Posted on 01/19/2015 5:23:34 PM PST by xzins
Team Ted Cruz is taking shape, and the Senate first-termer's presidential campaign could start before this spring.
The Republican senator from Texas tentatively plans to fill senior campaign positions with the triumvirate he signed last summer to expand his political operation. At the top is Jeff Roe, whose organizational title is undefined but who would be the campaign’s chief strategic and logistics decision-maker. Jason Miller would shape and oversee campaign messaging; Lauren Lofstrom would direct fundraising.
Cruz is in the process of “feeling out” additional campaign hires and prospective donors in preparation to join the field of 2016 candidates. If the senator decides to run for president, he wants to hit the ground at full speed, a senior Cruz advisor confirmed Monday.
Roe, founder of the direct mail firm Axiom Strategies, has never managed a presidential campaign. But he advised Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Perry in 2012 and is familiar with the terrain in the early primary states. Republicans who have worked with Roe describe him as a talented strategist who is capable keeping a campaign operation humming. Perhaps most importantly, Roe is a good fit for Cruz’ aggressive style.
“He is a mean, bare-knuckles brawler,” one Republican operative told the Washington Examiner.
Rounding out the team are pollster Chris Perkins, who earned plaudits for being among the few to correctly forecast November’s Georgia Senate race, and Jason Johnson, the senator’s longtime political consigliere. Nick Muzin, Cruz's deputy chief of staff in his Senate office, is steeped in South Carolina politics. He is viewed as someone who might take a leave of absence from Cruz' Senate office to join the campaign.
Johnson, meanwhile, is often referred to as Cruz’s “political brain." He is rooted in the Texas GOP establishment and has been with the senator the longest among his advisors. Johnson served as chief of staff to Greg Abbott for a period when the incoming governor was state attorney general. It was in Abbott’s office that he and Cruz, then the the Lone Star State's solicitor general, bonded. Johnson guided Cruz to second place and then victory, respectively, in Texas’ 2012 GOP primary and runoff contests.
Those two races constitute the 44-year-old lawmaker’s only experience with competitive campaigns. Cruz had a very easy time in his general election win against an under-funded, no-name Democrat. Republican insiders expect Cruz to contend for first choice among GOP primary voters who favor the most confrontational and conservative candidate. But to compete for the nomination, Cruz has to step up his game.
“His early reviews among tea party audiences have been stellar in Iowa,” a Republican insider in the Hawkeye State told the Examiner. “I don't think he can appeal as broadly in the party or in the general electorate as other candidates, but his support will be intense among those voters who have the highest anger score.”
Cruz has countered that to win the White House, Republicans must nominate a strong conservative who contrasts sharply with the Democratic nominee, likely Hillary Clinton.
Cruz has maintained a vigorous political travel schedule and been a constant presence in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — hosts, in that order, of the first three 2016 primary contests. On Sunday, he was in Myrtle Beach to address the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention. Cruz has cast himself as the conservative alternative in a field that could feature multiple Establishment and Tea Party candidates. That is consistent with the image Cruz has cultivated since bursting onto the national scene three years ago.
In 2012, Cruz defeated an Establishment favorite in his GOP Senate primary. Once on Capitol Hill, he led a campaign to derail Obamacare by leveraging a government shutdown and opposed comprehensive immigration reform plans that included a pathway to legalization for illegal immigrants. These moves helped Cruz solidify a fevered fan base, particularly among Tea Party Republicans, and positioned him as a national leader.
But competing for the presidential nomination, which will be decided by more than just the most conservative voters or those sympathetic to the Tea Party, requires organization, money and an expanded network of supporters. Cruz has to assemble all of that from scratch. If the senator is as skilled at the business of campaigning as he is debating, he could surge into the top tier of candidates and propel himself beyond South Carolina. Getting there usually depends at least somewhat on how a candidate performs in Iowa and New Hampshire.
In Iowa, Cruz is expected to face stiff competition in the struggle to be king conservative. The likely field includes former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 caucuses; former Sen. Rick Santorum, who won the 2012 caucuses; neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and others. In New Hampshire, the top overall contenders could include 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; New Hersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
“Cruz’s politics are likely too conservative for the New Hampshire electorate; his willingness to engage voters will serve him well here,” a Granite State GOP insider said. “Still, expectations for him here will be low. A strong showing in New Hampshire as the top conservative alternative would be a shot in Cruz’s arm.”
Ted Cruz - 2016!
Cruz is my choice.
I think you are correct, even though I have not myself delved into the finer details.
As you noted, in recommendation;
Thank you for that. From prior FR mention I have encountered link to that sort of thing, but admit to my eyes having glazed over.
I should have gotten out the toothpicks -- to keep the 'ol eyelids wide open enough to rinse out the glaze -- keep reading -- then try and figure out just what was going on -- in the finer details of Priebus's machinations.
yeah..I hear you. And perhaps also ugly in the way which Romney got ugly/played kind of dirty with the rest of the Republicans who were seeking the nomination, but then went soft on Obama and the Democrats. Ugly.
Ted already debate slapped her on CNN regarding Ebola and he did so with polite and gentlemanly response. It was a beautiful sight to behold:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxPnjgU1Q68
And the press knows from instances like this that they are no match for Raphael Edward “Ted” Cruz!
Thanks for writing that.
I'm liking it, I'm liking it.
Run as an anti-Republican Republican (but not a squishy Democrat-lite). There could wide appeal for such a thing.
It sounds crazy, but in truth (I think) it's brilliant.
And if a few Republicans could be honest with themselves about themselves being thoroughly detested by many potential swing voters...and posture as opposing Cruz in order to HELP the guy out --- that's the kind of cunning we need?
Or at least we need some kind of cunning other than the usual "here's how incumbents hold onto their elected office" intra-Party backstabbing -- which only serves to help the (more) Wrong Party.
“...The facts are the facts, the Republican Party is what is ‘ugly’.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
yeah..I hear you. And perhaps also ugly in the way which Romney got ugly/played kind of dirty with the rest of the Republicans who were seeking the nomination, but then went soft on Obama and the Democrats. Ugly.
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A lot of folks didn’t notice that about the last presidential election. The Romney machine was VICIOUS on their attacks against their primary opponents. But, in the general, the kid gloves came on and they treated Obama like he was made of fine China and they didn’t want to damage him. I NEVER want to see that sort of campaign again.
Rush Limbaugh has recognized that (”don’t be mean with the ‘RATS, we’ll lose votes that way”) tendency among the GOPe professional consultants many cycles ago...and these GOPe types never learn it is a mistake of huge proportions.
Ted Cruz does NOT make that mistake; he goes for the jugular of the ‘RATS.
I would like to think Cruz would fight. If past is prologue, what else could he do (but perhaps be overwhelmed when the entire 'left' came after him? That could happen to anybody?)
If not Cruz fighting for conservative principles -- then who?
Whoever it could be, I do hope we can avoid the circular firing squad, chinese-fire-drill aspect of the last two presidential election cycles -- and figure out how to throw serious amounts of well deserved sand & refuse into the gears of the lefty-socialists Democrats, at just the right time and place.
I should have been building up a large file on Shrillary for years, documenting her words, her and her husband's associations.
Is there anyone in the NSA who will rat the 'Rat's off? Surely there has to be a least a few patriots there?
Some low-down on Obama that they can all be hung with? (in addition to that which is already known -- but studiously avoided by mainstream media) and yet more on Hillary herself, along with whatever can be dug up concerning most of the rest of the Democrat Party?
Hey, THEY do it -- and use the IRS (and any other agency possible) to harass and harm Republicans in general, and conservatives more particularly.
Give those people doses of their own medicine.
I helped to elect Mr. Cruz as Senator of Texas and I will be glad to release him from his duties as my Senator if he can right this ship we call America.
Looks like you are not from Texas, so my FRiend you do not have a dog in the fight for our Senator. Gov Abbott will appoint a solid replacement.
Vote for someone else if you wish for President.
I do not fall into that category.
Cruz needs money and lots of it.
o far he seems to be avoiding the Bear Trap of using people from McCain’s staff.
McCain hates him.
“Those two races constitute the 44-year-old lawmaker’s only experience with competitive campaigns. Cruz had a very easy time in his general election win against an under-funded, no-name Democrat. Republican insiders expect Cruz to contend for first choice among GOP primary voters who favor the most confrontational and conservative candidate. But to compete for the nomination, Cruz has to step up his game.”
Every paragraph threw in snotty, derisive comments like these. Just a word change, like confrontational to consistent, changes the entire meaning.
“They (meaning the left) did the same thing in 1980 to Ronald Reagan. They said he was dangerous and would start WWIII with the Soviets.”
But people weren’t so gullible back then. There’s been another voting generation or two dumbed down in our public schools since then. Sadly.
yup, he won the cold war without losing a single life.
I don’t even bother to respond to EEE anymore. It’s obvious, after so many have proven what Cruz’ stance on immigration is, he just wants to copy and paste. If he wanted to be informed, he would read more than one source and stop posting his drivel.
good sources to counter act the lies. thanks.
Not to mention he doesn’t have his feet on the desk.
He’s already been Palinized to the point that he’s probably unelectable...that’s an ugly fact, children.
Only to those who fall for that BS propaganda. That is what they WANT you to think. I for one, won’t fall for it.
Ted Cruz is more electable than Chris Christie, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Mike Huckabee or any other PROGRESSIVE douch the GOP-E throws at us!!! WE THE PEOPLE need to decide this time!!!
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