Cruz Names Carly Fiorina as VP

The RNC Convention is roughly two months away and as it stands now, Republicans are going to party like it’s 1976. After Trump’s sweeping victory on Tuesday, he has officially proclaimed himself as the presumptive nominee.

While Trump currently holds 954 Delegates, he is still shy of the 1237 needed to officially cinch the nomination. With each passing primary, Trump’s path to the nomination becomes a little more likely and the chance of brokered convention seems less realistic. Unless of course you’re Ted Cruz.

Coming on the heels of Trump declaring himself the presumptive nominee, Cruz pulled a page out of Reagan’s 1976 campaign book and announced Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Cruz’s announcement is no doubt an act of desperation to try and hang on to his presidential dreams.

After placing third in four out of the five primaries, Cruz has no choice but to win next week in Indiana if he wants to keep his campaign alive, and it’s apparent, he believes Fiorina is his golden ticket. In 1976, Reagan tried the same thing when he announced Pennsylvania Sen. Richard Schweiker as his would-be vice president. The only difference was, Reagan’s announcement came after all the primaries had ended and he was still trailing President Ford in delegates.

Cruz’s pick of Fiorina is just another band-aid solution for his flailing campaign. The press Cruz is receiving on his announcement of Fiorina is enough to keep him above the fold for the next 36 hours, but it is not enough to keep Trump’s media blitz at bay long enough to make an impact. Based on Cruz’s timing, it is clear, even he thinks his candidacy is in jeopardy.

However, a Cruz/Fiorina ticket does not guarantee Cruz will be able to close the gap in the race to for the GOP nomination. In fact, Cruz may find Fiorina is more of a liability than a help. Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard chief executive, ran for president herself earlier, but withdrew her candidacy after a poor showing in New Hampshire. During her time on the trail, Fiorina found herself at the center of criticism over her tenure at HP. With Fiorina back on the trail, this time as veep, she is opening herself and Cruz’s campaign to the criticisms she faced as a candidate. This only difference is, this time, she’s risking someone else’s candidacy.

If Republicans have learned anything from history, it is that it repeats itself. The lesson could not be more clear by Cruz’s Hail Mary attempt to rescue his drowning candidacy and salvage it from being steamrolled by the Trump train. At this stage in the game the best Republicans can hope for is, that Cruz studies up on the 1976 Convention and pray he can re-write history.