Lee maybe because if Trump weren't in the race Cruz would look super radical and slimy and his lying would get more attentuon. And his propoganda ads would be creepier. Instead it's like oh Cruz is almost moderate compared to Trump.

Sometimes it feels like Trump has run and taken over the media to deflect from the others.

According to Cruz he single handedly took on the UN and won! He foiled Obamacare...singlehandedly. He's the only one to take a tough stance to try and protect our borders from ISIS and illegal immigrants. No one else cares. He single handled made sure the 10 Commandments stayed somewhere they probably shouldn't have been.

That's what his ads say. It must be true. It's lies and outrageous but next to Trump it doesn't seem so bad.

The Rubio ads I've seen are much more low key.

On NPR last night they were saying that Trump AND Cruz are "outsider candidates." Admittedly, I know NOTHING about Cruz other than the fact that he's a Republican, he won last night, and he's a US Senator. (I literally didn't even know what he looked like.) But -- given that he's a member of Congress, how in the world does that make him an "outsider candidate?"

I get that Trump is an outsider, but isn't a congressman about as inside as you can get?

Also, I think Rubio is actually 14 years old. Or he has a portrait in the attic. He's 1 month older than me, and people tell me I look young, but I know I don't look as young as Rubio does.

how in the world does that make him an "outsider candidate?"

It turns out that everybody—everybody—in Washington DC hates him. Republican and Democrat alike.

I'd like the GOP to end up nominating someone that isn't batshitcrazy. In theory the worse they put up there the better my side's chance in November, but too many previous elections have proven me wrong. My very first vote was for McGovern against Nixon. I couldn't believe that he wouldn't win. Lesson one.

It turns out that everybody—everybody—in Washington DC hates him. Republican and Democrat alike.

That was Tim's guess, but we didn't know if universal hatred was enough to confer "outsider" status. Fair enough.

I'd like the GOP to end up nominating someone that isn't batshitcrazy.

Maybe Strickland, but he doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting the nomination.

"Outsider" as in "not mainstream"? Cult-favorite candidates.

I've been expecting Rubio and Cruz to play up their appeal to the Hispanic demographic. Or have I missed it?

Cruz called the Majority Leader Mitch McConnell a liar on the Senate floor this year, and in 2014 spearheaded the effort to vote down ratifying the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities in front of Bob Dole. He makes me wax nostalgic about Christopher Walken's take on the Presidential race in The Dead Zone.

This will give you some idea about Cruz' popularity with his peers: [link]

The big money players in the GOP like the Kochs etc. also hate him. Ergo, outsider. Doesn't seem to be hurting him much.

The outsider thing gives him appeal to a certain demographic.