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Ted Cruz, Factional Candidate (Another hour, another attack piece)
The American Conservative ^ | April 6, 2015 | Daniel Larison

Posted on 04/06/2015 6:04:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Politico reports on Ted Cruz’s plan to become a factional candidate:

The Texas Republican senator’s strategic play for Christian conservatives comes into even sharper focus this weekend as he rolls out the first television ad of the 2016 race. Titled “Blessing,” the commercial is aimed directly at evangelical and social conservative voters in early voting states, timed for Easter weekend and slated to air during popular Christian-themed programming.

It’s an exercise in narrowcasting that telegraphs exactly how Cruz intends to win the GOP nomination against better-funded and better-known rivals.

Cruz is well-suited to being this kind of candidate, but typically once a candidate allows himself to be pigeonholed as the candidate of one faction in the party his appeal also becomes quite limited. Huckabee was probably the most successful candidate who ran explicitly as the candidate of evangelicals and social conservatives, but he also had the luxury of running in a year when there was no plausible alternative for these voters. Despite that, he was never really in a position to win the nomination. Cruz will be up against many competitors for the same slot, and they will likely include social conservatives that have at least as much credibility as he has. Huckabee and Santorum may be just as unlikely to win the nomination as Cruz, but they would also make it very difficult for him to “finish either first or second among Christian conservatives.” And they aren’t the only likely candidates that can compete with him for these voters.

As successful as Huckabee was under more favorable conditions, he could never win the evangelical vote outright in most states. Some evangelical voters favored other candidates for different reasons, and some may have recoiled from Huckabee’s explicit identity politics message, but for whatever reason he couldn’t dominate this bloc to the extent that would have been necessary for him to become the nominee. Because he was seen to be “the evangelical candidate,” he won very little support from anyone else, so there was always a low ceiling on his support, and outside the South that ceiling was even lower. Being a factional candidate is fine if a candidate wants to raise his profile and acquire a loyal following, and that is probably all that Cruz is trying to do. If the goal is to win the nomination, appealing to one faction to the practical exclusion of everyone else isn’t going to succeed.


TOPICS: Campaign News; Issues; Parties
KEYWORDS: evangelicals; huckabee; santorum; tedcruz
The American Conservative really isn't, is it?
1 posted on 04/06/2015 6:04:27 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Can’t make a whole without fractions.


2 posted on 04/06/2015 6:05:16 PM PDT by cripplecreek ("For by wise guidance you can wage your war")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Gaining the support of the base is negative now?

Well romney ignored the base & lost.


3 posted on 04/06/2015 6:07:56 PM PDT by RginTN
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I think they were simply reporting verbatim what Politico reported


4 posted on 04/06/2015 6:11:39 PM PDT by MeshugeMikey ("Never, Never, Never, Give Up," Winston Churchill ><>)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

If the liberals keep this up, they won’t have anything left to attack Senator Cruz closer to the actual election!


5 posted on 04/06/2015 6:11:58 PM PDT by Ken522 (r)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

May be that will encourage Huckabee and Santorum to drop out quickly.


6 posted on 04/06/2015 6:12:28 PM PDT by entropy12 (Real function of economists is to make astrologers look respectable.)
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To: MeshugeMikey

Read the comments.


7 posted on 04/06/2015 6:14:54 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://www.tedcruz.org/donate/)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

[It’s an exercise in narrowcasting that telegraphs exactly how Cruz intends to win the GOP nomination against better-funded and better-known rivals.]

TED CRUZ will narrowcast every faction of the Republican Party to become POTUS.

TED CRUZ - Taking back the Republican Party - 2016
http://www.tedcruz.org/


8 posted on 04/06/2015 6:17:01 PM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

It is one of those Pat Buchannan/Alex Jones type of ‘journalism’. The Spotlight and Liberty from years ago would be so proud


9 posted on 04/06/2015 6:42:09 PM PDT by Nifster
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To: stars & stripes forever

Somebody is having a panic attack


10 posted on 04/06/2015 6:42:17 PM PDT by BigEdLB (They need to target the 'Ministry of Virtue' which has nothing to do with virtue.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

More from “The American Conservative”:

•If Cruz Acts Like an Ideological Demagogue, and Talks Like One…

•Ted Cruz and America’s “Nakba”

•The Lazy and Dishonest “Anti-Israel” Attack

•Ted Cruz’s Latest Stunt: A Presidential Campaign

•Cruz, Conservatism & Christianity


11 posted on 04/06/2015 6:59:59 PM PDT by Eddie01 (Liberals lie about everything all the time.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
"The American Conservative really isn't, is it?"

Or as I like to put it, "There's nothing conservative about the American Conservative".

Buchanan wanted it to be a paleocon alternative to the neocon mags.... the Weekly Standard, etc... but it's become an outlet for political liberals (and frankly, Jew-haters) to bitch and moan about how evil the United States is. I've gone in a very paleocon direction myself as I've gotten older, but there's no way in hell AmCon is paleocon anymore.
12 posted on 04/06/2015 7:11:41 PM PDT by DesScorp
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To: Eddie01

Are they writing the same article titles about Walker? Sheesh.


13 posted on 04/06/2015 7:16:12 PM PDT by txhurl
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To: 2ndDivisionVet; Kale; Jarhead9297; COUNTrecount; notaliberal; DoughtyOne; RitaOK; MountainDad; ...


If you want on/off this ping list, please let me know.

Please beware, this is a high-volume ping list!


CRUZ or LOSE!


14 posted on 04/06/2015 7:36:29 PM PDT by SoConPubbie (Mitt and Obama: They're the same poison, just a different potency)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
It's a RINO site. Everyone is describing how Cruz is an egomaniac and ‘too out-there.’
15 posted on 04/06/2015 8:29:12 PM PDT by ConservativeMind ("Humane" = "Don't pen up pets or eat meat, but allow infanticide, abortion, and euthanasia.")
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To: BigEdLB

Not to worry about tomorrow it will be all Rand Paul 24/7. He announces tomorrow apparently. The focus will go to him until Carley announces and then it is her turn. Exact same thing happened in 2012. Media does not surprise.


16 posted on 04/06/2015 10:27:04 PM PDT by napscoordinator (Walker for President 2016. The only candidate with actual real RESULTS!!!!! The rest...talkers!)
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To: napscoordinator

>>Media does not surprise.

It covers the news?


17 posted on 04/07/2015 6:42:33 AM PDT by Lisbon1940 (No full-term governors)
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