It is official: the candidates still remaining in the 2016 race have begun pairing themselves off with since dropped out fellow former candidates. The first of such matches, Republican candidate, Ted Cruz and former Hewlett Packard CEO and Republican candidate, Carly Fiorina, announced earlier this week that two would be running together.
Though some of the other candidates have announced potential prospective running mates, such as Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic candidate in referencing wanting “a Vice President like Elizabeth Warren” in wake of Cruz’s announcement, several were surprised at such a bold by move by Cruz. Many, with students at Lakewood High School included, viewed Cruz’s choosing a vice president before even actually winning the Republican party’s nomination as “optimistic” to say the very least.
The choice, while not uncommon to choose a former candidate of one’s party as a running mate, represents a very tactful one on Cruz’s part. Though in his formal statement Cruz declared that the decision to place Fiorina’s name on the ballot with his own was one derived from “a great deal of consideration and prayer”, the announcement came just mere hours after his opponent for the Republican nomination, one Donald Trump, delivered a very high profile speech on foreign policy on Wednesday afternoon.
CNN political analysts have deemed Cruz’s oddly preemptive decision as a means to “recapture” a place for himself within the race for the nomination. The primaries concluded so far have demonstrated a significant gap in popularity between Cruz and Trump, with Trump’s 996 current delegates looming heavily over Cruz’s 565.
Fiorina, despite dropping out of the race for presidency, was considerably popular for the conservative policies she championed, the most notable of which being her very stalwart stance on abortion laws and the defunding of Planned Parenthood.
Because of this, many are projecting that Cruz is hoping to tap into the popularity of Fiorina. Whether or not this hope will come into fruition will be told in the results of the April 30th election in Indiana.
Image of Cruz and Fiorina courtesy of VanityFair.com