Presidential contender and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with a supporter at the opening of his first Iowa office in Urbandale, Iowa on Sept. 26, 2015. (Photo by Patrick Svitek)
Posted on 01/03/2016 9:37:10 AM PST by Isara
Presidential contender and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz speaks with a supporter at the opening of his first Iowa office in Urbandale, Iowa on Sept. 26, 2015. (Photo by Patrick Svitek) |
While there have been no signs since then that Cruz's momentum in Iowa has slowed, he will head back to the Hawkeye State on Monday facing a new reality: life as a bona fide frontrunner and all the scrutiny — fair and unfair — that comes with it.
Cruz's return to Iowa will be marked by perhaps the most intensive round of campaigning there by a GOP candidate during the 2016 campaign: a six-day, 28-county bus tour across the state, which holds its caucuses on Feb. 1. His campaign had originally announced a more ambitious 36-county blitz, but it scaled back as it gauged potential turnout for the barnstorming.
The tour will bring Cruz significantly closer to fulfilling his promise to visit all of Iowa's 99 counties — a tradition known as the "full Grassley," named after the state's senior U.S. senator. It will also signal Cruz is not taking his lead for granted in Iowa, where polling shows he has eclipsed billionaire Donald Trump as the top candidate in recent weeks.
"The schedule for next week is just the start of our efforts in January in Iowa," said Bryan English, Cruz's Iowa state director. "We have always intended to finish strong, and what you’re seeing is a culmination of the plan to work Iowa from the Mississippi to Missouri rivers."
An Iowa victory is still anything but guaranteed for an ascendant Cruz, who is bracing for a flurry of attacks in the lead-up to the caucuses. In the Hawkeye State, Cruz has already fallen in the crosshairs of the ethanol lobby and outside groups with ties to at least two of his GOP rivals.
On a conference call Thursday, he warned volunteers that his rivals could spend potentially tens of millions of dollars against him in January alone.
"I want to tell everyone to get ready, strap on the full armor of God. Get ready for the attacks that are coming," Cruz said. "Come the month of January, we ain’t seen nothing yet."
Iowa Republicans have already watched two of Cruz's fellow GOP contenders, Ben Carson and Scott Walker, fall from the top tier in Iowa, only to have their overall campaigns go into decline afterward. Now all eyes are on how the frontrunner dynamic is navigated by Cruz, who has insisted his campaign is the most durable in the Republican field.
“I do think at this point in time, you’ve got 30 days until caucus night, and he is definitely in position to take the poll position in Iowa," said John Stineman, a Republican strategist in Iowa who led Steve Forbes' presidential campaign there in 2000. "I think the question is, 'Can he hold on for that period of time or does he ebb?'"
"If he does continue to build, then I think you’re looking at potentially, 'Is he the guy who can put together the same kind of Huckabee numbers like in ’08?'” Stineman added, referring to Huckabee's nine-point victory over Mitt Romney eight years ago in the Hawkeye State.
Cruz's allies are taking notice of the stakes. Two super PACs supporting the Texas senator announced plans last week to boost him on Iowa TV to the tune of almost $3 million combined — advertising that could provide him some cover as he increasingly comes under fire there.
Cruz's campaign, meanwhile, is focusing on putting the final touches on an Iowa organization that it touts as the envy of other GOP candidates. It has campaign chairs in every county, it has recruited a supportive pastor in almost every county and it is rotating Texas-based volunteers in and out of a dorm-like headquarters in Des Moines. The campaign recently announced it had rented a second building, set to open this month, to keep up with the influx of volunteers wanting to help out in the lead-up to Feb. 1.
The Cruz campaign's TV effort is also in full swing in the Hawkeye State. Its most recent spot, titled "Victories," highlight wins Cruz scored during his legal career in Texas, including his defense of the Ten Commandments monument on the Texas Capitol grounds.
As the homestretch to Iowa gets underway, Cruz's campaign is one of only a few that appear to be going all in in the state. Even Donald Trump, the billionaire who led the GOP field there for months, recently sought to manage expectations, saying it would not be a "terrible defeat" if he came in second by 2 points.
English said he was "a little bit" surprised few other candidates seem to be competing as hard for Iowa as Cruz is. Then again, English added, "it surprises me that there aren’t other campaigns that have done what we’ve done to similarly play hard for the nomination," building an organization that stretches far beyond the first few early voting states.
Among those also planning a big footprint this month in Iowa is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the 2008 caucus winner who has suggested it's the Hawkeye State or bust this time around for him. Huckabee's campaign announced Friday he will hold 150 events in Iowa throughout January, beginning Sunday with a six-day, 25-stop swing through the state.
In a statement on the final push, Huckabee took a fresh swipe at Cruz, whom he had criticized a week earlier for reportedly responding no when asked at a fundraiser if fighting gay marriage is a "top-three priority." At the fundraiser, Cruz went on to cite a broader goal upon taking office: "defending the Constitution."
"Conservatives are being asked to 'coalesce' around a corporately-funded candidate with no record of accomplishment and abandon their principles, but I will continue my fight to put Americans first," the former Arkansas governor said in the statement. "It all boils down to Iowa and the people of Iowa are not for sale."
Huckabee's allies have already singled out Cruz in mailboxes and on the radio in Iowa, seeking to undercut his claim to being the purest conservative in the GOP field. A pro-Huckabee super PAC is planning to keep up the offensive through the day of the caucuses in what it is describing as a six-figure effort.
Also not planning to let up on Cruz is the ethanol lobby, which spent most of December hammering the Texas senator over his opposition to the Renewable Fuel Standard. The pro-ethanol group America's Renewable Future is planning to rev up the attack machine again Monday to coincide with the start of Cruz's bus tour.
That is all on top of ongoing efforts by a nonprofit group to paint Cruz as weak on national security. The outfit, American Encore, is most prominently behind a TV ad airing in Iowa that claims Cruz "voted to weaken America's ability to identify and hunt down terrorists." The group is helmed by a supporter of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who has been hitting Cruz for weeks over his vote last year in favor of the USA Freedom Act.
Cruz's campaign hopes that voters will see through the anti-Cruz onslaught as the air wars heat up. As he crisscrossed the state during his last trip there, the candidate himself apologized often to Iowans on behalf of the GOP field for the inundation of ads they will experience in the homestretch to the caucuses.
"Iowans in general get subjected to more of that kind of advertising than probably anybody ever cares to and more than most folks in the rest of the country just because of the first-in-the-nation status," English said. As a result, English added, Iowans "have a unique ability to cut through the noise."
“I want to tell everyone to get ready, strap on the full armor of God. Get ready for the attacks that are coming,” Cruz said. “Come the month of January, we ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Average on RCP, yes, Cruz is ahead. Last poll? Tie. Two of last three, Trump has led or tied. Cruz peaking??
did a youtube search...... can’t find any Cruz rallies with more than a few hundred people. Remove Trump from the equation, and he appears to be little more than the “tallest midget in the circus”.
Carly Fiorina said Cruz is just saying anything it takes to get elected just hours after cheering for the Hawkeyes. LOL
Did you see Carly Fiorina’s tweet on New Year’s Day?
Back to the constitution!
No I don’t think I did.
Carly is a boring candidate so I don’t pay a lot of attention to her.
You cannot remove clowns from the circus. They are a fan favorite.
I'll say only this - Ted's my guy - go Ted.
And If he doesn't get it, go Trump.
To dung flinging Freepers, go p*ss up a rope.
11% of Iowans saying Trump does NOT have temperament to be POTUS won’t help him, and he has made no real gains in state polls of late.
I wonder how many Iowans were on the Cruz conference call last week, when he said the best way to fight lies is with the truth and a smile, and talking to people you know.
11% of Iowans saying Trump does NOT have temperament to be POTUS won’t help him, and he has made no real gains in state polls of late.
I wonder how many Iowans were on the Cruz conference call last week, when he said the best way to fight lies is with the truth and a smile, and talking to people you know.
Obama has the worst personality, Phoney and yet he is still at 42 percent in the polls.
Trump had 20,000 in Biloxi last night a record.
If Trump gets even half his crowds to the caucus, and he seems to have a loyal cadre, he blows the doors off the Religious Caucuses of Iowa. They say you have to be Pope to win Iowa and it matters for nought anywhere else. Even Reagan lost there.
I think Trump can put his people in place for IOWA.
It hasn’t gone unnoticed that Trump has avoided flyover country like the plague.
Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and Mobile are not flyover country. They’re urban centers full of moderate to liberal voters.
Rush Limbaugh warned Mitt Romney about this in 2012. He said Romney might win the nomination ignoring flyover country but there was no way he would win the general with the people he chose to ignore. Rush was right. Its important to note that Ted Cruz is a much tougher campaigner than Rick Santorum was.
Ted Cruz hasn’t gone to big venues because there aren’t too many of them in towns of a couple hundred people. He has however filled every venue he’s gone to that holds 1500 to 2500 people. I have no doubt that Cruz will easily match Trump’s crowd when he tries but the time for that hasn’t arrived.
They mimic us in the cruelest way, making us laugh at them...and, in the end, at ourselves. They are so good at it. I guess that's why they are such fan favorites.
No, they cannot be removed from the circus.
I haven't seen a real circus in eons. But, then I guess I don't care enough.
Cruz has long been my favorite candidate, the one I hoped to see run, but I’m starting to see him differently. Now this:
“Ted Cruz says Bill Clinton not an issue in presidential race”
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/3378001/posts?page=1
As far as I’m concerned, that seems to be his declaration of being an Establishment candidate after all. His comments about gay marriage not being a top priority and it being a “states’ issue” support that impression too.
I was very disappointed to see that from Cruz. It’s as though he’s straining out a gnat to swallow a camel and doesn’t recognize what the true fight is.
The top reason why personal matters always get brought up in campaigns isn’t because it “works†to talk about them. They get brought up AND it works to talk about them because THEY MATTER.
It’s like Cruz is saying “let’s just put character aside and have an intellectual debate over the issues.†Well, you CAN’T put character aside no matter what, and you cannot have a true intellectual debate, either, without considering character.
The fact that Cruz is willing to lay aside all the wrong-doing of the Clintons and pretend their upstanding citizens has the hallmarks of the secular humanist uniparty.
Meanwhile, the left isn’t going to let up for a second attacking the character and integrity of Bible-believing Christians, the right in general, and the Republic candidates. Just about every time they open their mouths, it’s to characterize their opponents as somehow immoral or amoral. LISTEN TO THEM. They always frame their position as the moral one and personally attack whoever opposes them.
And as a matter of fact, lately Republican leaders have been doing the same.
Cruz is setting himself up to be another McCain or Romney with this. Maybe he plans on voting for Hillary.
Please click on the pictures at the top of the columns for more details on the ratings of the candidates.
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More at Conservative Review: https://www.conservativereview.com/2016-presidential-candidates
I continue to ask, which states does Sen. Cruz win that Romney lost?
Which states does Sen. Cruz bring into the GOP column?
Bueller?
Until that question is answered, it doesn’t matter, because we lose.
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