Cruz Passes on Missouri Primary Recount April 19, 2016

(AP) – Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won’t ask for a recount of his narrow loss to businessman Donald Trump in Missouri’s presidential primary.

Cruz campaign manager Jeff Roe told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the campaign won’t request the recount. Cruz had faced an end-of-Tuesday deadline to contest the results of the March 15 primary.

Trump defeated Cruz by 1,965 votes out of more than 939,000 cast in the Republican primary – a margin of about one-fifth of a percentage point.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defeated Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by 1,574 votes out of more than 629,000 cast in the Democratic primary – a margin of one-quarter of a percentage point.

Sanders had said previously that he wouldn’t request a recount.

GOP Delegate Maneuvers in Kansas April 7, 2016

Republican delegate maneuvering is underway in Kansas.
Many now expect the delegate-to-delegate battle to extend from here all the way to the floor of the GOP Convention in Cleveland in July.
An example of it took place recently at the Kansas Republican 3rd District Congressional Convention.
The 3rd District GOP had three delegate position available. Two were awarded to the Cruz campaign. The other went to the Marco Rubio operation.
Rubio has now dropped out the race.
Kansas GOP rules state national convention delegates are bound to a specific candidate until they are officially released by that campaign.
Rubio’s operation has not done that yet.
“There is an anticipation that Rubio will release those delegates at some point” said Kansas GOP Executive director Clay Barker.
“And under our rules, they become free agents. They can vote for whoever they want. That could become key in Kansas,” he added.
At the 3rd Congressional convention, State Representative Amanda Grosserode was the top vote getter.
That entitled to choose what delegate slot she wanted.
Grosserode picked the Rubio slot, even though she supports Ted Cruz for the nomination.
If Rubio releases his delegates, Grosserode could become an easy delegate pick up for the Cruz campaign in an political environment where every delegate counts.

Dole Rips Cruz in NYT January 21, 2016

NY Times:
Bob Dole, the former Kansas senator and 1996 Republican presidential nominee, has never been fond of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. But in an interview Wednesday, Mr. Dole said that the party would suffer “cataclysmic” and “wholesale losses” if Mr. Cruz were the nominee, and that Donald J. Trump would fare better.

“I question his allegiance to the party,” Mr. Dole said of Mr. Cruz. “I don’t know how often you’ve heard him say the word ‘Republican’ — not very often.” Instead, Mr. Cruz uses the word “conservative,” Mr. Dole said, before offering up a different word for Mr. Cruz: “extremist.”

“I don’t know how he’s going to deal with Congress,” he said. “Nobody likes him.”

But Mr. Dole, 92, said he thought Mr. Trump could “probably work with Congress, because he’s, you know, he’s got the right personality and he’s kind of a deal-maker.”

The remarks by Mr. Dole reflect wider unease with Mr. Cruz among members of the Republican establishment, but few leading members of the party have been as candid and cutting.

“If he’s the nominee, we’re going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures,” said Mr. Dole, who served in the House and Senate for 35 years and won the Iowa caucuses twice. He described Mr. Cruz as having falsely “convinced the Iowa voters that he’s kind of a mainstream conservative.”

The only person who could stop Mr. Cruz from capturing the nomination? “I think it’s Trump,” Mr. Dole said, adding that Mr. Trump was “gaining a little.”

He said he had met Mr. Trump only once, 30 years ago. “But he has toned down his rhetoric,” he added. As for Mr. Cruz, he said: “There’ll be wholesale losses if he’s the nominee. Our party is not that far right.”

Mr. Dole repeatedly said he was strongly supporting Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, although he acknowledged that Mr. Bush has had trouble gaining traction.

More: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/20/bob-dole-warns-of-cataclysmic-losses-with-ted-cruz-and-says-donald-trump-would-do-better/?_r=0

Trump Leads in New Mo Scout Poll December 21, 2015

A new poll shows Republican front runner Donald Trump is also leading in Missouri.

The survey, in the political newsletter, the Missouri Scout, gives Trump a 10 point lead over his closest rival, Texas Senator Ted Cruz.

The poll gives Trump a 33-23 edge over Cruz.

A report in the Kansas City Star points out that Trump not only leads statewide in the survey, but in each of Missouri’s eight congressional districts

That is key because Missouri divides up its convention delegates along Congressional District lines.

The Star reports that Trump leads crus by just one point in the 7th Congressional District in southwestern Missouri.

Crus trails Trump by four points in Missouri’s 6th Congressional District.

Cruz’, campaign manager is Jeff Rose of Kansas City.

Roe is also a close political advisor to Missouri 6th District Congressman Sam Graves.

It is likely those close-home ties will have Roe pushing for a strong Missouri effort by Cruz during the March 15, 2016 Missouri primary.

Sam Graves Endorses Ted Cruz December 8, 2015

North Missouri Congressman Sam Graves has endorsed Ted Cruz’ presidential campaign.

“”I have personally seen Ted Cruz stand up and fight on the issues that matter the most to conservatives, even when it wasn’t popular in Congress,” said Graves in a Cruz csampaign news release.

Graves’ endorsement is not much of a surprise.

His long-time political advisor, Jeff Roe is now Cruz’ campaign manager.

The late fall has been a pretty good period for Cruz.

His numbers in Iowa, which has its caucus on Feb. 1., have been growing.

One poll from Monmouth University has Cruz leading in Iowa, with 24%.

A CNN poll, however has Donald Trump continuing to leading in Iowa with 33% of the vote. Cruz places second in that survey with 20% of the support.