2. If no GOP candidate gets the 1,237 delegates to clinch the nomination, Kasich’s play for the nomination isn’t all that far-fetched. Consider: He’s the only Republican left who hasn’t slammed Trump, his supporters overlap with Trump’s blue-collar base, he’s the most-electable Republican against Hillary Clinton, and he has a home court advantage with the convention in Cleveland. In addition, his resume as big-state governor and Congressional leader may not be a political asset, but should lend him credibility among the delegates in a possible floor fight.
He’d probably need to experience some luck: winning Ohio, hoping Trump flatlines, and Rubio doesn’t win Florida. Under that scenario, he could rack up delegates at the back end of the process and emerge with late momentum. Conservative Republicans would cry foul if Kasich emerged as a compromise pick, but a Kasich-Cruz ticket could satisfy both wings of the party.
3. Food for thought: What if George Wallace had won the Democratic nomination in 1972 with the Watergate scandal hitting its peak during the election? That’s usually a scenario of interest only to political daydreamers, but it isn’t too far from what’s happening now — a toxic Trump engaging in a hostile takeover of the party, with legal worries for Hillary Clinton worsening. (Bryan Pagliano, who set up Clinton’s e-mail server and was granted immunity from the feds, is doing a passable imitation of Alexander Butterfield.)
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