GOP BIDES ITS TIME ON CRUZ, TRUMP
Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are most popular at the polls.
des moines, iowa» Three weeks before Iowa kicks off the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz are generating overwhelming enthusiasm among Republican voters in the state, along with concern, though not panic, among the party professionals who believe both are unelectable in November against the Democratic nominee.
Despite such fears, talk of a “takedown” effort aimed at either Trump or Cruz appears to have faded as the Feb. 1 caucuses in Iowa near. For now, there is nervous acceptance that two of the Republican Party’s most divisive figures may stay at the top of the presidential pack well into the first month of voters getting their say.
“Cruz would not only cost us the general, he would cost the GOP the future. Trump is not a Republican and he is not a conservative,” said Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, who is not affiliated with a 2016 campaign. “The geometry is conflicting: If you limit one, you aid the other.
“At the end,” Castellanos said, “Republicans may face the devil’s bargain and have to settle for the lesser of two anti-establishment evils.”
That feeling is echoed by party officials across the country, who acknowledged they have few tools to stop Cruz or Trump. Instead, there is hope that voters ultimately settle on what they consider a more viable alternative from a group of candidates that includes Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
“Let’s see how the votes go before we panic,” said Washington-based Republican operative John Feehery, who has been critical of Cruz and Trump.
Republican National committeeman Ron Kaufman of Massachusetts said the party’s “centrist conservatives” will have to be patient until what they see as a more electable alternative to Trump and Cruz emerges.
“This is about who’s going to be in the finals,” Kaufman said. “Clearly on one side, it’s going to be Trump and/or Cruz. And for the centrist conservatives, it’s going to come down to one of three governors or Rubio.”
There is unquestioned excitement among the GOP electorate in Iowa for the two front-runners.
On Saturday, Cruz concluded a six-day, 28-stop trek across the state, drawing overflow crowds everywhere — from a pizza restaurant in Pocahontas to a small college in Sioux Center, where hundreds packed the auditorium, spilling into the stairwell and upper level.
It’s much the same for Trump, who is showing no signs of slowing down after leading most national preference polls since the summer. The brash real estate billionaire and former reality television star routinely draws thousands of people to his rallies, packing high school auditoriums, arenas, convention centers — even an airplane hangar — across the country.