Republican Primary scenario

[Landslide Lyndon]

Let's say that Cruz wins Iowa and Trump wins New Hampshire.
Rubio comes third and second respectively.
How will things go after that?

[Bull Moose Base]

To some extent it  dependx on what the immediate expectations going in were compared to actual victory margins. But the most likely scenario is Cruz and Trump get momentum and pull away from the pack in national and South Carolina polling as the media (of the GOP side) focuses on the Cruz-Trump competition heading to SC and the overthrow of the GOP establishment, epitomized in the catastrophic failure of Bush. There's probably a last ditch effort by some establishment actors to boost Rubio, but he'd have a narrow path in that scenario.

[The Other Castro]

The establishment tries desperately to prop up Rubio for a victory in Nevada after abandoning hopes of winning South Carolina. Super Tuesday is split between Cruz and Trump. The party decides to settle for Cruz and supports him to prevent Trump from winning. With Cruz they just lose an election, but with Trump they lose the whole party.

[Maxwell]

The establishment tries desperately to prop up Rubio for a victory in Nevada after abandoning hopes of winning South Carolina. Super Tuesday is split between Cruz and Trump. The party decides to settle for Cruz and supports him to prevent Trump from winning. With Cruz they just lose an election, but with Trump they lose the whole party.

This looks about right to me.

[Young Conservative]

The establishment tries desperately to prop up Rubio for a victory in Nevada after abandoning hopes of winning South Carolina. Super Tuesday is split between Cruz and Trump. The party decides to settle for Cruz and supports him to prevent Trump from winning. With Cruz they just lose an election, but with Trump they lose the whole party.

I know that today's polls mean very little, but Senator Cruz is fairly competitive with Secretary Clinton. I believe that the Senator can make quite a competitive race and could even win the election, assuming Secretary Clinton continues her current, lackluster campaign strategy. Senator Cruz has a lot of money behind him, a grassroots team, and could inspire overwhelming conservative turnout since the GOP populace has been waiting for the party to nominate a conservative since President Reagan. He's not my top choice, but the argument behind his path to victory is strong.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

The trouble with Cruz is that everyone kind of hates him. There will be a shortage of surrogates willing to stump for him in a genera.

[tgards79]

Cruz and Rubio battle it out to the end (after Rubio wins Florida), the only question is whether Trump, Bush and Carson hang around long enough to prevent one person from securing the nomination before the convention.  My bet is not, and all hell breaks loose at the convention, with Mitt Romney waiting in the wings as a compromise candidate.  Romney ends up winning only 8 states as the enraged base fails to go to the polls.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The establishment tries desperately to prop up Rubio for a victory in Nevada after abandoning hopes of winning South Carolina. Super Tuesday is split between Cruz and Trump. The party decides to settle for Cruz and supports him to prevent Trump from winning. With Cruz they just lose an election, but with Trump they lose the whole party.

I know that today's polls mean very little, but Senator Cruz is fairly competitive with Secretary Clinton. I believe that the Senator can make quite a competitive race and could even win the election, assuming Secretary Clinton continues her current, lackluster campaign strategy. Senator Cruz has a lot of money behind him, a grassroots team, and could inspire overwhelming conservative turnout since the GOP populace has been waiting for the party to nominate a conservative since President Reagan. He's not my top choice, but the argument behind his path to victory is strong.

I actually agree with this to an extent. I know a lot of Trump supporters would probably stay home if Rubio or Jeb was the nominee, but many seem to hold a high opinion of Cruz. He could probably bring the Trumpeters out in large numbers while still receiving the reluctant support of the party moderates.

[eric82oslo]

Let's say that Cruz wins Iowa and Trump wins New Hampshire.
Rubio comes third and second respectively.
How will things go after that?

Many candidates will drop out after Iowa (Huckabee & Santorum being the most obvious ones, also Gilmore) and some more after New Hampshire (Pataki, Fiorina, Paul, Kasich come to mind, possibly even Bush), both events I imagine would shake up the race quite considerably.

[eric82oslo]

The establishment tries desperately to prop up Rubio for a victory in Nevada after abandoning hopes of winning South Carolina. Super Tuesday is split between Cruz and Trump. The party decides to settle for Cruz and supports him to prevent Trump from winning. With Cruz they just lose an election, but with Trump they lose the whole party.

I know that today's polls mean very little, but Senator Cruz is fairly competitive with Secretary Clinton. I believe that the Senator can make quite a competitive race and could even win the election, assuming Secretary Clinton continues her current, lackluster campaign strategy. Senator Cruz has a lot of money behind him, a grassroots team, and could inspire overwhelming conservative turnout since the GOP populace has been waiting for the party to nominate a conservative since President Reagan. He's not my top choice, but the argument behind his path to victory is strong.

I actually agree with this to an extent. I know a lot of Trump supporters would probably stay home if Rubio or Jeb was the nominee, but many seem to hold a high opinion of Cruz. He could probably bring the Trumpeters out in large numbers while still receiving the reluctant support of the party moderates.

From where do you have it that Trump supporters or anyone else for that matter are so vehemently opposed to Rubio? Only 7% of GOP voters in Iowa dislike him - and that include the 75% who are not Trump supporters as well - clearly Rubio has near universal appeal, especially among the GOP electorate (he is less popular among independents and not all that popular among Democrats, possibly because of his extreme views on abortion). If anything, Rubio is a true conservative, even though many Trump supporters like to label him almost as a socialist (lol).

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

The establishment tries desperately to prop up Rubio for a victory in Nevada after abandoning hopes of winning South Carolina. Super Tuesday is split between Cruz and Trump. The party decides to settle for Cruz and supports him to prevent Trump from winning. With Cruz they just lose an election, but with Trump they lose the whole party.

I know that today's polls mean very little, but Senator Cruz is fairly competitive with Secretary Clinton. I believe that the Senator can make quite a competitive race and could even win the election, assuming Secretary Clinton continues her current, lackluster campaign strategy. Senator Cruz has a lot of money behind him, a grassroots team, and could inspire overwhelming conservative turnout since the GOP populace has been waiting for the party to nominate a conservative since President Reagan. He's not my top choice, but the argument behind his path to victory is strong.

I actually agree with this to an extent. I know a lot of Trump supporters would probably stay home if Rubio or Jeb was the nominee, but many seem to hold a high opinion of Cruz. He could probably bring the Trumpeters out in large numbers while still receiving the reluctant support of the party moderates.

The internet in the Fuhrerbunker is bad and I cannot find this information you speak of. Let me know before the dirty Slavs take Berlin!

Eric, for the last time, you are not Hitler!