But the point is Ted Cruz is not showing the kind of strength (in polls) that translates into a party nomination. Trump is.
I understand that. IMHO, Trump won't carry the Christian conservative Tea Party votes -- Cruz will bring those voters in. Cruz may not be able to carry the moderate votes - Trump brings those voters in. In other words, in ways I never imagined, it appears at this point in time they compliment each other. For example; in New Hampshire it shows Cruz polling in 3rd place with the highest poll showing Trump at 29% and Cruz at 12%; that's 41% of the vote for those two. Perhaps with Trump stating this about Cruz he is merely testing the waters to see if Cruz will give him the bump in the polls he needs. It's hard to tell. Some say that this ticket has been planned long ago; I would by happy if this was the winning ticket, but I can Imagine and would love to see a Cruz presidency even more. Do not estimate Cruz or count out a Cruz presidency.
We could look at it another way -- with Cruz in 3rd and polling in double digits -- he is taking votes away from Carson and keeping Trump in 1st place. Either way it's starting to look like they need each other -- they've sunk Jeb, they are keeping Carson at bay and Rubio has dipped back down into the single digits.
It's going to be an interesting GOP race. I know we can beat the DEMS, but it is going to be an uphill battle and we shouldn't assume we will win the oval office like we did with Romney...polls showed he should have been the clear winner and Barry trounced on him.