Monday, April 25, 2016

First Read: Why the Kasich-Cruz Alliance Could Backfire

First Read is a morning briefing from Meet the Press and the NBC Political Unit on the day's most important political stories and why they matter.
 
Why the Cruz-Kasich alliance could backfire

On paper, the alliance between Ted Cruz and John Kasich -- whereby Kasich will skip the May 3 Indiana primary to help Cruz against frontrunner Donald Trump, while Cruz will skip Oregon (May 17) and New Mexico (June 7) to help Kasich -- makes a lot of sense. After all, when you add up the Cruz-Kasich percentages in recent polls, that number beats Trump's percentage. The alliance is also necessary, given that the three public polls out of Indiana now show Trump ahead -- and if Trump wins the Hoosier State, it's game over for Cruz and Kasich. But we can count three reasons why last night's announced alliance/truce could end up backfiring. One, it plays right into Trump's argument that Republican forces are conspiring against him, and that the contest is rigged. Indeed, he released this statement last night: "When two candidates who have no path to victory get together to stop a candidate who is expanding the party by millions of voters, (all of whom will drop out if I am not in the race) it is yet another example of everything that is wrong in Washington and our political system. This horrible act of desperation, from two campaigns who have totally failed, makes me even more determined, for the good of the Republican Party and our country, to prevail!" 

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