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Ted Cruz’s Not-So-Secret Weapon: His Wife
National Review ^ | 03/27/2015 | Joel Gehrke Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/416095/ted-cruzs-not-so-secret-wea

Posted on 03/27/2015 8:37:26 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Hillary Clinton’s courtiers would hate to admit it, but Senator Ted Cruz’s wife, Heidi, is set to provide a vivid refutation of Democratic claims that Republicans pine for 1950s domesticity.

“I am unabashedly proud of everything about Heidi,” Cruz replied when Bloomberg Politics asked if her career at Goldman Sachs could undermine his critique of crony capitalism at the investment bank.

Not just proud of, but reliant upon. Beyond the personal support that all candidates require from their families, Mrs. Cruz brings political talents to the table that could prove helpful in the 2016 election season. Her Goldman Sachs ties make her a “not-so-secret weapon” in terms of fundraising, per Representative Kevin Brady (R., Texas). The personal charm that enhances those fundraising abilities also makes her an effective surrogate on the campaign trail, as Cruz’s rivals learned during his longshot Senate bid in 2012. And she’s a foreign-policy expert, having served on the National Security Council during George W. Bush’s presidency. Far from fretting that she could be a liability to his presidential candidacy, the senator and his team are “very confident that she is one of our campaign’s greatest assets,” according to spokesman Brian Phillips.

A friend of the family from Texas put it more dramatically: “She brings more to the table than any other spouse in the field, except for maybe Bill Clinton, and she does so without the baggage of a Bill Clinton.”

For instance, friends say, she brings to the campaign trail some of the personal skills that distinguish a politician such as Bill Clinton from Ted Cruz. “Heidi is a secret weapon because she is so warm and so endearing and so thoughtful that I think that her influence on him has been transformative; he would not have been a senator were it not for Heidi and for her role and her support,” another friend David Panton — who lived with Ted Cruz for five years, first as an undergraduate at Princeton and then for a year at Harvard Law School — tells National Review.

Heidi’s personal touch may help offset Cruz’s stentorian style, friends say. “When voters get to know who Heidi Cruz is, they will see an amazing, amazing woman and I think that that will help to at least counter this image of Ted that has been portrayed in the media,” Panton says.

Mrs. Cruz is no stranger to elections. She met her future husband while volunteering for George W. Bush’s presidential campaign and made an instant impression. “I’m embarrassed it took me two days to ask her out to dinner,” the senator told the New York Times. She impressed a lot of other people, too, going on from the campaign to hold multiple posts in the Bush 43 administration, culminating in her post at the National Security Council. The family dinner table isn’t a foreign-policy briefing room for the Cruzes, but her perspective certainly hasn’t diminished his understanding of international issues in the Western hemisphere, her area of specialty. “In addition to being the senator’s partner on the campaign trail, she also will actively advise him in areas for which she is an expert,” Phillips says.

When not serving in government, the Harvard Business School graduate has built an impressive career on Wall Street (which has already paid dividends for her husband; he received $65,000 from Goldman Sachs employees and the company PAC when he ran for Senate). “She’s well-respected and has lots of admirers,” Brady told National Journal while discussing her potential as a fundraiser for the presidential campaign. “So that could be part of the reaching out—whether it’s Wall Street or Texas.”

That résumé could insulate her from some of the attacks leveled against the wives of Republican presidential candidates in the last cycle. “The party’s retrograde attitude toward the role of women in the world, and in marriage, would find center stage in the persons (or personas) of Ann Romney and Janna Ryan,” Lisa Miller wrote for New York magazine, citing their decisions to take on the role of stay-at-home moms.

That doesn’t mean that no one will use the couple’s family arrangements to criticize Senator Cruz. Buzzfeed, for instance, called attention to the fact that she left the Bush administration after her husband became solicitor general of Texas.

“Had she not been married, and free to choose, I think she would have stayed for three more years,” said Ed Haley, who taught Heidi Cruz, née Nelson, at Claremont McKenna College. “My sense is she really loved what she was doing and chose to go back to Ted so that she could help him campaign. . . . She was sorry to go, and reconciled to going.”

Friends emphasize unanimously that she is a devoted mother, but they reject the “domestic martyr” brand applied to GOP spouses in previous election cycles.

“She continued working at Goldman while Ted was solicitor general, and when he became senator, she didn’t give that career up, and I think obviously excelled,” says Panton, who also works in private equity.

“I would never see her as a martyr for his career,” says another friend who has known Heidi since college. “Hands down, she is his closest adviser.” For the 2016 election, Mrs. Cruz is taking a leave of absence from her Goldman Sachs post in exchange for a desk at campaign headquarters.  

On some campaigns, such a vocal spouse is a consultant’s worst nightmare, but friends say that her business experience has made her adept at empowering a high-powered team to craft a plan of action.

“When I watched her go through the Senate campaign, she was quite complimentary of the team around Ted, even when she didn’t necessarily agree with them,” the friend continues. “She’s opinionated and she’s got a point of view, but as a person she’s pretty reasonable and she can be swayed. She’s not someone who, on ego, will dig in.”


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cruz2016; heidi
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1 posted on 03/27/2015 8:37:26 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Like the Cruzer, but wife isn’t on the ballot.


2 posted on 03/27/2015 8:39:17 AM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools)
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To: gov_bean_ counter
Cruzer

Were I a competent cartoonist, I might draw Ted as a warship destroying leftism with well-aimed ideological shots ...

3 posted on 03/27/2015 8:41:37 AM PDT by NorthMountain ("The time has come", the Walrus said, "to talk of many things")
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To: gov_bean_ counter

“wife isn’t on the ballot.”

Yeah, that won’t keep the lib media from attempting to exploit any and all issues related to her if they feel it could in some way damage his chances.


4 posted on 03/27/2015 8:42:02 AM PDT by V_TWIN
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
"... the Harvard Business School graduate ..."

Wow. Whoda Thunkit?

5 posted on 03/27/2015 8:42:45 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (>http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss)
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To: InterceptPoint

America’s elites.

Since Reagan left, “blue pill” Bob Dole is the only R or D POTUS candidate not an Ivy.


6 posted on 03/27/2015 8:44:36 AM PDT by nascarnation (Impeach, convict, deport)
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To: nascarnation
America’s elites.

Yes, sad to say. But if it's a CHECKMARK, at least we have it checked. And twice. I'll take that.

7 posted on 03/27/2015 8:47:16 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (>http://rss.cnn.com/rss/cnn_topstories.rss)
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To: nascarnation; InterceptPoint

Annapolis is an Ivy?


8 posted on 03/27/2015 8:49:03 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You can help: https://www.tedcruz.org/donate/)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

This is a great asset, way to go Ted.


9 posted on 03/27/2015 8:49:05 AM PDT by ansel12 (Palin--Mr President, the only thing that stops a bad guy with a nuke is a good guy with a nuke.)
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To: nascarnation; 2ndDivisionVet; onyx; TADSLOS; Jane Long; Sarah Barracuda; LucyT
Sarah Palin went to Idaho State.

Certainly Not HAWVAD , Yale or Standford to be damn sure.

I guess that is why she is Hick to the ignorant Masses >:(

We need ruled over by Educated elites right?

Says something about the state of our Republic doesn't it?

10 posted on 03/27/2015 8:49:28 AM PDT by KC_Lion (The Issue is Not The Issue, The Issue is The Revolution.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

It just gets better and better, what a kewl addition to an already winning selection. We must get this man, Cruz nominated and elected for the salvation of America.


11 posted on 03/27/2015 8:49:28 AM PDT by depenzz ("it isn't a chance you take, its a choice you make")
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To: depenzz

Beautiful family


12 posted on 03/27/2015 8:50:27 AM PDT by gwgn02
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To: V_TWIN
Yes. As I recall, Ann Romney was trashed back in 2012.

These same people get their noses out of joint if we call Michelle Obama “Wookie.”

13 posted on 03/27/2015 8:50:37 AM PDT by fatnotlazy
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

All he has to say is “My wife will never tell your children what to eat.”


14 posted on 03/27/2015 8:50:40 AM PDT by Tijeras_Slim
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Who went to Annapolis?


15 posted on 03/27/2015 8:51:34 AM PDT by nascarnation (Impeach, convict, deport)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum; All

Hillary's Not So Secret Weapon

16 posted on 03/27/2015 8:52:38 AM PDT by CptnObvious
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To: Tijeras_Slim

Bingo. The biggest decision I want the first ladies to make is dinner menus or drape colors.


17 posted on 03/27/2015 8:53:06 AM PDT by gov_bean_ counter (Romans 1:22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
It would be nice to have a First Lady who would restore some dignity to the White House.


18 posted on 03/27/2015 8:53:39 AM PDT by Iron Munro
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To: gov_bean_ counter

Like the Cruzer, but wife isn’t on the ballot.

________________________________________

Makes no difference. ALL first ladies have tremendous influence on our society. For better or worse.


19 posted on 03/27/2015 8:53:41 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd (With Great Freedom comes Great Responsibility.)
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To: nascarnation

McCain..


20 posted on 03/27/2015 8:55:34 AM PDT by Theoria (I should never have surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive)
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