Jackson Jambalaya

I agree and would add that Cruz just isn't likable or attractive.
He should have hired someone to do his wardrobe,hair and make-up before he campaigned ( it got a bit better over time). Of course, Trump had hair and make-up issues until recently with the skunk tail and white eye sockets).
And, he should have hired a voice coach. He sounds like he's coming off of a drag of helium or just whiny.
The comparison photos of Cruz with a character from the Adams Family was brilliant.

Every sentence sounds like a pronouncement. A voice from Mount Olympus. Fine if you're John Facenda, not fine if you are not. He comes off as someone who doesn't know how to have fun. Give him credit. He made big mistakes but also ran a smart campaign that was ahead of his competitors in many ways. He was big enough to take a swing at it. He saw an opportunity and jumped on it. Something Mario Cuomo and Jeb Bush didn't do when it was available.

Trump's mystic aura prevailed in the primaries. While I will hold my nose, and vote for him as vote against Hillary, I have serious doubts he will prevail in the runoff. Think about it, would you hire Trump? Would you seek employment with him? He has serious image problems. Clinton has rabbits in the hat, and she will use them, and the media is fighting Trump. He has an uphill battle.

What an insufferable and sanctimonious asshole.

Cruz was never more than a niche candidate. He only won 4 states which held primaries - Texas, Oklahoma, Idaho & Wisconsin. He lost 26 primaries. The majority of his delegates were won at caucuses - when your record is 4-26 when voters go to polls (as opposed to insiders picking insiders), Cruz was never really viable. He was toast after on Super Tuesday, when he went 2-7 in primaries.

Cruz campaigned like he was trying to become captain of the debate team. No better example than when he argued for 10 minutes on the rope line with Trump supporters before the Indiana primary. He preached like a lawyer, made points like it was a debate team competition, and then called those voters they were being "played for chumps" when they remained unmoved by his oratory skills.

Because his preachy religious persona turned off NE states and that rolled into Indiana. He sucked and stood no chance against Hillary.

You idiots languish around in your cypress-panel-walled dens chugging cheap beer, bitching about Trump while foaming at the mouth over that insufferable bitch who will be his opposition (if not jailed).

Cruz was the "niche candidate" which makes Kasich the non-candidate.

Cruz reminded me of Jim and Tammy Faye as well as Jimmy Swaggart. A true televangelist. He was about on par with Ernest Angely. The only way to beat a Democrat is to out nasty them. We have just the candidate to do it!

He is too much of a politician. People are tired of the life long politician. Just look at the problems we have now caused by politicians. Some people actually believe what a politician tells them. Poor fools. It is time for someone who is not a politician to take over. Couldn't do any worse.

I think Crudball would have done a lot better, if he'd washed the grease out of his hair, and stopped running around in bluejeans. With the greasemop, and the jeans worn at inappropriate times, he looked as Hispanic as his name.

Frankly, both Crudz and Rubio look and act, to me, like typical, insane Latin American dictators. I would assume that Hispanic Republicans are here, because they (or their families) FLED countries ruled & ruined by men like Crudball & Rubio. They know the look. They know what it means. And that's the last thing they want ruling over them.

Trying to button a sport coat that's two sizes too small over jeans that call attention to a middle aged paunch is just not good planning. He and John Belushi used the same wardrobe consultant.

The only way to top that was for him to open that whiny, preachy mouth. If he could have campaigned without speaking or appearing he might have had a better shot at the gold ring.

KF, I'll risk sounding as if I'm making pronouncements again.
I would suggest that there is quite a bit of evidence that how one appears in public or on television is important in a campaign.
While it isn't always fatal, it certainly hurt Nixon in his television debate with Kennedy. And, Nixon walking on the beach in a suit is still the stuff of legend as is Dukakis looking silly in the helmet.
That Hilary often sounds shrill( when she could learn to project her voice over the crowd) is something Trump has certainly pointed out.
That Romney looked too stiff and starched was not just discussed, he tried to change that image too late.
Image isn't everything as you pointed out. A candidate can't appear unenthusiastic or be uninspiring . I would have added " or say stupid, gratuitously mean things" until this race.
But, hiring an image consultant is something those who will be in the public eye do all the time including CEOs. And, how one looks and sounds when delivering a speech is often part of courses in public speaking/speech writing at the college level. It's not just what you say but how you look and sound saying it if you want people to listen.
Human beings, fairly or not, make initial judgments of others based on appearance.
As a lawyer, surely you know that how you and your client appear in a courtroom matters. Candidates for office are being " judged" as well!

4:43 gets it. People want CHANGE, and it's basic and simple. The majority of people believe that "politicians" have rigged our government so that nobody wins but the minority of people already at the top (and politicians). Although he has issues, Trump is viewed as an "outsider", not a politician like Cruz. And Trump's gaffs and comments make him appear more mainstream and "unpolitical".

Cruz collapsed because he misread the country. His Rush Limbaugh stump speech didn't sell. He truly thought Limbaugh was right about there being a "Reagan Majority" out there just waiting for the right candidate. Cruz' entire career was based upon getting the conservative nut-job vote. He staged a futile publicity stunt by briefly shutting down the government and deliberately sabotaged the decorum of the Senate for the sole purpose of becoming a hero to the talk radio/Fox News idiots and the 15 - 20 million people to listen to that crap. (Keep in mind that 20 million is a stretch plus more than 200 million will vote in the presidential race in November.) The point is that the nut job vote is irrelevant. If it were relevant in terms of numbers of voters, Cruz would have captured far more delegates in the states holding actual elections...but in the end his bottom line stump speech wound up being an attack on Trump's personal life and behavior. Sound familiar? Yep. We saw it in the Senate race last year when the nut-job candidate spent millions of dollars launching personal attacks on a senior senator who had never, ever cast a single vote that wasn't in the best interests of the State of Mississippi and the people who live here. Good riddance, Ted.

8:09 am You make good points. I think the Reagan Majority or the Silent Majority or whatever you want to call us, are more than a little put out by both parties catering to their crazy extremists. Indeed, both parties created those crazies by creating unrealistic expectations and appealing to fear and prejudice.
No surprise that neither party can control the insane " base".
And, it's no surprise that the line between being politically incorrect and being horribly insulting has become so blurred that even politicians can't figure out when they piss off huge voting blocks!
And, more than a few of us would like to see pragmatic solutions rather than all this " our way or the highway" nonsense! Ideologues are annoying and arrogant and wore out my patience long ago!

In response to 8:09 the crowd shouted "Pork, Pork, PORK. We want Pork. We want more PORK."

When Cruz speaks his voice sounds like a cross between actor Nathan Lane and Mr. Haney from 'Green Acres'.

I find it interesting that not one person I know who flooded my Facebook with posts supporting McDaniel was supporting Cruz.

Good riddance. In his own way, Cruz was more dangerous than Trump. Maybe now we'll get a 3rd party/independent conservative candidate who can split the vote such that no one wins a majority and it goes to the House to decide whoever it wants to be president, and they don't have to be one of the candidates. And while we're at it, look what Trent Lott is preaching/peddling these days. Personally, I long for the old days in Washington when the parties worked together and got things done.

The Republic

Sorry, but the Constitution says the House of Representatives has to choose from a list of the top five finishers, which means it will be one of the candidates.

Well, rats. We're doomed!

@3:46 - You are correct about it being from the top five finishers, but that is the top five from the electoral college vote. If 3:03's fantasy were to come true, at least one additional person (other than Trump/Clinton) would have to receive electoral college votes. The House would choose between anyone who got EC votes, assuming it is not more than five candidates.

But, if they House did not vote for any one in a majority, then it moves to the Senate who would be choosing a Vice President, who could become Acting President.

Minor correction to 3:46 and 12:32: The 12th amendment changed it the list to the top 3 vote recipients in the electoral college. Also, the Senate chooses the VP from the top 2 EC recipients. You could end up with a split result between President and Vice President.

A split between president and vice president is the way it should be.