GOP presidential candidate and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz teased a major announcement yesterday morning, hours after losing all five primaries Tuesday night. Fast-forward to a Wednesday rally in Indiana. Cruz named former GOP competitor and ex-Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as his vice presidential running mate, if he succeeds in winning the GOP nomination.
It’s certainly an unusual move – a non-presumptive nominee naming his choice for vice president. Putting the cart before the horse, perhaps.
Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University, says he thinks it was planned, in part because Cruz knew he was going to lose those states on Tuesday.
“This was a great way to break into the media cycle and change the narrative from Trump’s overwhelming defeat (of Cruz) to the Cruz campaign making an audacious move,” he said.
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– The precedent of choosing an early running mate, from Ronald Reagan’s choice in the 1976 race
– Why Indiana is a do-or-die state for Cruz
– What’s behind Ted Cruz’s choice for Carly Fiorina