Milwaukee

Ted Cruz and John Kasich received a warm reception at Friday night's Milwaukee County GOP Lincoln dinner.

Kasich was introduced by former governor Tommy Thompson, who enthusiastically recalled how Kasich balanced the federal budget.

Cruz was introduced by Governor Scott Walker, who touted Cruz as the only conservative who can win the nomination and beat Hillary Clinton.

Donald Trump didn't show up to the Friday night fish fry in Milwaukee and instead outsourced the job to Sarah Palin, who delivered a meandering speech on trade and immigration.

"It's always so good to be in Wisconsin, getting off the airplane today as I'm walking through the airport and seeing all the green and gold and green and gold 'til I'm dead and cold—paraphernalia everywhere—it's Packers," Palin said to kick off her speech.

It started poorly and managed to get worse. "What the heck are you thinking candidates?" Palin asked. "What are you thinking when you go ahead and you're actually asking for more immigrants, even illegal immigrants, welcoming them in, even inducing and seducing them with gift baskets. Come on over the border and there's a gift basket with teddy bears and soccer balls. What are you thinking? It's just inviting more. Yeah. Candidates they can say anything they want to about immigration, amnesty."

It wasn't clear which candidates, in Palin's view, are seducing illegal immigrants with gift baskets of teddy bears and soccer balls. She later brought up the Gang of 8 immigration bill in an awkward attempt to criticize Ted Cruz. "Who offered the amendments for that to further collapse U.S. jobs and income and security?" Palin asked. She never answered the question, so voters were left wondering who she was talking about.

Palin went on to attack another unnamed candidate for supporting free trade. "What candidate helped pass Obama's trade deal? TPP. And actually removed the hurdles for fast tracking. That's TPA. And actually purposely opened the door for China and Russia to come on in and join TPP with zero congressional consult. Who opposed the crackdown on currency cheating? Who kind of freaks out now about putting any tariffs on Chinese trinkets and goods? You have to ask yourself who is this?"

Who is this? Voters were again left wondering, assuming they were still paying any attention at that point.

Palin received almost no applause during her 20-minute speech, but the crowd did clap once when she called for inducting Green Bay Packer Jerry Kramer into the Hall of Fame and again when she took a swipe at Hillary Clinton.

"It was the flattest speech I have ever heard in my entire life. It was totally lackluster," Gail Nolte, an accountant from Wauwatosa, told me after the speech. "I've heard her speak before with so much enthusiasm and tonight it was just like she was reading from a manuscript. I was very disappointed."

Nolte walked into the speech undecided between John Kasich and Ted Cruz. She left a member of the Cruz crew.

"There's just something that speaks to the heart with John Kasich. There's something intrinsically American about him," she said. "But it's just that he is so far behind, we can't divide the party anymore. That's why we have to go with Ted now."

Why not Trump? "We've had enough of narcissistic presidents. We put up with that for 7 years," Nolte said. "I'm a Reagan Republican, and to me Ted Cruz embodies Ronald Reagan."

Nolte's husband, Lanier, a retiree who used to work on highway repair, also liked Kasich but switched to Cruz. "I think he's going to do most of what he says he's going to do," he said.

The problem wasn't that Kasich performed poorly. He charmed the crowd, gathered at a place called Serb Hall, by talking about his Croatian-American and working-class heritage. But for those Republicans who care most about stopping Trump in Wisconsin, it's become quite clear that they need to choose Cruz.