Posted on 08/24/2015 5:37:52 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Ted Cruz got a big boost in Iowa recently when the influential social conservative activist and radio host Steve Deace endorsed him.
To call it a sought-after endorsement would be an understatement. Deace says prospective 2016 GOP campaigns began contacting him well before the 2012 election. (All just assumed that Mitt Romney was going to lose.) The recruitment efforts picked up in 2013 and 2014.
When few people were paying any attention to the still-forming Republican race, Deace was hard at work.
“For me, this vetting process has been going on for a couple of years,” he says. “In our world, as activists on the ground, it’s actually kind of late in the game. You want to be winning the activist caucus now so you can win the actual caucus later.”
Now Cruz has won the Deace Caucus. Deace explains that he was looking for a candidate who can win the support of social conservatives like himself, and also of business-oriented establishment conservatives as well.
“We need a candidate who can walk through the front door of the American Family Association and Americans for Prosperity and, while not changing who they are, or pandering, win a standing ovation from both,” Deace said. “I don’t know of another candidate besides Cruz that we can say that about.”
Other campaigns would disagree, of course, but the endorsement comes on top of a good run by Cruz lately. The Texas senator really connected with conservatives during the earliest days of his campaign; for a while in April, Cruz was in third place in the GOP race, according to the RealClearPolitics average of national polls. By July, he had fallen to eighth. Now, Cruz has moved up a couple of spots and seems headed higher.
Part of it was a well-received performance at the Aug. 6 Republican debate. The interesting thing about that is that Cruz spoke for less time, and uttered fewer words, than any of the other candidates except Rand Paul. “Man of few words” is not a phrase normally associated with Ted Cruz. But when he opened his mouth, people listened.
“You can credit much of his steady gain in the polls to his strong performance in the debate, where many of the 24 million Americans watching got their first extended look at him,” said a Cruz campaign aide.
Team Cruz saw a significant increase in support after the showdown. Cruz did a 21-stop post-debate bus tour in South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and Oklahoma, and saw growing audiences in each.
“He was drawing crowds of up to 2,500,” said another aide. “We saw our RSVPs at every event go up by no less than 50 percent after the debate.”
But Cruz aides believe his recent uptick is about more than the debate. Cruz seems to be the Republican most benefiting from taking on other Republicans — not so much his GOP rivals in the presidential race but the party leadership in Washington. At the recent RedState Gathering of conservatives in Atlanta, Cruz won a huge ovation when he was asked what it means to lead from behind. “Well, sure,” Cruz replied. “Republican congressional leadership does it every day.”
All the things that have made many Republicans in Washington dislike Cruz just make a certain type of GOP voter like him even more. In much the way that primary voters admire Scott Walker for standing up and taking on the unions, they admire Cruz for standing up and taking on Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.
“He should make a commercial that is a montage of people hating him — McConnell, Boehner, the surrender caucus,” Deace said. “He would close with, ‘The same people you hate, hate me. See you in February.’” For a significant part of the GOP base, Cruz has the right enemies.
In a recent Fox News poll — the one in which Cruz jumped up to third place after the debate, ahead of Jeb Bush — Cruz did better with voters under 45 years old than any Republican candidate except Donald Trump. He’s got room to grow. No one knows how long his recent rise will last, but it appears that Cruz’s work is finally making a difference.
Thanks for answering my question. I’ll take that into account when I converse with you in the future.
Thanks for not answering my question. Ditto.
And you don't see the difference...???
Difference with respect to Communist vs. Constitutionalist is very clear. But that makes it okay for Cruz to support an increase to immigration by 500% for high skilled labor, how?
No problem, Johnny Reb.
Video clip will not play. Said it was unavailable. Had no problems with the ads.
Who said i agreed with him on that issue? I don't.
But there isn't a single candidate that I agree with 100%.
If it gores your ox, then, fine -- support the Communist.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it as I make my monthly donations - GO CRUZ!!! Keep it up Trump!
I was that way until a few weeks ago.
Then Trump brought the issue of birth right citizenship to the front.
Mark Levin had a brilliant expose on the "ease" at which it can be stopped (without any Amendment needed).
Cruz in a few interviews gave convoluted dispassionate answers. The other thing that has given me great pause is his reticence to use the word deport.
Trump is forceful and believable when he states he will aggressively deport.
Cruz on the other hand is leaving me wondering about his true position.
Without a doubt if we don't stop this illegal invasion our Republic will cease to exist. Trump seems to understand clearly.
Cruz treats it as just another issue in this campaign.
If over the coming months Cruz can't pivot to the right of Trump on immigration and do it with unbridled passion then he will not have a chance.
This illegal invasion must be stopped -- all other issues are secondary.
I used to think he was a genius on the Constitution.
However, his recent answers to birth right citizenship were quite vague. When his responses are compared against Levin's brilliant discussion of birth right citizenship it leaves me wondering if Cruz isn't a true genius on the Constitution or that he is showing himself to not be a true Warrior for Liberty.
I am quickly starting to think Cruz doesn't have the strength to be bold and put his political life on the line and truly defend this Republic, our borders, and our culture.
The bottom line to me is that deep inside he understands what Levin understands but because he doesn't want to offend because he is afraid to truly be bold. That is not leadership, it is pandering.
I love the ease with which Cruz takes apart the liberals. However, great debating skills alone wont win elections. It takes strategy.
And strategy is where Cruz is falling short. The illegal invasion by anti-English, very anti-American invaders poses an existential threat to our Republic -- the greatest since our Founding.
This is the most important issue -- all others are orders of magnitude less important.
Trump grabbed the issue of illegal invaders. It resonated. I was astounded and very disappointed that Cruz did not in a smart way (seem like not "me too") pivot and move to the right of Trump on this issue. Cruz treats it as just another issue. Hence, his slight movement in the polls.
Which ever candidate seems strongest on illegal immigration will win. It is a simple as that.
“We keep hearing that millennials are so liberal.”
Millennials voted two for one for Buckwheat. If you have a better moniker than “liberal,” let’s hear it. I’ll start - morons.
It’s mainly the change in ethnic composition that is causing that. White young adults are voting for GOP candidates at rates much higher than they were in the 60’s and 70’s.
To the extant that support for the GOP has declined a little since the 80’s 90’s among that demographic, it due to the neocon foreign policy and support for government surveillance by McCain and Romney.
Madam, Ted Cruz has been fighting the good fight for some time now - and alone and mostly without cameras. He is quick, tough and stays true to his values. He doesn’t say stupid things or make verbal gaffes. Why would you think the left would “eat him alive”?
Um, that would be Jeb Bush.
Cruz is undoubtedly taking money from lobbyists.
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And therein lies the problem. Not just with Cruz, but with 16 of the 17 candidates.
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I’m not sure that is correct. Most of Cruz’ supporters are small donors.
Not a bad story. Remember, there was no way he was going to win the senate race (that he won).
I love Ted Cruz. I hope and pray that he’ll be our President. We donate to his campaign. You are correct; he does everything right. He’s probably tied with Dr. Carson when it comes to intelligence. His values are great (I’m still wondering about illegal immigration). He’s a Christian — icing on the cake. His father is a minister and that’s not an easy growing up experience (I’m a P.K., too), and it does make him an expert in not caving in to peer pressure. With all of that, I believe the left would destroy him — because that’s what they do. He’s too nice.
You say he doesn’t say stupid things or make verbal gaffes. That is true, but it doesn’t matter in an election. Obama spent his entire campaign doing all those things on steroids and he’s in the White Hut.
If Cruz is our candidate, it’ll be only due to prayer. If Cruz becomes our President, that’ll be only because of prayer. When the other side is so influenced by Satan, only God is stronger and can thwart that. Frankly, though, I think God has had it with American and it’s over for us.
Close. The line should be, "The same people who hate me also hate you."
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