Posted on 06/10/2015 6:41:49 AM PDT by GIdget2004
He’s stuck in the middle of the pack in Iowa, lags in polls, and much of the GOP donor class views him with disdain.
But Ted Cruz is embracing a novel strategy for winning the nomination: He’s lowering expectations in the early states while investing in later-voting states that hardly see a candidate before March.
In the past week or so alone, the Texas senator has taken his presidential campaign to Michigan and Massachusetts, staffed up in New Jersey and Tennessee, and skipped an Iowa cattle call to stump in North Carolina — all states expected to vote in March, with the exception of New Jersey, which has a primary slated for June 2016.
It’s a risky bet that defies the usual wisdom — and historical precedent — that a candidate must achieve an early-state victory to stay in the game. But Cruz’s team is bracing for a long fight based on picking up delegates — a battle they plan to stretch all the way to the convention, where, the theory goes, he’ll be the last conservative standing — though a contested convention hasn’t happened in nearly 40 years.
“Our strategy is taking it to the convention, which is why you’ve seen us announcing chairmen in California and New Jersey, as well as Iowa and New Hampshire,” said Mark Campbell, Cruz’s political director. “There are 2,470 [delegates] total, and you need 1,236 of them to win. None of these can be accumulated at any one time, which is why it’s a marathon more than a sprint. So we are methodically going state by state, focusing on grass roots and party activists.”
Campbell said they expect Cruz to place “in the top three” in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
South Carolina is strangely missing from this analysis...and Cruz certainly will be major in SC.
Besides, Iowa changed 200 times between this time four years ago and Caucus day.
I believe it’s early and Cruz can win Iowa. There’s plenty of time left to get momentum going in that state.
“South Carolina is strangely missing from this analysis...and Cruz certainly will be major in SC.”
It’s missing from the title of the article, but the article itself mentions South Carolina a number of time. His spokesperson said they expect to finish “top 3” in South Carolina, and talk about the strong possibility of having a different winner in each of the first 3 or 4 states, which then makes delegate counts much more important.
No, a candidate does not need an early state “victory” to stay in. An outsider candidate just needs good showings in early states.
yeah, I meant to say strangely undersold.....SC is a HUGE HUGE piece of the Cruz strategy....you can’t win the White House as a Republican unless you win SC....and winning SC often leads to winning Florida, which often translates into the nomination.
True. Jeb is the only one who needs early victories - because of expectations game.
He’s stuck because he’s on board with increasing H1B visas by 500%.
I stopped contributing to his campaign after I saw that announcement.
He needs to stand up to international corporations and stand up for American Citizens.
“No, a candidate does not need an early state ‘victory’ to stay in.”
I agree, but it’s funny that this was not what Ted Cruz was saying about Jeb Bush just the other day. He said that historically the nominee has needed to win one of the first three states, and he wondered how Jeb would manage that. And now a week later his spokesperson is saying that his goal is top 3 in those same states.
Perhaps. But much of the base is very enthusiastic about his candidacy.
Seems like Cruz is the only one running here in Michigan.
No one here in Iowa has spent much energy yet on the candidates. Its very early in the process; and people have lives to live outside of thinking about the coming bombardment of the candidates coming here.
Ted Cruz just might’ve lost a lot of conservative support by voting to move ObamaTrade forward.
A strategy of trying to win at the convention is an epic fail. Cruz needs to win one of the first three primaries. If I was him I’d be after SC. and then Fla.
So can those simple minded people state what makes others so much better? Is it Rand Paul’s Al Sharptonesque pandering, or Donald Trump’s threats to punish business into returning?
If that’s what he’s doing, it’s hardly novel. It’s done all the time by those doing poorly in early State polls.
I routinely wonder why pundits and analysts get paid.
I gotta say, I am disappointed in Cruz's H1B position as well. There's not much difference between a flood of illegals and a flood of legals.
He's wrong on Immigration and he's wrong on Trade.
Two very big issues that will keep him from being nominated.
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