Cruz’s campaign teeters on defeat with Fiorina fall fail the latest stumbling block

TED Cruz’s running mate Carly Fiorina’s fall from a stage at the weekend is pretty much a metaphor for the collapsing chances of toppling Donald Trump.

Out of step: Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, and his vice-presidential candidate Carly Fiorina. Picture: AP/Darron Cummings

NOW you see her, now you don’t.

Republican Ted Cruz’s running mate Carly Fiorina’s fall from stage after introducing him at an event in Indiana at the weekend is pretty much a metaphor for the hurdles Cruz is hitting in his bid to gain the Republican presidential nomination over the seemingly unstoppable Donald Trump.

Footage of the incident shows Fiorina dropping quickly, with Cruz apparently unaware as he enters and waves to the crowd.

Fiorina reappears a couple seconds later and is seen hugging Cruz’s wife Heidi.

Fiorina, uninjured in the fall, continues to campaign on behalf of the Senator in Indiana.

Cruz last week named former Hewlett Packard boss Fiorina as his vice president candidate should he secure the nomination, in an effort to boost his campaign against frontrunner Donald Trump.

Cruz’s apparent inaction as his running mate toppled off stage gave Trump another chance to put the boot into his opposition.

“Even I would have helped her,” Trump said. “That was a weird deal.”

The fall was just the latest in a series of events which suggested Cruz and Fiorina haven’t found their footing as running mates.

Cruz thought recruiting Fiorina, 61 would boost his stocks against Trump, especially with her reputation as a great debater with the ability to take Trump down a peg or two.

But political commentators said the rot set in almost immediately when Fiorina made a strange swinging tribute to Cruz’s daughters when he named her as his running mate.

Pundits said the ‘bizarre musical press conference’ — an attempt to soften both her and Cruz’s image ‘only managed to confirm how truly creepy both of them are’.

Fiorina unsuccessfully ran for the US Senate, and this year ran for the Republican presidential nomination, but suspended her campaign in February after disappointing results.

The Indiana Republican primary — seen as absolutely crucial to Trump ultimately taking the nomination — takes place on Tuesday (US time).