Ted Cruz is “one of the smartest politicians I’ve ever seen, and has a strategy that makes more sense than the others,” Cook said.
The current controversy over Cruz being born in Canada is a “fake fight” without much substance, he added.
The Republican convention could be contested, with Trump and Cruz controlling a quarter to a third of delegates going in, Cook predicts.
On the Democratic side, Clinton may lose Iowa, and will probably lose New Hampshire, Cook said, “but there’s virtually no chance whatsoever that [Bernie] Sanders is going to win [the nomination] no matter how much Republicans hope he wins.”
Even assuming Sanders wins Iowa, New Hampshire and all the New England states, that would only give him 36 percent of the delegates needed to win the nomination. The Democratic winner will need strong support from African-American and Latino voters, Cook added, something Sanders has yet to land.
“Clinton may be mangled and bruised” by the primary process, “but there’s only one chance she can lose” and that is if the Justice Department brings charges over her e-mail problem, Cook said.
“There’s an 85 percent chance it doesn’t go further.”
The e-mail controversy has hurt Clinton among moderates and independents, Cook said. Plus, she is unlikely to pick up as many minority voters as Obama did, and she generates little enthusiasm among women voters under age 40.
But among Democrats overall, “Clinton’s numbers are really, really good,” he said.