Cruz Still Faces Daunting Delegate Math After Win in Wisconsin

[BLOOMBERG.COM]

It was a very good night for Ted Cruz.

A rough stretch for Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump culminated in the Texas underdog steamrolling to a decisive victory in Wisconsin on Tuesday night.

“Tonight is a turning point. It is a rallying cry. It is a call from the hard-working people of Wisconsin to the people of America,” a boisterous Cruz said at his watch party at the American Serb Hall Banquet in Milwaukee, where a packed room of fans savored the moment while sipping on Bud Light and Stella Artois beer.

“As a result of tonight … I am more and more convinced that our campaign is going to earn the 1,237 delegates needed to win the Republican nomination. Either before Cleveland or at the convention in Cleveland we will win a majority of the delegates and we will beat Hillary Clinton in November.”

But Cruz wakes up to a discomfiting reality Wednesday: he needs about four-fifths of remaining delegates to win the Republican presidential nomination. Even cutting into Trump’s still-large lead in the primary is a stretch as surveys show him ahead in the three most delegate-rich states yet to vote: New York, Pennsylvania, and California.

David Wasserman, an election analyst at the Cook Political Report, said Cruz’s victory bodes “well for him in Indiana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and other more culturally conservative states that have yet to vote.”

However, “Trump is likely to erase whatever poor performance he has in [Wisconsin with] a big win in New York on April 19—he could win almost all 95 delegates there,” Wasserman added.

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