Cruz claims he's won 'landslides over and over' beating Trump in five consecutive states – even though only one of them held an election
- Texas senator won handily in Wisconsin on April 5 but his more recent 'voterless' victories have drawn scorn from Donald Trump supporters
- Cruz has added to his convention delegate count by appealing to party activists convening in states with no primary elections
- He said on 'Good Morning America' that 'we have won five [states] in a row, and Donald's upset so he's throwing a fit'
- Trump says Cruz 'has to get his delegates from the Republican bosses' and frames those wins as sneaky and meaningless
- Cruz insists he is winning 'grassroots' victories and claims: 'This is how elections are won in America'
- For the latest on the GOP primaries visit www.dailymail.co.uk/gopprimary
By David Martosko, Us Political Editor For Dailymail.com
Published: 08:48 EST, 18 April 2016 | Updated: 09:28 EST, 18 April 2016
Ted Cruz boasted Monday morning that he has won 'landslides' in the last five states to award Republican convention delegates, even though only one of those states held a popular-vote election.
'There have been a total of five states that have voted in the last three weeks,' he claimed during a town hall event on 'Good Morning America.'
'In those states, starting with Utah, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Colorado and Wyoming, 1.3 million people voted in those states. And he lost all five. We have won five in a row, and Donald's upset so he's throwing a fit.'
Cruz reiterated moments later that in 'five states in a row, we've won landslides over and over and over again.'
Cruz won the April 5 Wisconsin primary decisively with the help of Gov. Scott Walker and other establishment allies.
That single state's voting tally accounted for more than 82.5 per cent of the 1.3 million votes Cruz cited.
Another 13.6 per cent came from Utah, where the state Republican party opted to hold caucuses instead of a secret-ballot primary election.
The rest were spread across North Dakota, Colorado and Wyoming, which awarded him delegates on the basis of party-insider conventions in which his campaign aides worked behind the scenes to win support for their hand-picked slates.
Cruz scooped up all 14 of Wyoming's delegates on Saturday after front-runner Donald Trump's campaign made little effort to put up a fight.
Wyoming held no primary vote. A total of 475 party activists convened in Casper to hold a state convention and appoint Cruz loyalists to represent them at the Republican National Convention in July.
Trump hammered the process, calling voterless victories 'rigged' during a Saturday afternoon rally in Syracuse, New York.
But Cruz called it a 'grassroots' triumph.
'We had a tremendous show of grassroots support that resulted in a critical victory at today's Wyoming Republican Convention,' he said in a statement.
'Grassroots are rising up. Republicans overwhelmingly elected delegates who will support us at the national convention and nominate us to take on Hillary Clinton. This is how elections are won in America.'
- - - - - - - - - -
Poster comment:
Lyin' Ted Cruz
