Republican: Time for Kasich to bow out
As much as I hate math, it appears the 2016 nomination on the Republican side is going to come down to just that.
While voters have a role in choosing the nominee of the party, the actual people who vote for the party nominee are the delegates who go to the party convention. In order to be the nominee, a contender needs to have a certain number of these delegates win – and for the GOP, that magic number is 1,237. And as of Monday, March 21, Donald Trump has 678 delegates, Senator Ted Cruz has 423 and Governor John Kasich has 143.
As they charge full steam towards the convention, candidates are trying to rally their supporters and undecided voters to get additional delegates.
Trump says the party needs to rally around him because he currently has the highest amount of delegates and is the candidate most likely to clinch the nomination.
Cruz is trying to rally his conservative base and those in the “anyone but Trump” movement to say that if they want to stop Trump from getting the nomination, they have to vote for him, the guy with the second most delegates.
The real question in my mind is: why is Kasich still running? Yes, after Rubio dropped out Kasich can claim he is the only true moderate left in the race, but this election cycle has not been good to moderate, establishment candidates.
Kasich can claim to be a candidate who is not Donald Trump, but he’s so far behind in delegates, its mathematically impossible for him to catch up.
Kasich can claim that he can help prevent Trump from being the nominee by winning in a contested convention (when nobody has 1,237), but that would anger the millions of people who voted for Trump and Cruz.
Kasich could say he wants to use his delegates for influence at the convention to try and get the Vice President spot, but in a recent interview, he said no way to that.
So what the heck is Kasich doing if he wants to stop Trump as much as Cruz does?
As a conservative Republican-or now speaking to a broader audience-as an American who can vote, I don’t want to see Trump be the chosen candidate for President.
So to potential Kasich voters: please consider carefully where your support lies.
A vote for Kasich only will help Trump and a vote for Cruz is currently the only way to stop Trump.