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There are 1,682 voting precincts in Iowa, and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) claims he has 1,573 of them covered for Monday night's first-in-the-nation Iowa Republican Caucus. "In my experience the Cruz organizational effort here in Iowa is unrivaled," Cruz's Iowa state director Bryan English said. "We have coalesced conservatives from across the state because they want a conservative leader who will change Washington, break the D.C. cartel and bring power back to 'We the People.'" According to the Cruz camp, they have named a county chair for each of Iowa's 99 counties, and recruited 247 "notable activists, pastors and...

U.S. Governors (former) Rick Perry, Texas (former); Presidential Candidate 2016, 2012 U.S. Senators (former) Bob Smith, New Hampshire (former); Presidential Candidate 2000 U.S. Representatives (current and former) Brian Babin, Representative from TexasBob Barr, former Representative from Georgia; also Libertarian Nominee in 2008Jim Bridenstine, Representative from OklahomaMo Brooks, Representative from AlabamaMichael C. Burgess, Representative from TexasJohn Culberson, Representative from TexasLouie Gohmert, Representative from TexasJody Hice, Representative from GeorgiaSteve King, Representative from IowaJohn Ratcliffe, Representative from TexasDana Rohrabacher, Representative from CaliforniaSam Graves, Representative from MissourTom Tancredo former Representative from Colorado; also presidential candidate in 2008Randy Weber, Representative from TexasSam Johnson, Representative...

I've become accustomed to politicians who keep their heads down and rarely say anything interesting because they're afraid of drawing fire. Rare are those who speak their minds, defend their principles and worry more about doing their job than keeping it. That's how Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has been conducting himself in his first two months in office, and the Washington establishment is aghast. Cruz has been my friend for 10 years, and I can't say I'm surprised. - snip - When someone is nominated to the Cabinet, the Constitution dictates that senators must give their "advice and...

It's well known that many Republicans in Washington do not like Sen. Ted Cruz, but the full extent of that antipathy is coming to light this week as several current and former lawmakers say they prefer Donald Trump as the GOP nominee, although they have little regard for either man. Some GOP consultants and strategists started the rumblings in recent days. Then Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad told Republicans in his state to oppose Cruz because of the senator's opposition to ethanol subsidies. But the story broke wide open on Wednesday when former Senate Majority Leader and 1996 Republican presidential nominee...

Conservative political commentator Glenn Beck officially endorsed Ted Cruz for president on Saturday. Beck, a nationally syndicated radio host, founder of TheBlaze and best-selling author, made the announcement with the Texas senator at a rally in Ankeny, Iowa, adding that the U.S. needs a "new George Washington." "Today's Washington will not be found in the garish light of gold, but rather, in the bold service of a man who stands tirelessly for what he deeply believes - that government should be of the people, by the people and for the people. That is why I am endorsing Senator Ted Cruz...

Senator Ted Cruz was in Iowa for the Ronald Reagan Dinner and delivered a slam dunk speech. I was going to highlight a point or two, but the whole speech is so spot-on I'll just give you the video and the entire transcript. (Note, it's a rush transcript so there may be an error or two.) --- Cruz: We need to unify and let me tell you, growth and freedom are principles and ideals that should unify the entire Republican caucus. They are principles and ideals, that unify the evangelical community. With the liberty movement. With the business community. Growth...

Has weird title. Great video of Palin talking about Cruz and the shutdown of the government over the (UN)affordable healthcare act. This video is worth watching.

CHUCK TODD: What do you do with the 11 million people though? Do you have to send 'em back, or do you give them a way to get legal? TED CRUZ: Chuck, I don't accept the premise that you have to solve every aspect of this problem all at once. President Obama and the Democrats focus on that issue because the question you're asking is the most divisive partisan question in this entire debate. And I don't believe President Obama wants to solve this. CHUCK TODD: I understand that it's divisive. But the– it's still a problem. TED CRUZ: B--...

Hollywood screenwriter Craig Mazin, who shared a dorm room with Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz during their freshman year at Princeton University, spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday trashing the Texas senator on Twitter. The storm of tweets, which started Monday evening, seemed to be sparked my Mazin's influx of Twitter followers, which he attributes to people learning that he was Cruz's roommate for a short time. "I have 30k followers now, and all I had to do was be stuck in a room with Ted Cruz for a year. I'm sure you're all nice, but SO NOT WORTH IT,"...

Yes, you read that right. According to Ted Cruz, the so-called Republican establishment is abandoning Florida senator Marco Rubio and uniting behind real-estate mogul Donald Trump. Cruz has long said the Republican primary would come down to two candidates, one a conservative, the other an establishment moderate. Now that Cruz and Trump are leading the polls, he's trying his hardest to paint Trump as the latter. "We're seeing something remarkable happening in this Republican primary," the Texas senator told reporters on Wednesday. "Right now, the Washington establishment is abandoning Marco Rubio, they’ve made the assessment that Marco can’t win this...

The key bit is where Cruz says of Trump, “look, there’s a difference. He’s advocated allowing folks to come back in and become citizens. I oppose that.” Trump has indeed said he’d let the “good” illegals come back in after they’ve been deported; lots of border hawks, me included, have flagged that as evidence that Trump’s not as opposed to forms of amnesty as he seems. Until now, though, none of the other top-tier candidates have had the guts to make that point against him. He can let Trump’s shots at his faith go because he has loads more credibility...

Once again the very desperate Donald Trump is trying to make a mountain out of a molehill, now suggesting that Ted Cruz is worse than Hillary “when you think about it” because of his filing mistake with respect to the loan he took out to fund his Senate campaign in Texas:Donald Trump: Ted Cruz Is "Worse than Hillary, When You Think about It" (Video)You know who else thinks Cruz is worse than Hillary? The Republican establishment. I’ve said this before, that Trump fights exactly like the Republican Establishment fights when they have a conservative challenging a Republican incumbent. They will...

AMES, Iowa -- In September, when Donald Trump appeared before a giant rally in Dallas, a person in the Trump circle described the coming months of the campaign. Sure, a big event like Dallas got headlines, but Trump knew he couldn't do the same rally, rally, rally for the next several months and expect the public to remain interested. Even then, TrumpWorld was planning a varied (and secret) schedule of special events, bold policy rollouts, and other attention-getting gestures to keep the voters' and the media's attention over the course of a long campaign. Tuesday night in Ames was a...

Ted Cruz‘s wife, Heidi, was once so depressed that a police officer wrote: "I believed that she was a danger to herself." The incident happened in 2005 shortly after Heidi quit her high-powered job at the White House and moved to Austin, Texas, to be with her husband, who was state solicitor general. Police responded to a 911 call about a woman in a pink shirt sitting next to an expressway and found Mrs. Cruz sitting on the ground ten feet from speeding traffic with her head in her hands.

Tax reform is a key part of reviving our economy so that the 21st century is another American century. That's why Senator Marco Rubio put together a tax reform plan that would generate economic growth, an employment boom, and rising wages for American workers. The Rubio tax plan would make the economy grow twice as fast as it has this century because it would lower taxes on hard-working families, allowing them to take home more of what they earn so they can use it to provide a better future for their children. It would reduce taxes on saving and investment,...

Yogi Berra said, "It's tough to make predictions, especially about the future." But here goes. Barring a major political earthquake, Ted Cruz will be the GOP nominee later this year. As the primaries get under way, two or three candidates will quickly emerge. Based on the voting blocks which are apparent in the current polling, and their likely moves as the options narrow, the most likely result is a Cruz win, perhaps by a landslide. With a strong anti-establishment sentiment among GOP voters, 65% are going for one of the opposition candidates, either Donald Trump (35%), Ted Cruz (20%), or...

Even Donald Trump thought so, at least before Ted Cruz slipped past him to top the Iowa polls. As recently as last August Trump was saying all the legal people he talked to vouched for Ted Cruz’s eligibility to be president. As ABC News reported The Donald’s flip-flop: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has reversed his position on Ted Cruz’s eligibility to run for president, now saying his Canadian birthplace shouldn’t disqualify him.

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz appears to be trying to beat Donald Trump at his own game. Amid growing anti-Muslim rhetoric from Trump and other Republican presidential candidates, Cruz introduced his new far-right position on Syrian refugees already in the U.S.: Send them home. After two terror suspects with links to the Islamic State group were arrested in California and Texas this week, Cruz said Thursday the Obama administration should suspend the resettlement of Syrian refugees and other terrorist-controlled territories and undertake a retroactive assessment of all refugees who have arrived from those "high-risk countries." He also blamed Democratic front-runner Hillary...

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is heading to Louisiana next week for a campaign rally. Cruz, a U.S. senator from Texas, will speak at a Monday afternoon rally at a Baton Rouge hotel, on the same day Louisiana's new governor, Democrat John Bel Edwards, is sworn into office. Bob Reid, with the Tea Party of Louisiana, circulated the Cruz rally information in an email Thursday that encouraged people to share the details with others. Louisiana's presidential primary is scheduled March 5

Dick Uilhlein, one of the top Republican megadonors nationwide, has decided to back Ted Cruz's presidential campaign and has donated $1 million to his super PAC. Uilhlein committed on Wednesday evening, according to Drew Ryun, a super PAC official with Keep The Promise PAC. "He is one of the top five courted GOP donors," Ryun told CNN. "For us to land him is a good shot in the arm for Ted, and it really sets the stage going into Iowa." Uilhlein previously backed Scott Walker's campaign and gave $2.5 million to his super PAC. Uilhlein, of Illinois, started the shipping...