Ramesh, one thing the debate over the rules has definitely done is knock Cruz off-message and into the procedural weeds. This is how Peter Spiliakos puts it over at Postmodern Conservative:
I watch politics pretty closely and, from Cruz’s Wisconsin win to the middle of last week, I haven’t heard a single news report where Cruz has said one thing that would impact the life of a voter. Cruz is always sampled talking about the nomination rules and the delegate-selection process. He broke through a little bit at the end of the week by talking about transgender people using bathrooms.