Reagan was a conservative politician but he had two other things going for him. 1980 and ‘84 were some of the last elections with a large number of voters from the WWII era of maturity. They had grown up with Reagan and others as film icons — they knew and recognized him as a solid individual.
He was an excellent communicator in the TV media sound byte — not the Cruz as an excellent debater can’t be one, but he hasn’t shown it yet.
The argument that if we have a pure conservative like Cruz being an equivalent of Reagan will give us a Reagan landslide automatically is a non sequitur.
The argument that if we have a pure conservative like Cruz being an equivalent of Reagan will give us a Reagan landslide automatically is a non sequitur.
Reagan was hardly a "film icon" of his day. He was a bit player in that regard. I love Reagan, but ...
Like tx said earlier -- "unelectable" means "ghastly unthinkable." Cruz is perfectly electable.