The pact between Ted Cruz and John Kasich to defeat Donald Trump in three upcoming primaries is doomed to failure, because of the unusual demand it makes on voters,
The Atlantic's senior associate editor Andrew McGill writes.
"Who is to say that Kasich and Cruz voters will play along with this bargain?" McGill asks in a column published Tuesday.
"It's a lot to ask an electorate to pick you for president. These two men are going even further, essentially telling voters to cast ballots for another guy, so a third guy won't win, so they'll have a shot at winning later, maybe."
On Sunday, the campaigns of Cruz and Kasich issued statements outlining how Cruz will focus on winning delegates in Indiana's May primary, where Kasich will back off, while Cruz will "clear the path" for Kasich in Oregon in May and New Mexico in June.
But the arrangement doesn't gel with McGill.
"You can't be half pregnant, the saying goes. If you're a political candidate, you also can't be half dropped-out. The Cruz-Kasich alliance would be more compelling if one of them actually left the race and threw their weight behind the other," he writes.
"As it stands, their voters are stuck in a marriage of convenience that neither man really wants."
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