Subject: FLAG: WMUR: Cruz to announce intention to name Fiorina as his running mate
From: "Garcia, Walter" <[email-masked]>
To: "Bennett, Eric" <[email-masked]>, Comm_D <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 27 Apr 2016 10:54:23 -0700

Politico just confirmed:

Cruz to name Fiorina as VP running mate<http://www.politico.com/story/2016/04/cruz-to-name-fiorina-as-vp-running-mate-222541>
Hoping to kickstart his campaign after a string of demoralizing losses to Trump, the senator is tapping a former rival turned loyal campaign surrogate.

By Alex Isenstadt<http://www.politico.com/staff/alex-isenstadt>

Ted Cruz will announce Wednesday that Carly Fiorina will be his vice presidential nominee if he's the Republican party's pick for president, according to two sources with knowledge of the announcement.

Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO, has been among Cruz's most loyal and active surrogates since she ended her own 2016 GOP presidential bid after a poor finish in New Hampshire in February.

The announcement, which was teased early Wednesday morning and will be made official Wednesday afternoon, comes the day after Cruz suffered a drubbing at the hands of Donald Trump in five northeastern primaries - losses that mathematically eliminated Cruz from getting the 1,237 delegates he'd need to clinch the GOP nomination.

Cruz's hopes now rest in a contested convention this summer in Cleveland, where the Texas senator would hope to stop Trump on the first ballot and then win in subsequent rounds of voting thanks to support from the loyal delegates his campaign has assiduously courted.

Cruz is campaigning fervently this week in Indiana, where primary rules award the winner most of the state's 57 delegates. With Trump's victories Tuesday night, and with most of Pennsylvania's 54 unbound delegates are leaning in Trump's direction, Cruz needs success in Indiana and California if he's to stop Trump from clinching the nomination.

The most recent Indiana polls show Trump polling around 40 percent, between 5 and 8 percentage points ahead of Cruz. Those polls were conducted before John Kasich - who's polling around 20 percent in the state - announced that he would no longer actively campaign in Indiana, in exchange for Cruz agreeing to no longer actively campaigning in Oregon and New Mexico.

From: Bennett, Eric
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 12:23 PM
To: Comm_D
Subject: WMUR: Cruz to announce intention to name Fiorina as his running mate

Cruz to announce intention to name Fiorina as his running mate<http://www.wmur.com/politics/wmur-first-cruz-to-announce-intention-to-name-fiorina-as-his-running-mate/39241650?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=wmur9>

http://www.wmur.com/politics/wmur-first-cruz-to-announce-intention-to-name-fiorina-as-his-running-mate/39241650?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=wmur9

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will announce on Wednesday afternoon that former presidential rival Carly Fiorina has agreed to be his running mate should he win the GOP presidential nomination.

Sources confirmed to WMUR political director Josh McElveen and political reporter John DiStaso that Fiorina, who has been a supporter of Cruz for several weeks, will be the focus of the announcement that Cruz intends to make in Indiana Wednesday afternoon.

Fiorina dropped out of the presidential race after finishing seventh in the New Hampshire presidential primary on Feb. 9.

The former Hewlett-Packard CEO endorsed Cruz a month later, calling him a "leader and a reformer" who is "willing to take on the status quo in Washington." She has since appeared often as a surrogate for Cruz.

Cruz's campaign is on the ropes after suffering defeats in five eastern states on Tuesday. He is looking to Indiana's May 3 primary to salvage his campaign as frontrunner Donald Trump nears the 1,237 delegate threshold needed to secure the GOP presidential nomination.

Should Cruz survive Indiana, California's primary is key on June 7. Fiorina is viewed as a potential asset to Cruz in California, where she won a U.S. Senate primary in 2010 before losing to Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer in the general election.

Republicans also view Fiorina as someone with conservative credibility with a strong business record. She is also marketable by Cruz as an asset in a general election bid against Democrat Hillary Clinton. Fiorina was perhaps the most effective critic of Clinton during primary process in New Hampshire and later states.