[ilgipper]

Republicans win in 2016 if they put up a candidate that can excite the base. It doesn’t HAVE to be a perfect conservative. It has to be someone that provides a superior vision and gets everyone motivated to work, donate, campaign and vote. Short list: Walker, Cruz, Pence, Kasich (?).

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Conservatives in SW Missouri insisted on a “perfect conservative.”
They helped elect Claire McCackle.

[nathanbedford]

My heart belongs Ted Cruz but my head tells me that my heart would not be broken over a candidacy by Governor Walker.

He is conservative enough, he clearly has a backbone, he is photogenic, he does not make mistakes on the stump, he governs as he campaigns. More, he has not been nationally tainted as a radical right-winger as has, unfortunately, Ted Cruz. Walker stands in better odor with independents and has the advantage of running as a governor rather than as a senator and his record is one in which both conservatives and Rinos can find satisfaction.

If I were able to anoint, however, I would dab Ted Cruz's forehead with oil.

[arthurus]

Republicans will most likely put up either Bush or Romney and will undo the midterms. The only way out of that is for Cruz to be the ONLY conservative in the 2016 primaries. If that happens and if Cruz can adopt something like Reagan’s confident air of optimism then the record amounts of money that will be raised by the Republican Party and the Democrat Party to defeat him in the primaries will be for nought.

[skinkinthegrass]

Don't forget, LCol. Allen West. ☺