Buy Your Cruz-Fiorina Merch Before It's Too Late

Perhaps an unlikely round of congratulations is in order. On Tuesday, Ted Cruz announced that he was suspending his presidential campaign following a devastating loss in Indiana's Republican primary — and just about a week after naming Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Although they couldn't manage to win just one state in that week, Cruz and Fiorina developed campaign merchandise and a joint logo. But now, all that work may go to waste.

Not long after Indiana was declared for Trump, Cruz and Fiorina addressed a crowd of supporters for the last time as a joint ticket in Indianapolis. Fiorina introduced Cruz and clearly threw shade at the frontrunner they were leaving in the race, saying that Cruz favors "substance over sloganeering" and "respect over insults" — which is ironic, considering Cruz's anti-Trump rant earlier in the day. When Cruz took the stage, he announced that he no longer saw a viable path to victory, and was regrettably suspending his campaign.

The internet responded to Cruz's announcement with nothing short of relief, but the campaign didn't seem to respond too quickly. On Tuesday night, Cruz's campaign website still had Cruz-Fiorina merchandise, including shirts, buttons, and an unfortunate Rosie the Riveter-inspired print, available for pre-order. Yes, pre-order. Talk about putting the cart before the horse (or, more appropriately, elephant).

Most of the time, when people or brands sell gift items with a joint campaign logo of hypothetical candidates, it's a joke. (Looking at you, Fallon & Timberlake.) Yet Cruz and Fiorina were clearly ready for a fight to the finish, and got a little ahead of themselves. Now the merchandise is more like prized memorabilia from a campaign that never was.

But that's not entirely fair, I guess. Technically, the Cruz-Fiorina campaign was ― it just wasn't for very long. In fact, it may be the shortest-lived joint campaign to ever grace American politics. And grace politics it did. In just seven short days, Cruz-Carly gave us awkward hand holds, painful falls, and an entire line of now-obsolete merchandise.

Cruz and Fiorina may not have won Tuesday's delegates, but maybe they should at least get an A for effort. After all, what they lacked in votes, they tried to make up for in women's long-sleeved T-shirts and metallic water bottles. Stay tuned — there may be a liquidation sale at TedCruz.org any day now.

Image: TedCruz.org