Posted on 05/01/2013 5:39:32 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Freshman senator Ted Cruz is considering a presidential run, according to his friends and confidants.
Cruz won’t talk about it publicly, and even privately he’s cagey about revealing too much of his thought process or intentions. But his interest is undeniable.
“If you don’t think this is real, then you’re not paying attention,” says a Republican insider. “Cruz already has grassroots on his side, and in this climate, that’s all he may need.”
“There’s not a lot of hesitation there,” adds a Cruz donor who has known the Texan for decades. “He’s fearless.”
For the moment, Cruz’s inner circle is small: mostly aides from his Senate campaign; his father, Rafael; and his wife, Heidi. They didn’t plan on having these presidential conversations so early in his first term. Yet Cruz’s rapid ascent and a flurry of entreaties from conservative leaders have stoked their interest — and Cruz’s. “Ted won’t be opening an Iowa office anytime soon, but he’s listening,” says a longtime Cruz associate. “This is all in the early stages; nothing is official. It’s just building on its own.”
Behind the scenes, there is a palpable fear on the right that the GOP will nominate a moderate Republican in 2016. There’s also growing unease with the field of likely contenders.
Enter Cruz. His supporters argue that he’d be a Barry Goldwater type — a nominee who would rattle the Republican establishment and reconnect the party with its base – but with better electoral results.
Republican power brokers from the early-primary states have noticed. They tell me that the Cruz factor is a frequent topic of discussion among state-based strategists.
“You bet, he’s on my radar,” says Chad Connelly, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. “Conservatives think he’s a rock star. I hear about him from everybody.”
Cruz’s allies whisper that the 42-year-old attorney, who holds degrees from Harvard Law and Princeton, doesn’t take the groundswell of enthusiasm lightly. Besides talking with conservative grandees, he has called his peers in the legal community and raised the prospect.
“We all see a path, and he does, too,” says a former Cruz colleague. “This isn’t someone who needs to be told the obvious. He didn’t run for the Senate to get cozy, so no one who knows him is surprised that he’s at least looking at it.”
Cruz isn’t worried that his birth certificate will be a problem. Though he was born in Canada, he and his advisers are confident that they could win any legal battle over his eligibility. Cruz’s mother was a U.S. citizen when he was born, and he considers himself to be a natural-born citizen.
As Cruz considers a run, his staff keeps adding new speaking appearances to his calendar. This week, he’ll headline the South Carolina GOP’s Silver Elephant dinner; in late May, he’ll speak to Wall Street heavies at the New York GOP’s annual dinner.
Earlier this year, Cruz gave the keynote speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, where he was greeted with a raucous reception and praised by Sarah Palin. She touted Cruz as a conservative who “chews barbed wire and spits out rust.”
The debates over gun control, immigration, and President Obama’s appointees have fueled his rise. He has been out front on each issue, brashly battling Democrats and, if need be, his fellow Republicans. “He’s the purest of the young conservative senators — that’s how we see him,” says a consultant who works for a leading conservative group.
That ideological purity and Cruz’s presidential maneuvers make aides close to other Republican contenders nervous. The backroom Republican consensus is that a Cruz insurgency would hardly be a quixotic publicity stunt. He’d outflank almost all of the other candidates on the right, and his debating skills, which once won him national awards, would be formidable. It doesn’t hurt that much of the media already hates him with a passion.
He’s also tighter with Republican donors than most people realize. Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, is a close friend — one of many donors with Cruz ties. Four years ago, Thiel poured more than $250,000 into Cruz’s aborted race for Texas attorney general, and he has recently donated millions to groups supporting Cruz, such as the Club for Growth. Sources close to other top Republican donors tell me that the senator is as good at wooing financiers as he is at wooing the Tea Party.
Cruz is obviously only one of several Senate conservatives gunning for the nomination. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, among others, have been busy traveling to the early states and slowly building up their political staffs. So have GOP governors such as Wisconsin’s Scott Walker and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal.
For now, Cruz is running behind in terms of organization. But sources say that doesn’t deter him in the slightest. “If he thinks this country needs bold leadership, he’s not going to shy away,” the former colleague says. “He is one of the most confident people I know, and he’d run to win.”
— Robert Costa is National Review’s Washington editor.
I have yet to see anything I regard as unassailable proof that he was actually born in Hawaii. Hawaii has a peculiar law which allows the issue of birth certificates to people who were not actually born there.
Have you seen this?
This is part of a law book which sums up the work of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania regarding which British Statutes were in effect in Pennsylvania. Here is the title page of the book.
Here is the link to it if you want to see the book yourself. It was in high demand, and they had to print another addition of it in 1847.
http://archive.org/stream/digestofselectbr00robe#page/n8/mode/1up
I'm pretty certain that Cruz's status is NOT a gray area. He must either be ruled a non "natural born citizen", or the Supreme Court has to overturn Rogers v Bellei, because Bellei and Cruz have exactly the same legal circumstances of birth.
Bellei's citizenship was revoked because he did not adhere the requirements of the Congressional Statute which granted citizenship to those born in a foreign country of at least one American parent.
It is axiomatic that a "natural born citizen" cannot have his citizenship revoked for failing to adhere to the requirements of a congressional statute which granted him citizenship. A "natural" citizen needs no positive law to be a citizen. Any citizen who is only a citizen through the operation of some positive law, is not a "natural" citizen.
Rogers v Bellei proves he is not. It's not going to matter how brilliant he is, the precedent is against him.
This is simple. If you have to think about it, you’re not.
(natural born citizen, that is.)
Keep doing what he's doing, he's got my vote and a little change from my pocket.
Stay the conservative course Ted, you're shining.
It’ set by the Constitution at noon on January 20. But close ;)
To say the least “this” is a subject of much conjecture.
Both of you and some others here have good points, the problem as I see it is that until such time as a bonafide NBC case gets to AND is heard by the SCOTUS, none of the arguments matter to a hill of beans as to Law.
No one has been able to get anything toward nobama’s NBC to the SCOTUS and if there were ever high motivation it is here.
Who would challenge Cruz’s NBC? I think not the Left for they will avoid any chance everything done by nobama being subject to deletion if its ever proven he was not eligible.
Cruz was born in Canada. No one knows where 0mozlem was born, who his real parents are, what is his DOB, or what his name was at birth. A mythical tale and forged documents are all he’s presented.
Those who disagree are stupid idiots.
YES, that is what you are.
You have NO authority at all, on your side. Not a single elected official supports you, not a single Judge supports you, not a single immigration attorney supports you.
I support Cruz for many reasons, one of the most important reasons being:
I WANT TO DEFEAT YOU IDIOT BIRTHERS!
You do not speak for the Conservative cause. Birtherism was started by HILLARY CLINTON!
You are wrong.
Cruz CAN run.
You have absolutely no authority on this issue.
There are some things that are known about ( )o( )bama that will never change.
Those who disagree are stupid idiots.
YES, that is what you are.
My my my. Wonder who made you the Pope?
Name a SINGLE elected official on your side?
Name a SINGLE judge on your side?
Name a SINGLE conservative leader on your side?
Yes, radical birthers are idiots. They are ignorant of the law, willfully ignorant. There is absolutely NOTHING “conservative” about the radical Birthers.
Yes, I have great suspicions about Obama’s past, but it is SETTLED law that those born of US Parents, CAN be Natural Born Citizens even if not born on US Soil.
Cruz met the requirements for Citizenship at birth, based on the laws in place when he was born.
PERIOD!
Again, present an AUTHORITY on this issue or please shut up.
That statement is correct. But only one of Cruz's parents was a US citizen when he was born.
Cruz met those requirements.
NOBODY agrees with your silly “cause” -— birtherism is pure foolishness.
I don’t care what you think.
But you are rude and insulting.
I will not continue this.
that restatement is incorrect.
You are distracted resources and money and time from things that really matter.
It is RUDE of you and INSULTING of you to try to hijack the conservative cause with your stupidity.
Cruz has my support, Cruz is 100% eligible to be President of the United States.
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