Ted Cruz was counting on a win in Indiana’s primary last week, and when he lost by nearly 17 points, the Texas senator wisely dropped out of the race. He’d already been mathematically eliminated from clearing the 1,237 delegate threshold, and if Cruz couldn’t win over Hoosier Republicans, he couldn’t prevent Donald Trump’s inevitable claim to the nomination.
And yet, NBC News reported earlier that Cruz hasn’t ruled out the possibility of reviving his campaign from the dead.
Former presidential candidate Ted Cruz declined Tuesday to say that he will support Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump, leaving open the possibility of restarting his own White House bid if he sees “a viable path to victory.”Pressed by supporter Glenn Beck in an interview if he could consider jumping back into the 2016 race if he wins Tuesday’s nomination contest in Nebraska, Cruz said, “My assumption is that that will not happen.”But, he added, “The reason we suspended the race last week was that with Indiana’s loss I didn’t see a viable path to victory. If that changes we will certainly respond accordingly.”
Let’s not overstate matters; Cruz didn’t say he’s likely to jump back into the 2016 race. In fact, he said the opposite. The senator did, however, leave open the possibility, and he must have realized that would raise eyebrows.
Some conservatives have suggested Cruz might have been kidding. It’s sometimes difficult to tell with the Texas Republican — he has more of a dry wit — but the fine folks at Right Wing Watch posted an audio clip if you want to judge for yourself.
Naturally, Glenn Beck used this as an opportunity to tell Nebraska Republicans to run out and support Cruz in today’s primary, suggesting the host did not think the senator was just joking.
As for the larger circumstances, Cruz was also asked this morning whether he’ll support Trump’s campaign, and the Texas Republican adopted a wait-and-see attitude.
“This is a choice every voter is going to have to make and I would note it’s not a choice we as the voters have to make today,” he said.
I’ll put him down as a “maybe.”
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Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."