would tear the party apart. […] – Jamelle Bouie, Slate writer
Kasich will no doubt continue to try to sell his claim that "I'm the only one who can beat Hillary Clinton" all the way to the GOP convention…and yes, I certainly believed it was possible at one point in time during the Repub primaries. But not now.
And no way the GOPe/RNC are going to take the nomination from Trump and give it to Kasich. Not unless they've decided to completely kill off what little is left of that party, because that's exactly what will happen. The Repub *base* …and especially Trump supporters…will destroy that party once and for all, without thinking twice about it