Rand Paul hates Cruz. He spent much of his debate time fighting with Cruz.
“Rand Paul hates Cruz.”
Well, he’ll have to take a number and wait his turn just like everybody else.
You hate Cruz too. Why should we listen to you?
Rand will bite Cruz and push Rubio because his Handler, Mitch McConnell tells little rand what he will and will not do if he wants to retain his Seat in the Senate.
Spirited battle does not always mean hate. One can go toe-to-toe with someone you respectfully disagree with on some issues, while sharing some common ground.
Baloney, they supported each other more often than not.
I have no idea about RP's personal feelings. Nor do I care. But operationally, the reality in this cycle has been that Paul and Cruz were competing for the same block of tea party/libertarian/liberty movement conservative voters. That's why Paul was focused on highlighting his differences with Cruz. It's the same reason Bush spends so much money hammering Rubio. You go first after the guy who is attracting your own target voters.
Btw, this applies to the Ben Carson snit fit as well. Part of Dr. Ben's pique is that his NH leadership group defected to Cruz, as did some of his top money people. And he has been leaking values voters to Cruz for some time.
That’s because he knows Cruz’s position is closest to his and therefore his best chance to gain voters to is take them from Cruz.
It’s the same reason Jeb has been spending most of his time attacking Rubio.
This wasn't about getting Rand to vote for Cruz - it is about getting libertarians to vote for Cruz. I am sure the Cruz campaign has been contacting all of the Paul supporters in NH already. They have a strong ground game. I don't expect Cruz to win NH, but I do expect him to outperform the polls again. And I expect Trump to underperform again, since he does not even seem to understand the term "ground game" by his own admission.