After Months of Lying in Wait and Watching Rivals, Ted Cruz Sees Payoff in Polls

Hours after Ted Cruz announced his presidential candidacy last March at an evangelical university, his team openly cheered his meager position in the polls, where his support registered at around 5 percent. "You have to own a base in the Republican primary," the campaign manager, Jeff Roe, said then. "If you own the base, then you can grow it."

Less than nine months later ..many of them spent drafting behind his rivals, lying in wait .. Mr. Cruz's base of support has swelled, forcing his foes to grapple with the central premise of Mr. Cruz's bid, a bet many had long dismissed: that he could emerge as the first far-right conservative in recent political history with the strength to withstand a bruising primary.

For weeks, polls have shown Mr. Cruz climbing both nationally and, more decisively, in Iowa, where a Monmouth University survey on Monday placed him first, with 24 percent support among likely Republican caucusgoers. Donald J. Trump was second at 19 percent. (Another poll, by CNN, gave Mr. Trump a solid lead, despite gains by Mr. Cruz.)

Mr. Cruz, who had more cash on hand than any other campaign as of Sept. 30, boasts on the trail that the traditional primary script has been flipped:

If as reported, Trumpâ€™s proposal would keep out Muslims who are US citizens seeking to reduce-enter the country, he would be stopped by practically any judge.

Why not go directly to the source?

DONALD J. TRUMP STATEMENT ON PREVENTING MUSLIM IMMIGRATION

(New York, NY) December 7th, 2015, -- Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on. According to Pew Research, among others, there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population. Most recently, a poll from the Center for Security Policy released data showing "25% of those polled agreed that violence against Americans here in the United States is justified as a part of the global jihad" and 51% of those polled, "agreed that Muslims in America should have the choice of being governed according to Shariah." Shariah authorizes such atrocities as murder against non-believers who won't convert, beheadings and more unthinkable acts that pose great harm to Americans, especially women.

Mr. Trump stated, "Without looking at the various polling data, it is obvious to anybody the hatred is beyond comprehension. Where this hatred comes from and why we will have to determine. Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life. If I win the election for President, we are going to Make America Great Again." - Donald J. Trump

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/press-releases/donald-j.-trump-statement-on-preventing-muslim-immigration

Sadly RINOs are the least of Ted’s concerns. The MSM will utterly disassembled him in the general in a campaign that will make their war against Palin look like a skirmish, and he doesn’t have the supernatural force of personality and charm needed to overcome this.

Ted has plenty of elections to win in the future. Today the whole system needs a good flushing and there’s only one man for that job.

If as reported, Trumpâ€™s proposal would keep out Muslims who are US citizens seeking to reduce-enter the country, he would be stopped by practically any judge.

US citizens seeking to reduce-enter the country ????

What does that mean?

I heard Trump talking to Gretta by phone this afternoon. He used pat phrases, somewhat awkwardly expressed, didn't address Gretta's question "what about US citizen muslims serving in US armed services returning from overseas deployment", but seemed to answer a larger question: citizen or not if they're living in the US we have to be vigilant, which I took to mean they could come in but we have to monitor them, at which point I turned the TV off. And re Bret Baier's quip about King Abdullah, I guess that's a no.

I have complete confidence that Ted can destroy any media personality in an interview.

What I doubt is if he can overcome the RINO opposition from within the leadership of the party.

I also have some misgivings about his carisma and ability to defeat Hillary.

I also am not sure if I want to lose such a strong conservative in the Senate, where he is doing so much good.

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