LAS VEGAS (CNN) – Ted Cruz sought to erase lingering skepticism from Jewish Republicans about his ability to win in November and predicted a Donald Trump nomination would result in a “bloodbath of Walter Mondale proportions.”
“Can Cruz win?” the Texas senator said here at The Venetian hotel before the Republican Jewish Coalition, warning that he would “get a little wonky” before hundreds of leaders. “The best policy positions in the world don’t mean squat if you lose.”
Cruz, acknowledging that he likely disagrees with those in the crowd on immigration and social issues such as gay marriage, noted correctly that he was not the first choice of many Republicans in the room.
But he stressed to Jewish leaders here that he was both their best chance to maintain GOP control of Congress — key to conservative foreign policy hands — and the best second choice they have in the race, raising the specter of a blowout should Trump lead the GOP ticket.
“If the top of the ticket is blown out of the water by 10 points, we’re losing the Senate. And there’s not a thing that can be done to stop it,” Cruz said, saying a Trump candidacy would lead to a “bloodbath of Walter Mondale proportions.”
Cruz, saying he and the “sophisticated political audience” have “enormous agreement” on policy, instead aimed to convince the Republican Jewish Coalition that a vote for him would not be wasted, outlining in detailed nuts-and-bolts that he has a path to beat Trump and then the Democratic nominee in November.
Many in this audience of prominent Republican donors feel that while Cruz is in sync with them on protecting Israel, he is too brash in tone and conservative in policy to win. On Saturday evening, Cruz tackled that perception head-on.
And he suggested that the favor Trump had curried with the pro-Israel community thanks to a speech at another Zionist summit, AIPAC, was only so successful because he “read (a) promise off teleprompters.”
But Cruz’s most pressing task was to pitch politics, not policy.
Cruz on Saturday rested his case more than ever before on an open Republican National Convention, saying “delegate math” was on his side, as he professed that he had a legitimate path to the White House.
