[Hoot Gibson]

I am sure that I am not the only person to notice that Donald Trump has generally refrained from making any attacks on Ted Cruz and Cruz has returned the favor. I can think of several reasons that Trump might be holding back on criticizing Cruz.

1. Trump fears Cruz's debating skills and does not want to poke the bear.

2. Cruz has not reached a level in the polls where Trup perceives him as a threat to win the nomination.m

3. Cruz's positions match Trump's positions better than the other nominees, so he is having trouble finding fault with Cruz.

4. Cruz is Trump's second choice for president. In case Trump's poll numbers fade, he wants there to be a strong alternative to the GOP establishment candidates left in the race. Cruz is Trump's insurance policy, so he is taking it easy on him.

5. Trump is only running to ensure that Bush, Rubio, or one of the other mainstream Republicans do not win the nomination. He plans on withdrawing from the race later and endorsing Cruz.

I am leaning heavily toward scenario #5 because Trump does not seem to be adding much depth to his policy positions from one debate to the next. He is repeating the same sound bites as he did in the early days of the campaign in response to debate questions. As popular as Trump is, people will begin to suffer from Trump-fatigue if he does not come up with some new material to support his positions.

What does everybody else think? Is Trump in this campaign to win the nomination or is he in it to shape the debate and knock Jeb Bush and Rubio out of the race?