So while Scott Walker is questioning legal immigration levels, Ted Cruz is pushing a fast track for a trade bill with back-door guest-worker increases?  I never thought Cruz would blow his pre-campaign advantage over Walker (and the rest of the GOP field) on immigration, but that’s what he seems to be doing. … Maybe Cruz thinks he’s in the early Suck-Up-To-Donors** phase of the campaign, with the Rouse-the-Voters phase to come later — in the meantime, he’ll distract the base with social conservative theatrics. But, as Michael Barone and Byron York have pointed out, Republican primary voters are paying unusual attention to the race right now. How else would Walker rise to the top tier after a B+ speech at an early event in Iowa? …

__________

**– According to former Romney 2012 Finance chair Spencer Zwick, GOP donors are practically forming a cartel in the effort to back only a candidate who will push for amnesty and increased immigration levels. (“Even if Tea Partiers aren’t willing to get on board, Zwick said the GOP money men have learned their lesson: ‘I really believe that the donor community… now finally recognizes, and I see them only wanting to get behind a candidate that is willing to take leadership on his issue.'” — McKay Coppins, Buzzfeed.)