Wisconsin is Donald Trump's "battleground," where a loss Tuesday in the GOP primary may literally reshape the Republican presidential nominating contest,
the Washington Post reports.
A Trump defeat in the Badger State – where 42 delegates are at stake – would not only lessen the chance of Trump's collecting the needed 1,237 needed to win the GOP nomination outright in July, but be a loss of blue-collar and independent voters who've been his strength elsewhere.
"Wisconsin has always been a barometer state," former Gov. Tommy Thompson tells the Post. "What you’re seeing is that The Donald, who has been moving ahead all across the country, has hit a logjam or a brick wall in Wisconsin."
Trump is predicting victory nonetheless, comparing the uphill battle to the one he climbed in New Hampshire.
"We’re having unbelievable response in Wisconsin," Trump said in Milwaukee Sunday, the Post reports. "And it feels very much like New Hampshire to me, where we started off where, you know, Trump wasn’t going to win New Hampshire, and then all of a sudden, we win in a landslide."
Rival Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has the endorsement of Gov. Scott Walker – and is polling ahead of Trump
in two recent polls – also is focusing on the importance of Tuesday's vote for his future path.
"Wisconsin is a battleground," he said in Green Bay on Sunday, the Post reports. " The entire country is looking to this state Tuesday night."
GOP strategist Charlie Black, who is part of the team for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, sees Trump's previous steamroll to the nomination stalling in Wisconsin.
"I think it’s a big deal because the whole question is can he get to the 1,237," he tells the Post. "At the rate he’s going, he won’t. I think he’s going to lose Wisconsin and not get very many delegates there."
According to Walker adviser Keith Gilkes, a Cruz win would be "signature" in a blue-collar state … that’s outside of the South and the West."
"It demonstrates his ability to coalesce a bigger, broader coalition," he tells the Post. "That’s the first time he’s done that.”
Former House speaker Newt Gingrich disagrees a Trump loss Tuesday is game-changing, especially since a Cruz win is assumed.
"Cruz should win statewide and half the congressional districts. If he were to sweep as Trump did in South Carolina or Arizona, that would be a bigger thing," he tells the Post.
A loss for Trump could offer an opportunity, too, GOP strategist Steve Schmidt tells the Post, challenging him "to show what all winning candidates show, which is resiliency in the face of adversity."
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