Posted on 10/25/2015 7:44:36 PM PDT by Isara
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| Staff photo/Derek Sullivan A packed Bayless Park Hall listened to Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz discuss his candidancy on Friday night. |
The Texas senator and Republican candidate for president stopped in downtown Council Bluffs to, among other things, compare himself to former president Ronald Reagan, attack current President Barack Obama, ignore current GOP Iowa Caucus poll leaders Ben Carson and Donald Trump, share career highlights and, most of all, raise money for his campaign by mentioning his website.
The event was billed as a town hall, and Cruz did take questions. First, he spoke for 30 minutes about his campaign. He called himself a Washington outsider whose “grassroots campaign” had raised $26.5 million.
Cruz said his average donation from the more than 360,000 contributions was $73. The only time he mentioned another candidate for the Republican nomination was during his report on his campaign’s finances. Cruz said his campaign had raised $3.5 million more than fellow GOP candidate Jeb Bush.
In a Iowa Caucus poll released last week by the Des Moines Register, Cruz sat in third place with 10 percent of the vote. Bush sits in fifth place with 5 percent. Leading the way were two candidates that Cruz failed to mention: retired surgeon Ben Carson (28 percent) and real estate billionaire Donald Trump (19 percent).
Former Council Bluffs city councilman Matt Schultz, who chairs Cruz’ Iowa campaign, said there was no reason for his candidate to tell the packed hall why he’s a better candidate than Carson or Trump.
“We’ve watched presidential campaigns come through Iowa for years, and you can’t rely on polls three or four months out,” Schultz said. “The poll we want to win is the one on caucus night on Feb. 1, 2016. We’re just going to keep doing what we do. They’re (Carson/Trump) good people, and they’re a lot of good people in this race.”
After his stump speech, Cruz offered to “answer or dodge questions” from the audience. He answered five questions, ranging from immigration to energy dependence to gun control.
Benjamin Nelson of Omaha wore a pro-fossil fuels T-shirt and asked Cruz if he could bring to young people “change that you can believe in.”
Cruz used the question to attack the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare, calling it a wealth transfer from the young to the old. He said that if he was elected president, he would, on his first day, repeal every word of Obamacare so that healthy young people would not need to buy insurance.
“It was surreal to see him in person,” Nelson said. “So far, I had only seen him on T.V. I hope he can lead the way in energy liberation.”
Jill Olson brought her 16-year-old son to the event. She said she believes Cruz is trustworthy and “will stand for the constitution.”
“I worry a lot about my son’s future,” Olson said. “I have been teaching him about the importance of the constitution and because of that he’s also backing Ted Cruz.”
Schultz said his candidate had a good night.
“He was great. He was funny. He got the crowd energized,” he said. “Voters want to know where you stand on the constitution, where you stand on the Bill of Rights, were you stand on Obamacare. They want to know what you’ve done to back that up. That’s the difference between Sen. Cruz and everyone else. He’s the most consistent conservative in the race.”
Cruzing.
Ted Cruz REMAINS the only true Conservative in this race.
This has been my impression of Cruz. I don't understand it when people describe him as dry or too much of a policy wonk.
Yes, he is.
That’s nice, now about our ethanol subsidy...
Unlike other candidates, Ted Cruz is against ethanol subsidy.
Ted Cruz Woos Iowa Ag Summit With Principled Anti-Ethanol Subsidy Stance
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