And I still think that Cruz is the guy the Establishment will turn to. No matter how unlikeable he has turned out to be, he's a sitting GOP Senator; that makes him part of the Establishment in a real sense. Cruz could be co-opted. Trump, on the other hand, represents a hostile takeover of the GOP, does he not? I think Cruz's rough patch in Iowa is being overblown somewhat. The guys who are REALLY having the rough spots are the Establishment Faves (Rubio, Jeb, Christie, Kasich), none of whom can break out of the pack, and none of whom wish to quit.
This is what logically should have happened but the past week has shown the establishment actually prefer Trump. You had people like Branstead, King, Burr and others saying that Cruz shouldn't be allowed to win Iowa
Branstad and Burr aren't Trumpkins; they just hate Cruz. King can't back Cruz, given the Tancredo-esque quality of his career.
Branstad and Burr think they have choices besides Trump. They think that once Cruz tanks, their kind of candidate will fill the void, and Trump will be taken down in a one-on-one race. They think they have the luxury of using Trump to stop Cruz. This was the strategy of 1976 liberals using Jimmy Carter to stop George Wallace in the South; the end result is that Carter became bigger than all of that and stuck the Democratic Party with a candidate that its base didn't really want.
