Posted on 03/24/2015 11:04:39 AM PDT by iowamark
Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, whose path to the Republican nomination requires a breakout performance in Iowa, has quickly recruited more than a dozen party leaders for his statewide campaign, who are to be announced in coming days, according to people told of the choices.
Most significantly, Mr. Cruz has peeled away three leaders of the Libertarian faction in the state, known as the Liberty movement, who are the base of Senator Rand Paul’s support in Iowa. They included state Senator Jason Shultz, who endorsed Representative Ron Paul for president in 2012; and two former members of the state Republican Party’s central committee, Joel Kurtinitis and Chad Steenhoek.
“The assumption of lot of people has been that the Liberty movement would roll over and support Senator Paul,’’ Mr. Kurtinitis said. “We’re a movement probably more than anything that’s noted for critical thinking and a rebellious streak.’’
He said Mr. Cruz, who announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination on Monday, appealed to three important constituencies in Iowa: evangelical Christians, Libertarians and Tea Party activists. His wife, Kelsey Kurtinitis, a board member of Personhood Iowa, an antiabortion group, is also joining the Cruz campaign, as one of 15 or so volunteer leaders who will most likely take the title of state co-chairman and co-chairwomen, Mr. Kurtinitis said...
He is expected at a fund-raiser on April 1 in Dubuque with Representative Rod Blum...
“Informal polling we’ve done in Liberty Iowa shows Cruz bringing in 25 to 30 percent of Paul’s people,’’ he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Cruz garnering support from Paul-bots? That gonna pi$$ some people off here. Lol.
Look for more people to start jumping on the Cruz bandwagon. Another demonstration of his brilliance; being the first to announce and plant his flag on a hill called Conservatism.
Clearly, the man, Ted Cruz, has both charisma and gravitas, two commodities in rather short supply elsewhere.
That he also makes good sense is just a side benefit.
It has got to be exciting living in an early primary state. And Ted’s coming to your part of the state!
Glad to hear Ted is making some inroads with Paul supporters. Rand is just dead wrong on foreign policy issues. Dangerously wrong.
Even more important, can he sap Huckabee’s support network before Huck gets rolling?
With so much at stake I can’t figure anyone’s reasoning on backing Huckabee. Cruz is every bit as strong on social conservative issues, which is usually why Huckabee appeals to some voters.
Ican’t think of a gop with more baggage than Huck.
Huckabee plays well to the low-info evangelical voter. Maybe not so well anymore after already having been through the mill once, but that's his voting block.
If Cruz can put together a reasonably strong coalition of the Ron Paul libertarians, the Huckster's evangelicals, and also carry the TEA Party banner, he could do quite well in Iowa and South Carolina.
He'd be crushed in New Hampshire (maybe, depends on how libertarian they're feeling and if Rand is out after Iowa), but with strong showings in the other two, he can afford it.
Ideally, Cruz and Walker go 1-2 (either order) in Iowa, Walker wins NH, and Cruz wins SC. That pretty much makes it a two-man race early, and prevents the sort of conservative in-fighting that gave us McCain and Romney.
I was under the impression the two groups were mutually exclusive.
Somebody’s head is gonna explode...
-— appealed to three important constituencies in Iowa: evangelical Christians, Libertarians and Tea Party activists -—
That’s a coalition big enough to win the presidency, nevermind the nomination.
For Rand, it’s been downhill since he cut his deal with McConnell.
+1
Picking up a few Paul supporters seems like a good thing, although the Paul nincompoops aren’t going to help a candidate much unless they have wised up a lot from last cycle.
It’s less about picking up the supporters - although every bit helps - and more about denying Rand Paul any political base to work from.
CRUZ or LOSE!Can you send me a link to the George Will quote?
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