Chuck Todd: Brokered Convention 'More Likely Than Not'

It's "more likely than not" that there will be a brokered Republican convention this summer, NBC's Chuck Todd said Friday, considering the current numbers in the race for the GOP presidential nomination, and Ted Cruz's campaign is the best-prepared should that happen.

"You start looking at these numbers, it's such a precarious [situation]," Todd said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program. "Look, there is a good path for [Donald] Trump if he wins both Florida and Ohio, but I don't see how he wins both."

Further, he said he thinks it's more likely that Trump will enter the convention with fewer than the 1,257 delegates he will need to secure the GOP nomination, and Cruz is best positioned to pick up debates should the convention end up being brokered, as his campaign is "arguably the best-run campaign tactically."

"They know how to get delegates," he said. "They are more prepared for a convention fight than any of the other campaigns because of the way they know how to pick off delegates and it's almost inevitable they end up second in delegates no matter what happens, which will make Cruz a crucial player in some form or another."

Trump is favored in Florida at this time over Sen. Marco Rubio in his own home state, but Todd pointed out to the show's panel that he didn't think "you understand how much money is about to go down there."

And with 11 days left before the Florida and Ohio primaries, there are still ways to slow Trump's march to the convention, said Todd.

"Ted Cruz is going to have a good weekend of delegates," he said. "It's very possible. But the problem is on Tuesday. Donald Trump is likely to win Mississippi and Michigan. Now, Michigan is going to be split."

And Cruz has been resilient, said Todd.

"Look at Super Tuesday, the week before it," he said. "It was all about Rubio versus Trump and quietly Cruz put a solid plan in Texas and boy, did he clean up delegates in Texas in a way that was very impressive."

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