Posted on 01/15/2016 4:08:47 PM PST by Red Steel
Ted Cruz believes he can win some blue states in a general election, specifically Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and New Hampshire - all states the Republican nominee lost to Barack Obama in the 2008 and 2012 elections.
Cruz said Mitt Romney and John McCain, the past two Republican nominees for president, lost those states because millions of conservatives didnât vote.
Story Continued Below
"We haven't been bringing out the Reagan Democrats. I believe our campaign will do that,â Cruz said in an interview with U.S. News & World Report published Thursday. "And I'll point out, what we do know doesn't work is following the Bob Dole-John McCain-Mitt Romney plan - that, we know, produces double-digit losses. So, the Washington conventional wisdom is that we need to keep moving further and further left and sounding more and more like the Democrats. And every time we do that we lose by bigger and bigger margins."
In New Hampshire, the first-in-the-nation primary state, Cruz polls fourth in a RealClearPolitics average of state polls at 10.8 percent. Donald Trump dominates the field at 30 percent, but Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are in striking distance at 13 and 11 percent, respectively. Cruz maintains that his campaign is "underestimated" there but that his message is resonating with voters.
"Again looking at the informed voters, when we're there in front of a rally, early on, our rallies had two and three times the number of people that the Jeb Bush and Scott Walker rallies had, back when they were the expected dominant players," he said."âSo I believe the message resonates well there."
"We have not put the resources into TV yet; we just went up on air, so we will be," Cruz continued. "Many of the people statewide haven't heard our message and have heard everybody else's. So I think we have a lot of upside. It's fairly remarkable, given that the rest of the field has spent $50 million, we've spent zero, that we are, in a variety of polls, essentially in a three--way tie for second."
Trump, on the other hand, has that potential.
I think Cruz is leading in Utah. Last I heard anyway. So he's got that going for him.
Nothing wrong with highlighting NY's whacked out liberal politics. Ted didn't pull it off very well, and Trump turned it around on him. Also, San Francisco hadn't suffered a major terrorist attack before Kirkpatrick's speech. Ted's problem was in the execution, and in not explaining well that his comment was about politics in NY, not about New Yorkers. It was a bad mistake, one that Reagan could have gotten out of with a laugh.
Trump may win New York. What he said, New Yorkers loved. Cruz has zero chance to win NY. That is a big number of electoral votes that practically guarantees Trump would win.
After that NEW YORK VALUES comment Ted is going to have a hard time winning blue states in the primary...
Maybe Cruz should read The Art of the Deal.
I’m not sure he could win his home state.
Two things.
1. Cruz hit an entire STATE not just a city.
2. Reagan was from California.
No Republican is gonna come close to carrying NY. No, not Trump either. It’s one of the worst states in POTUS voting.
There are a lot of NYers in FL.
There’s a lot of NYers everywhere. Cruz stepped in it.
True there are a lot of us in SC.
Per Reuters, 25% of Independents don’t even think he is qualified to run.
1. Cruz can't win NY state. Upstate is dwarfed by the City.
2. Reagan was from California? I never knew. No wonder he won as governor in 66 and 70, and then when he ran for President in 80 and 84. You mean when he sent the national guard to Berkeley in the late 60s, it was cause he was from there? I wondered why all those Superior Court judges I was appearing in front of were Reagan appointees.
So, that would explain why he won California in spite of using the term "San Francisco Democrats". Thanks.
A thought: Maybe Cruz would have been better served if he said "New York Democrats", or "De Blasio Values", instead of "New York values". Execution was poor, and the effort to counterpunch at Trump backfired. Cruz has run a masterful campaign for the most part, but that was a big mistake.
The landslide will be for Hillary. Trump pisses off more folks than you care to admit.
Cruz can’t win the presidential election because he was not born HERE!!
Here is the deal. No Republican, and certainly no evangelical, can ever win the Presidency from now on. Demographics has determined this to be true. There are now millions of more illegals (Latinos and muslims) voting in this election, and they will guarantee victory to the Democrats. Ted Cruze cannot will the election for President. Let me say this again unless you missed it: Ted Cruz cannot be elected President. He has zero appeal to anyone but Republicans. On the other hand, Donald Trump (who is neither Republican nor Democrat) had tremendous cross party appeal. If you Republicans are smart (we’ll see about that), you will rally around Trump and get out the vote come this November. Otherwise, it will be Democrat Presidents forever.
SO he can compromise for the deal like Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell, John McCain, John Boehner - no thanks, Cruz does not need the art of the deal, he needs to keep talking and persuading people that liberty is good, but liberalism is bad.
I don’t much like cruz, but I’m coming to the conclusion that he’ll be the veep candidate. Whether I like it or not. Recent exchanges have served to confirm that.
Maybe he’ll end up being an asset. Who knows? I think his highest and best use is on the scotus, but that doesn’t look so likely.
200,000 Puerto Ricans have moved to Florida in the last 5 years because of the economic chaos in Puerto Rico.
If the Democrats can get them registered in time, 80% of them will vote for the Democrat nominee.
Romney won Florida by just 65,000 votes in 2012.
McCain lost Florida by 240,000 votes in 2008.
And, please remember that Romney won Texas with a higher percentage than Cruz won his Senate seat in 2012.
Please note I'm saying percentage - not the number of votes.
he needs to keep talking and persuading people that liberty is good, but liberalism is bad.
Yeah, that's the ticket. LOL. In the real world, it takes more than talk to get things done.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.