The Wall Street Journal is pushing for the continued presidential run of underdog Gov. John Kasich, asserting rivals Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz want him out because they fear "the convention might want to nominate a potential winner."
In an editorial posted Monday night, the newspaper writes the Ohio governor "did the public service of winning Ohio's delegates" that had Trump won, would have locked up the nomination.
Kasich "deserves a chance to see if he can win Pennsylvania or pick up delegates in the East and California," the editorial states.
Before Tuesday's primary in Wisconsin, Trump had 737 delegates, Cruz 475 and Kasich 143.
"All of a sudden the two Republican presidential front-runners seem unnaturally preoccupied with the guy in third place, and they're teaming up to demand that John Kasich drop out," the editorial states.
"Why not let the voters decide, as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz otherwise like to say?"
The editorial board notes Kasich has "no hope" of reaching the mandated 1,237 delegates needed to cinch the GOP nomination; if no candidate comes to the convention with that number, an
open convention would pick its nominee.
"What . . . Trump and Cruz really fear is that the convention might want to nominate a potential winner," the editorial states.