However:
If Cruz gets the lead, anywhere, for more than a poll or two, the adulatory pieces will stop and all of a sudden he will be Hitler to the drive-bys.
The drive-bys may indeed go after Cruz but, unless I've misread his background, there isn't anything out there to get him with.
Perhaps they'll go after his Dad as an evil Christian Pastor, but that'll only piss off we Evangelicals.
It'll be an interesting election cycle to closely watch.
Three months ago you couldn't buy a positive Cruz story, but do you remember all the fawning stuff about Fiorina? Then, when she faded, there began to appear all these stories about "Carson surging." But once they had him "surged," they killed him off.
We know Ted is a great conservative, a stand-up guy, and intellectually by far the best guy in the race. That said, I don't think he can effect change in DC because he is a politician and still thinks like a pol. But I'd love to see him as Veep or better yet as Chief Justice nominated by Trump. (I do believe they have a deal).
But, that said, how would the drive bys attack him? As a "crazy, far-right ideologue" who would "shut down the government," a "lone-wolf" with "no friends in the Senate," who is the Senate equivalent of a Pat Robertson.
All that said, if it was Ted, I'd give to him, work for him, and I do expect he would beat Hillary. Then the trouble starts . . . .