Up until a couple of weeks ago, Trump and most of the pundits expected him to win in Wisconsin, possibly putting Cruz away for good.  Kasich was expected to do well and this was expected to split the no-Trump vote.  Just tonight, Bill O’Reilly said that he thought Cruz “might” win but it would be close.  It wasn’t close.  It wasn’t even close to being close.  The highest poll, prior to the election shows Cruz beating Trump 42% to 32%.  The average was Cruz 39.2%, Trump 34.5% and Kasich 20.7%.  One poll, taken over the weekend had Trump winning 42% to 32%.  The actual results were shockingly different. With 97% of the vote counted the results are: Cruz 48.5%, Trump 34.9% and Kasich 14.4%.  No one, and I do mean no one, was predicting that Cruz would approach 50% of the vote.

In addition, the turnout was at record levels, which was supposed to help Trump.  But, heavy turnout benefited Cruz, not Trump.

If you are wonder how bad it is, read the following excerpts from an e-mail send by the Trump campaign to the Washington Post tonight:

“Ted Cruz is worse than a puppet – he is a Trojan horse, being used by the party bosses attempting to steal the nomination from Mr. Trump,”

“Not only was he propelled by the anti-Trump Super PAC’s spending countless millions of dollars on false advertising against Mr. Trump, but he was coordinating with his own Super PAC’s [sic] (which is illegal) who totally control him.”

This is nothing short of sour grapes by a sore loser.  But there is something else going on here that the main stream media has missed.  Ted Cruz has been in a lot of town hall meetings lately, where he had the chance to give long reasoned answers to difficult questions. If you have watched any of these, Ted Cruz has knocked it out of the park.  He is far more eloquent that his critics realize. Last night, there was an incredible exchange during a town hall moderated by Megyn Kelly:

First the question:

I consider myself a moderate Republican, and I’m pro-choice. One of my fears and concerns is that if you become president, you may make abortion illegal nationwide. So what’s your message to me and other women and men regarding that issue and that fear?

Cruz responded with the following:

My whole life I’ve been a passionate defender of the Constitution, and I think judicial activism is wrong. One of the worst things about the Supreme Court in 1973 stepping in and seizing this issue is it took it out of control of the people. It said that five unelected judges will decide this issue rather than 330 million Americans. I believe under our Constitution we have a democratic society and that if someone wants to pass legislation limiting or expanding abortion, the way to do that is to convince your fellow citizens to make the case at the ballot box.

“And my view, I’m pro-life,” he said. “I believe that we should protect every human life, and we should protect every life from the moment of conception.”

But Cruz added that he would not make abortion illegal because he believes the issue should be decided in the states, according to the Constitution.

Making the case “at the ballot box,” he said, is “ultimately the check for both your views and my views, that you’ve got to convince our fellow citizens.”

“But I think all of us should agree that it’s a much better system to have important public policy issues decided by the people, at the ballot box, rather than five unelected lawyers just imposing their views on everybody else,” he added.

He continued:

And I will say there is more and more consensus we are seeing on this issue, as we see, for example, people coming together to bar extreme practices, things like partial-birth abortion, where we’re seeing a large consensus of American people saying this practice is gruesome; it’s barbaric. It is my hope that we see people’s hearts and minds change, but this is an issue where it’s going to take time for people’s hearts and minds to change–that if you’re gonna change a major issue of public policy, the way to do so, I believe, is at the ballot box.

Cruz addressed the issue of pregnancy resulting from a rape – often held up as a necessary “exception” to laws that restrict abortion. He explained that, as solicitor general in Texas, he handled many cases involving rape. Cruz said he argued before the Supreme Court in defense of state laws imposing capital punishment for the worst child rapists.

“Rape is a horrific crime against the humanity of a person and needs to be punished and punished severely,” adding:

But at the same time, as horrible as that crime is, I don’t believe it’s the child’s fault. And we weep at the crime and want to do everything we can to prevent the crime on the front end and punish the criminal, but I don’t believe it makes sense to blame the child.

Kelly said some would say Cruz’s view would force a woman who had been raped to go through the trauma of carrying her rapist’s baby for nine months.

“You have to convince your fellow citizens,” Cruz repeated. “That’s ultimately the check of a democratic society, is you’ve got to convince 330 million Americans. And before Roe v. Wade, it was a question state by state, so here it would be a question for Wisconsin.”  “What should the laws be, governing abortion?” he asked. “If Roe v. Wade was not the law, it would be up to the people of Wisconsin to decide, and the people of Wisconsin might decide to allow some exceptions, to not allow some exceptions.”  “Everyone agrees you always want to protect the life of the mother,” Cruz stated.

He continued: “But if you trust the people – it’s one of the reasons why the Constitution and Bill of Rights can be such a unifying document and approach because ultimately the Constitution entrusts the people with making these decisions, not having them forced on us by unelected judges.”

 Even Ronald Reagan, the great communicator, was never capable of giving this kind of reasoned response to such a difficult question.  Most Republicans become defensive and fall into the liberal trap of focusing on the exception rather than the fundamental issue.  Others resort to trite sounding religious clichés.  Cruz did neither. He not only did not back down, he brilliantly focused attention back on the real issue which is whether or not we chose to value life itself and why voters, rather than activists judges should decide.  Ted Cruz is uniquely qualified to explain conservative positions simply and eloquently without becoming defensive.  It would be a huge mistake to underestimate this man.

TDM