Cruz: ‘White knight’ nominee at GOP convention a ‘pipe dream’

Ted Cruz is dismissing talk that Republicans could nominate an outside candidate for president not currently in the race at their convention this summer.

“This fevered pipe dream of Washington that at the convention they will parachute in some white knight who will save the Washington establishment — it is nothing less than a pipe dream,” Cruz told reporters Monday in remarks broadcast by CNN.

{mosads}”It ain’t going to happen,” he continued. “If it did, the people would quite rightly revolt.” 

Cruz made the comments ahead of a town hall hosted by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly.

Talk of a contested convention has increased as Cruz battles front-runner Donald Trump for delegates. Cruz is running second to Trump in the delegate count ahead of July’s Republican National Convention. He’s hoping to pull out a win in the Wisconsin primary on Tuesday, predicting it would shift the race in his favor.

But convention rules are under close scrutiny with both leading candidates positioned to possibly fall short of the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination.

One such rule, from 2012, requires candidates to win a majority of delegates in at least eight states to qualify for the convention ballot, and Trump and Cruz are looking to use that that stipulation against rival John Kasich. Kasich has only won his home state of Ohio.

Rules are made at the beginning of each convention, leaving open the possibility of an outside candidate being added to the mix.

Several names have been floated, including Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who continues to field questions despite repeatedly saying he will not be the nominee.

“Both Donald and I have been very clear, we shouldn’t be changing the rules because Washington is unhappy with how the people are voting,” Cruz said Monday.

“The rules are the rules,” he added.

Cruz said he thought Republicans would be “foolish” to try to hand the nomination to someone other than him or Trump.