Posted on 01/12/2016 8:20:58 AM PST by Isara
Republican presidential candidate and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will skip President Obama's final State of the Union Address Tuesday night.
While the other two Republican candidates currently in Congress, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio plan to attend Obama's address in the House chamber, Cruz' campaign staff told The Hill that Cruz will instead be on the campaign trail in New Hampshire, where he currently sits in fourth place in an average of New Hampshire Republican polling.
Democratic presidential candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is also scheduled to be in attendance for Obama's speech tonight.
Although Cruz will not attend the address, Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler told The Hill that the 45-year-old Cruz will no doubt be "disappointed" by the content of the president's speech, regardless of where he hears it.
"It won't matter because he'll be just as disappointed in New Hampshire as he will be in the chamber," Tylery said. "It's not a snub. He's going to be in New Hampshire, working hard to win New Hampshire."
As billionaire businessman Donald Trump currently leads the RealClearPolitics average of Republican polling in New Hampshire with 30.2 percent of the support, Cruz also trails Rubio (13.2 percent) and Ohio Gov. John Kasich (11.2 percent) as he has received just 10.8 percent support in the Granite State.
Cruz looks to gain the success in New Hampshire that he has seen in Iowa, where he is leading the average of Republican presidential polling with 27.3 percent.
Dan Schill, an associate professor at James Madison University who teaches on media and politics, told the Hill that Cruz' absence from the State of the Union Address will likely not have a huge impact with presidential primary voters.
"I don't think it will necessarily turn off too many primary voters in New Hampshire and Iowa, but there is that risk," Schill said. "The choice to stiff the speech can send a message it's time for change. It may also backfire for people who see it as not respecting office of the presidency."
Also attending the State of the Union Address will be controversial Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who spent days in jail this past September when she refused to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the June Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay marriage nationally.
The Family Research Council, a leading social conservative activist organization, secured Davis a ticket to the event.
Davis told the Christian Post in a Monday interview that she would like to hear Obama provide hope and speak about Christian values during his address.
Also attending the address is Everett Piper, the president of Oklahoma Wesleyan University, which has been at the forefront of a number of religious liberty issues facing Christian colleges.
Piper, who will attend as a guest of Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., wrote an open letter last year condemning the rise of political correctness on college campuses. In the letter, he told students that they "need to grow up" and that college is "not daycare."
Good for him!
That pesky sock drawer....
Have skipped every speech this little despot has made since day one, why change now. He is so anti-American and communist in his jabbering all you have to do is recall old Soviet propaganda rubbish and you have obama, just a slicker deliver, but the same crap.
I’m with you except I will be finish sanding a new rifle stock. Much more interesting than watching the Kenyan dictator telling more and more lies to his subjects.
King of the Hill reruns for me
I can almost see him...pounding his shoe...on the podium
“Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will skip President Obama’s final State of the Union Address Tuesday...”
Me too.
5.56mm
Why do they keep calling this his “final” SOTU? Like he won’t take the stage next year???
Why? It is where the TV cameras will be.
Look at todays date, one year from today he will still be pres. He willl never pass up an chance to toot his own horn about how wonderful he is, there will be his final speach next year, same day
So you're saying that Rubio and Rand can only get television coverage by going somewhere that a multitude of falsehoods and outright lies are enunciated by an America hating muslim?............Then why aren't they campaigning in every mosque across the land?
Good going Ted, we won’t be watching either. I can’t imagine hearing his droning on about how horrible we are + how he introduces an actual “Syrian Refugee”-— Who probably HAS been totally 100% background checked, is clean shaven and everything, just so he say “....See they’re ALL like Him....” Which has once again been exposed over New Years as a LIE in Germany. Hussein and his actions are so offensive to me, I couldn’t be paid to watch it. That graphic of Schumer, McLame + The Pansy Lindsey Speaks VOLUMES.
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