Let’s face it: Trump’s branded water bottles got more exposure last night than Marco Rubio. Ted Cruz spent, like, a thousand dollars in Michigan, and still came in second, as Marco Rubio struggled to pull ahead of Dr. Ben Carson, who dropped out of the race last week, in Mississippi.

Not that I would tell anyone not to pursue their dreams. I mean, catch it, young Marco! Catch it! But if the Republicans are serious about keeping Donald Trump from gold-plating the White House, it’s time to pull on some big girl panties, put the animosity of 2012 behind us, admit that while we Ted Cruz has an imminently punchable face, he’s might just be the only chance we have. 

Carly Fiorina, this morning, led the charge, endorsing Ted Cruz in Marco Rubio’s home state, a clear message to Rubio that maybe he’ll actually come in third in a state he has to win, and to Republicans that sometimes, you just have to put the past away and focus on the future.

“Ted Cruz has always been a constitutional conservative,” Fiorina said, describing Cruz as “a fearless fighter and reformer.”

Fiorina ended her own White House bid in mid-February after a poor showing in early-voting states. 

Her campaign was known for her harsh criticism of Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton.

“The truth is that Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are two sides of the same coin,” Fiorina said Wednesday, ripping the GOP front-runner. 

“They aren’t going to reform the system. They are the system.”

Fiorina noted that many in the Republican Party are “horrified by Donald Trump.”

“I’m one of them,” she added, describing Cruz as “the only guy who can beat Donald Trump.”

Ted Cruz does need Fiorina: she would make a good Vice President, and coming from California, she’s sufficiently different from him that the ticket would please whatever GOP insiders are left standing. And, more importantly, he needs an attack dog. Marco Rubio seems to have found out the hard way that being Trump is an easy way to self-immolate.

This, of course, puts Rubio in the worst position – though why people are focusing on just Rubio and not both Rubio and Kasich to drop out is beyond me – with a strong Cruz display in his home state, which he has to win, after a poor showing last night. Does he exit the race? Only time and his ego can tell us that. But it may be the only option anyone has of keeping Trump from 1237.