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Sen. Ted Cruz is proving to be a "disciplined" campaigner and "a leader with a real plan," but Donald Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio lack "consistency" on the big issues including guns and immigration, GOP presidential primary dropout Rick Perry says. In a radio interview with conservative radio host Simon Conway in Iowa, the former Texas governor — who dropped his own White House bid in September — heaped praise on Cruz for his "wily" and "wise" performance in the fifth GOP presidential candidates' debate in Las Vegas. Audio of the interview was posted by Buzz Feed News. "I think...

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins and dozens of other prominent conservatives are expected to endorse Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for president, a move that aims to coalesce conservative support around one candidate, a National Review article claimed Tuesday. The article states that a coalition of as many as 50 influential conservative activists gathered on Dec. 7 at the Sheraton Hotel in Tysons Corner, Virginia for a meeting that was spearheaded by Perkins for the purpose of hashing out which candidate the conservative activists will unite their support behind. After a long day of discussion and debate, it took five...

Ted Cruz knows what he's doing. This is not good news for GOP insiders who believe the party must nominate a mainstream Republican if it has any hope of taking back the White House next November. Donald Trump and Ben Carson have been leading the GOP presidential primary polls for months. Pundits have been expecting the two anti-Establishment candidates' bubbles to pop, believing that conservative voters will begin taking the race seriously as the New Year -- and the Iowa Caucus -- looms. Cruz, the junior senator from Texas, understands that Trump and Carson supporters have been taking the race...

As the first primary dates approach, the establishment is on its heels, and two terrifying choices stand out. Another weekend, another series of Donald Trump interviews in which he runs circles around anchors who are simply flummoxed by the candidate, unable to get him to respond to questions like a normal person. Not that you can blame them. He’s one slippery guy. And it has to be tough to keep your concentration when trying to talk to someone who is wearing such an odd color of make-up. So, for the most part, Trump was Trump and they were stumped. But...

The trend was first hinted at by a methodologically suspect survey released last week by Monmouth University. But now it's been established by the "gold standard" of Iowa polls, Ann Selzer's survey for the Des Moines Register and Bloomberg: Ted Cruz has passed Donald Trump like he is standing still (which he actually is), and is registering impressive favorability and second-choice numbers as well. Too bad for him, voting is still a month and a half away! Selzer shows Cruz leaping an unprecedented (for her Iowa caucus polls) 21 points, from 10 percent to 31 percent, since her last survey...

Perhaps you have watched one, two, three, four or even all five. Perhaps you haven't watched a single one. But regardless of what group you fall into, you might want to watch tonight's Republican presidential candidate debate, which will air on CNN. It will be the sixth held this year and it will give you a chance to take either an initial or second look at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who now seems to have the best chance to overtake front runner Donald Trump and win the party's nomination. The GOP establishment has watched on with unease as Trump has...

Link only: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2015/12/15/republican-power-rankings-ted-cruz-donald-trump-gop/77289908/

National Review's Tim Alberta has given us all a peek behind the veil of a much-rumored process in which a cabal of conservative leaders — with especially heavy representation from old-line Christian-right groups, and informally headed up by the Family Research Council's Tony Perkins — has worked to unify around a single Republican presidential candidates. Turns out the group — which in fact referred to itself as "the GROUP" — has been struggling to reach a self-imposed 75 percent supermajority threshold for agreement on a single candidate. Coincidentally or not, Ted Cruz finally achieved that threshold in a meeting during...

Going into the 2016 Republican primary, former Florida governor Jeb Bush was the favorite on many handicap cards. True, the Bush name could be a liability, but probably less so against an equally dynastic opponent like Hillary Clinton. (Or, for Bush critics, running him would foolishly hamper the Republicans’ ability to make hay over the ascension of a hereditary Clinton monarch.) Bush had vast financial resources, a political organization second to none, gubernatorial experience, and all the Establishment support anyone could ask for. Even after the Trump surge, conventional wisdom still held Bush was the candidate best positioned to ride...

Ted Cruz has worked for months to build a campaign that is worthy of envy. The junior Senator from Texas toiled away in rural Iowa restaurants, South Carolina churches, even an active bee farm in New Hampshire where guests were warned they might, in fact, be killed if they wandered off. Cruz lined up county chairmen in each of the first four early nominating states, something that even eventual winners of party nominations never achieve. His super PACs—yes, plural—are sitting on at least $30 million. To this point, Cruz has not incurred a single meaningful gaffe. And new polls show...

DES MOINES, IOWA - Ted Cruz rocketed to frontrunner status in Iowa last week after scoring a high-profile endorsement and a ten point lead in one of the state's most respect polls. But even with Cruz's hefty purse of campaign cash, striking ground organization and key supporters, longtime caucus observers and influential conservatives caution that a Cruz victory in the state is still far from a sure thing with more than a month to go before the opening contest of the presidential race. "Anything could and likely will happen before caucus night. Things happen in the polls in even the...

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has penned a piece arguing that Sen. Ted Cruz has mass appeal to conservatives as a Hispanic, a family man and a tea party favorite — not just that he looks good compared to the bombastic Republican front-runner, Donald Trump. “Those who suggest the Republican establishment will not support Cruz don’t know the Republican establishment very well,” Patrick wrote in USA Today. “He may not be the first choice for some, but they know we must end the attack on American business. They want lower taxes, less regulation and an end to Obamacare.” Patrick, also a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump had a new target on Sunday, calling fellow White House contender Ted Cruz "a little bit of a maniac" as the U.S. senator surpassed him in an Iowa poll.Cruz's dogged pursuit of conservative Iowa voters has paid off in the form of a 10-point lead over Trump in the state, which has one of the earliest presidential contests. Unlike the other Republicans in the 2016 White House race, the U.S. senator from Texas has embraced Trump and avoided public criticism of the popular candidate. But last week he questioned Trump's judgment at...

PBS: Syndicated columnist Mark Shields and New York Times columnist David Brooks join Judy Woodruff to discuss Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's comments on banning Muslims from entering the U.S., a campaign surge for Sen. Ted Cruz, plus assessing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan’s first month on the job. Brooks says Republican Senators would rather vote for a Democratic Majority Leader than "universally unpopular" Ted Cruz. JUDY WOODRUFF, PBS NEWSHOUR: When it comes to Trump, David, I know we have been talking about him, but this week, with the statement about keeping Muslims out of the country, is this...

The Democratic National Committee drafted a resolution, expected to pass Saturday, which accuses the Republican presidential candidates of engaging in "anti-Muslim rhetoric." The resolution, according to CNN, says the DNC is "sickened by the vile personal attacks that denigrate Islam" from the GOP candidates. It says the candidates have "incited disturbing levels of fear mongering and demagoguery against racial, ethnic and religious minority communities."(continued)

I haven’t seen anyone really go out on a limb yet and make predictions about the Republican primaries. So it's time to engage in some wildly premature political punditry. This, of course, is risky. There are so many variables. What happens if one candidate drops out and scrambles things? What is more, factors in the political universe - say, God forbid, another terrorist attack - can quickly swing public opinion. (Remember how Ben Carson’s numbers declined after the Paris attacks?) It is with all these caveats disclosed that I boldly present my picks. The good news is that these predictions...

Link only: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/elections/presidential/caucus/2015/12/12/big-shakeup-iowa-poll-cruz-soars-lead/77199800/?hootPostID=4eea3f7c0afaf2ae98aa0004f90b8761

Donald Trump attacked Ted Cruz tonight, first accusing him of loving oil too much because “oil pays him a lot of money” and saying he’s got go come a long way on ethanol or something. Cruz is not against ethanol as The Donald suggests. Cruz has said we need an all of the above approach on energy, but it needs to be driven by the market and not by the federal government picking winners and losers via federal subsidies. Later on Trump attacks Ted Cruz’s evangelical Christian faith, saying “I do like Ted Cruz, but not a lot of evangelicals...

... Senator Ted Cruz voted for Cloture on TPA Fast track trade authority removing the hurdle and concern of further amendments and clearing the way for passage. Again, like "unanimous consent" cloture votes are not recorded roll call votes. Thereby Ted Cruz could obfuscate his support. He figured to hide, see how that works? However, Cruz advocacy could not be hidden entirely. On another bill HR 1314 Cruz voted against an amendment to the Trade Deal that would require congress to be consulted if China (or other nations) were to join after the fact: Senate Amendment 1251 "To require the...

At Nate Silver's 538.com, they describe the Republican electorate as a five-ring circus, composed of Libertarian, Tea Party, Evangelical, Establishment, and Moderate voters. A candidate who can bring three of the rings together will be the winner. Ted Cruz is the one who's doing it. With his pastor/father Rafael leading the way, Cruz has taken the lead among Iowa religious voters away from Ben Carson. Their affection for the fervently Christian Carson is not enough to overcome his obvious weakness as a commander in chief. Santorum and Huckabee are his other competitors in this ring, and neither has Cruz's money...