Ted Cruz team looks beyond Iowa, New Hampshire

He’s stuck in the middle of the pack in Iowa, lags in polls, and much of the GOP donor class views him with disdain.

But Ted Cruz is embracing a novel strategy for winning the nomination: He’s lowering expectations in the early states while investing in later-voting states that hardly see a candidate before March.

In the past week or so alone, the Texas senator has taken his presidential campaign to Michigan and Massachusetts, staffed up in New Jersey and Tennessee, and skipped an Iowa cattle call to stump in North Carolina — all states expected to vote in March, with the exception of New Jersey, which has a primary slated for June 2016.

It’s a risky bet that defies the usual wisdom — and historical precedent — that a candidate must achieve an early-state victory to stay in the game. But Cruz’s team is bracing for a long fight based on picking up delegates — a battle they plan to stretch all the way to the convention, where, the theory goes, he’ll be the last conservative standing — though a contested convention hasn’t happened in nearly 40 years.

“Our strategy is taking it to the convention, which is why you’ve seen us announcing chairmen in California and New Jersey, as well as Iowa and New Hampshire,” said Mark Campbell, Cruz’s political director. “There are 2,470 [delegates] total, and you need 1,236 of them to win. None of these can be accumulated at any one time, which is why it’s a marathon more than a sprint. So we are methodically going state by state, focusing on grass roots and party activists.”

Campbell said they expect Cruz to place “in the top three” in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

The saddest part of this whole episode is how easily conservatives are manipulated and led like sheep. Just look at who populates these threads. Among the regular Freeps are the RINO troll army. They consist if the n00bs who "used to support Cruz" and the primary season Freeps who may have been here for years but only show up for primary season to raise "concerns" about conservatives.

It is interesting how quickly this infighting starts when the Romney people start joining the campaigns. Honestly, if conservatives are dumb enough to continue falling for this crap election after election, we really do deserve a Bush/Clinton race.

As far as the candidates/potential candidates are concerned, I haven't looked at them all but so far Perry, Walker and Jindal have all supported TPP or equivelent treaties.

Amid Secrecy, Rick Perry Retracts Obamatrade Support: ‘I Would Rather Barack Obama Not Be Negotiating for Me’

In May a spokesman for Perry told Breitbart News that he supports the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)—one of three largely secretive trade deals that would be fast-tracked by Trade Promotion Authority (TPA). But he’s changed his position.

TPP Proponents Close to Clinton Remain Optimistic About Her Support

Scott Walker had this to say.

Well, I talked about TTIP the other day in Germany in Hanover at the industrial fair there, and I think fair and open trade is a good thing on either side of the continent for the United States, whether it’s on the Atlantic or the Pacific. Obvious the details need to be worked out and there’s a lot of details including some specific to my state that need to be worked out. But I think in the end, having a deal that’s fair and offers fair and open trade would be a good thing for the United States and for our trading partners.

Bobby Jindal talks economic development, TPP with Taiwanese President Ma Ying-Jeou

While the negotiations were discussed, Plotkin said Jindal will take a position on the agreement when final terms are agreed to: "We are optimistic and hopeful about expanded trade with this part of the world. So we are hopeful about the TPP.

For those who are OK with trashing Cruz to protect your candidate, Just remember, those Romney people on the campaign WILL eat your candidate before they're done and despite any fantasies to the contrary, you won't be able to stop it.

Yea whatever. I don’t remember. Did you vote for Romney or tell anyone that principles didn’t matter? How about ‘we gotta win no matter what?’ Bitch about anyone’s ‘purity’?

If you didn’t, then good. But if you did, you got ZERO to bitch about Cruz. Either way, it’s a sick joke to rail him over TTP when the rest are either pro illegal, Pro USCOC, Pro Obama or anti America.

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