Cruz Calls Last-Minute Addition To GOP Presidential Field A ‘Pipe Dream’

GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz says the Republican Party nominating anyone other than him or opponent Donald Trump for president is “a pipe dream.”

Cruz addressed the possibility of a contested GOP convention and a last-minute addition to the GOP field at a town hall event in Madison on Monday. The event was moderated by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.

“This fever pipe dream of Washington’s that, at the convention, they will parachute in some white knight who will save the Washington establishment, it is nothing less than a pipe dream,” Cruz said. “It ain’t gonna happen.”

Rumors have been flying about an alternative GOP candidate being nominated at the convention. House Speaker Paul Ryan has been a frequent character in those rumors.

Cruz pointed out the rules of the last GOP convention in 2012 required a candidate to have won the majority of delegates in at least eight state primaries to be included on a convention ballot.

There have been discussions about that cap being lowered, but Cruz contested that possibility.

“The rules are the rules,” he said.

The Texas senator said his “Plan A” is to earn the 1,237 delegates required to secure the Republican nomination before the party’s convention in July. He currently has 463 to Trump’s 736; Ohio Gov. John Kasich has 143.

If he doesn’t earn the necessary number of delegates, Cruz said he expects the nomination to come down to a convention ballot showdown between himself and Trump.

Cruz was confident he’d pick up Kasich’s delegates along with those of former candidate Marco Rubio, he said.

He added that delegates should support him because he’s more likely to beat Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in the fall’s general election than Trump is.

“Nominating Donald effectively hands the general election over to Hillary Clinton,” he said.

Cruz said Wisconsin’s 42 delegates, to be doled out in Tuesday’s election, are pivotal to turning the tide in the race for the Republican nomination.

“This race has national implications,” he said. “The entire country is looking to Wisconsin.”