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How Ted Cruz may benefit from Rand Paul dropping out
The Washington Post ^ | February 3, 2016 | Katie Zezima

Posted on 02/03/2016 11:41:51 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

HENNIKER, N.H. - For months, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) has tried to poach libertarian-leaning voters here away from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Now, with Paul's exit from the race, Cruz has even more of an opening to make inroads with supporters of the Kentucky Republican.

Cruz is running as a tea-party darling and evangelical Christian, constituencies that helped propel him to victory in the Iowa caucuses. But he is also attempting to expand that base, particularly with libertarian-leaning supporters. Here in New Hampshire, Cruz speaks of limited government, gun rights and privacy.

"But part of the reason we're more competitive in New Hampshire than a typical conservative is we’ve got enough support on the libertarian side that it backfills. That's fairly unusual," Cruz told reporters on his plane as it traveled from a rally in Greenville, S.C., to Manchester, N.H. "Right now we're second. It will be interesting to see how Iowa impacts New Hampshire."...

...Cruz tells crowds here that he co-sponsored Ron Paul's "Audit the Fed" bill, invokes the Fourth Amendment, a favorite of Paul, and discusses eminent domain, a contentious subject in much of this state......

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Iowa; US: Kentucky; US: New Hampshire; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 2016election; auditthefed; conservative; cruz; districtofcolumbia; election2016; gaykkk; glennbeck; homosexualagenda; iowa; katiezezima; kentucky; libertarian; libertarians; marklevin; medicalmarijuana; megynkelly; newhampshire; paul; paultardation; paultardnoisemachine; pennsylvania; randpaul; randpaulnoisemachine; randsconcerntrolls; ricksantorum; rogerailes; tedcruz; texas; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost
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1 posted on 02/03/2016 11:41:51 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Cruz is running as a tea-party darling

Notice the "media" never refer to the likes of Obama or Sanders as "progressive darlings?"

2 posted on 02/03/2016 11:43:31 AM PST by ScottinVA (If you're not enraged...why?)
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To: ScottinVA

I have.


3 posted on 02/03/2016 11:44:10 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Although Ted’s not a libertarian, he’s the next-most-libertarian to Rand, so I suspect the bulk of Rand’s people (those whoa aren’t crazy Libertarian rushing to Gary Johnwson) will settle on Ted.

Ted Cruz has the advantage of being everybody’s second choice.


4 posted on 02/03/2016 11:44:23 AM PST by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

He’ll probably endorse Cruz because Paul hates Trump. So Mr. Snarky, I’m the world’s smartest man, gets out of the race. Let’s see if he blames Trump. My guess he will.


5 posted on 02/03/2016 11:44:47 AM PST by NKP_Vet (In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle,stand like a rock ~ T, Jefferson)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Ted expressly appealed to libertarians to be part of his coalition on Monday night.


6 posted on 02/03/2016 11:45:01 AM PST by TBP (Obama lies, Granny dies.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I do think that Cruz will benefit from Paul dropping out. But if his NH tally doesn’t show a gain then he will take a beating from the analysts.


7 posted on 02/03/2016 11:45:13 AM PST by Brilliant
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Because nothing says “I’m for keeping government out of your life” than a creepy mailer showing your voting record and that of your neighbors.


8 posted on 02/03/2016 11:45:17 AM PST by montag813
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
We're not in Iowa anymore.


9 posted on 02/03/2016 11:46:46 AM PST by McGruff (We're not in Iowa anymore Heidi.)
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To: TBP
Although Ted’s not a libertarian, he’s the next-most-libertarian to Rand

I think of Cruz not as libertarian, but a small government politician, constitutional limits for the feds.

10 posted on 02/03/2016 11:47:04 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: TBP

Libertarians sure know how to organize.

There are a lot of young voters who are libertarians.


11 posted on 02/03/2016 11:47:29 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: McGruff

You still believe poll numbers?

=0


12 posted on 02/03/2016 11:48:15 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: McGruff

Bush in 4th place sort of agrees with my theory he’s around until March 2nd.


13 posted on 02/03/2016 11:48:20 AM PST by nascarnation
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

NH has a large libertarian contingent. Ron Paul got 23% there last time. If Cruz hits Trump hard on the issues of eminent domain and NSA warrantless data collection, he could get a lot of support from the libertarians, especially with Paul out of the race. He can also tout his sponsorship of the USA Freedom act, his defense of the 2nd Amendment before the Supreme Court and his staunch defense of federalism and the 10th Amendment.


14 posted on 02/03/2016 11:49:49 AM PST by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: nascarnation

Club For Growth deciding to thin the herd of candidates they want to throw money at.


15 posted on 02/03/2016 11:50:05 AM PST by austinaero
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To: TBP

That is part of his long range plan, has been doing that for a while, plays an audio with previous Paul supporters, and it is true some higher level Paul supporters moved to Cruz already. An amazing campaign.


16 posted on 02/03/2016 11:50:08 AM PST by libbylu (Cruz: The truth with a smile.)
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To: McGruff

That poll only has one day of data after Iowa, and it is already showing Cruz and Rubio gaining support.


17 posted on 02/03/2016 11:51:05 AM PST by CA Conservative (Texan by birth, Californian by circumstance)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Rand Paul supporters = Libertarian = heavily against organized religion = They ain’t voting for Cruz.


18 posted on 02/03/2016 11:51:56 AM PST by VanDeKoik
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To: McGruff

No, we are not. No natural advantages for anybody in NH.


19 posted on 02/03/2016 11:52:28 AM PST by txhurl (I'm NO LONGER with the Nasty Canadian '16 (well, unless he wins ;))(and he did))
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To: TBP

Which is why some dude on O’Reilly like 2 years ago said he thought Cruz could end up being the nominee, because he could unite the social conservative, national security and libertarian wings of the party better than anyone else. O’Reilly just expressed shock. Wish I could remember who that guy was because I thought he was really smart to say that.


20 posted on 02/03/2016 11:56:34 AM PST by JediJones (Marco Rubio: Sounds like Richard Simmons and talks like Speedy Gonzalez)
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