Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz has scheduled a campaign rally at the Spokane Convention Center Wednesday afternoon.

A press release from the Cruz campaign has a start time of 3:05 p.m., although that may not be the time he appears. The same press release has him attending a rally in Lincoln, Nebraska,  at noon Wednesday, and even with the two-hour time difference, that's pretty tight scheduling.

The rallies are the first Cruz campaign events scheduled for the day after the Indiana primary, which could be key to his efforts to keep billionaire developer Donald Trump from securing the GOP nomination. He also has a rally in Bothell, Washington, Thursday morning. 

The Trump campaign has announced tentative plans to campaign in Washington over the weekend, but no dates or locations have been released.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to campaign in Washington next Monday, but those details are not final, a spokesman said. The Washington Republican Party said he will address the state convention the evening of May 19 in Pasco.

Washington is drawing attention from GOP candidates because ballots for the May 24 presidential primary will start arriving in voters' mailboxes toward the end of this week. Republicans will allocate their delegates to the national convention based on the candidates' showing in the primary. 

Democrats are ignoring primary results and using the caucus system for their national convention delegates.

 

---

---