Posted on 02/13/2016 9:32:01 AM PST by SoConPubbie
These rivals are itching for a fight as South Carolina settles into a two-man race.
Ted Cruz and Donald Trump enter Saturday's debate locked in a two-man race for South Carolina, and to prepare, both have gone full negative.
After splitting the first two votes, the New York billionaire has relentlessly hammered away at Cruz on everything from his campaign's tactics to what Trump sees as the Texan's character flaws. And on Friday, Trump warned that he has standing to sue Cruz over questions of his birth and constitutional eligibility to serve in the White House.
"If @tedcruz doesn't clean up his act, stop cheating, & doing negative ads, I have standing to sue him for not being a natural born citizen," Trump tweeted of his rival, born in Canada to an American mother.
Asked about the threat, Cruz did not back down. "There's more than a little irony in Donald accusing anybody of being nasty given the amazing torrent of insults and obscenities that come out of his mouth on any given day," he told reporters. "Suddenly every day he comes out with a new attack."
Trump is expected to carry these attacks onto the stage on Saturday at the final candidate forum before South Carolina votes. It's a fight Cruz's allies say they are ready for, as they prepare to assault Trump's Republican credentials with an eye on the conservative, religious and security-focused voters throughout the south.
"There's a Himalayan mountain of evidence out there that Donald Trump is not a conservative," said Charlie Condon, a former South Carolina attorney general and a Cruz surrogate, pointing to Trump's past positions on issues including abortion, health care and Wall Street bank bailouts. "I'm confident that everything I'm telling you will be discussed at the Peace Center."
Condon said that the more Trump attacks Cruz on Saturday, the more the Texas senator will come across as the Trump "alternative."
"It's a recognition of what we think the reality is: This is becoming a two-man race," he said. "So if you're not comfortable with Donald Trump being president, whether for temperament reasons or judgment reasons or the fact that he really is a campaign conservative—he's been a Democrat almost his whole life…if you're uncomfortable with that…Cruz is the alternative."
Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler said the candidate would be "prepared" for Trump, whose campaign he dismissed as unserious. "This is the Seinfeld candidacy," he said. "It's a campaign about nothing."
The escalation of the conflict between the two leading candidates for the Republican nomination comes as they contest a state that has refined the political dirty trick to a fine art and where the mogul is accusing a "dishonest" Cruz of orchestrating anti-Trump robocalls.
Already, in Iowa, the Cruz campaign came under fire for spreading inaccurate reports that Ben Carson was suspending his campaign on the day of the Iowa caucuses and sending out high-pressure mailers intended to shame inconsistent voters who were likely to support Cruz into turning out.
In South Carolina, where polls show Trump with a double-digit lead over Cruz, the senator and his supporters are not holding back. "I've worked campaigns for long time and I've never seen the stuff Cruz is putting out," said one Trump campaign staffer in the state, referring to mailers that question the businessman's conservative credentials.
According to the Real Clear Politics average, Trump is running a solid first in South Carolina with 37 percent, followed by Cruz at 20 percent. (Marco Rubio sits a distant third at 14 percent.)
"As we approach South Carolina, Trump's competitors will grow increasingly desperate," said Seth Weathers, a Trump supporter who briefly served as the businessman's George state director. "Trump's tweet was a reminder that he doesn't take attacks lying down. He never attacks first, but when he responds, he unleashes hell."
Love is blind. Logic goes out the window.
Reagan was much more likable than Cruz, JMHO.
"Get on Trump's List" email from the RNC was not authorized. I am self funding my campaign! Do not pay. 12:21 PM - 13 Feb 2016
Got it, but just returning from confidence in man and back to the Lord in trust and confidence is powerful enough to change things.
Yeah, back when he & Mike Lee where the only ones standing up to Obama, Mitch McConnell and the RNC, the FRumpsters loved him.
'Can't stand him', that's mild. ...I'd say most Trump supports actually hate the man.
When I say I'm Cruz/Trump, Voting Cruz in my primary, Trump in the general if he wins.
Rarely can I get a Trump supporter to say they'd vote Cruz in the general should he pull off an upset.
No doubt. Also, Reagan got his message out by speaking past the media to the American people. Trump has this ability and connects with regular people. His rallies demonstrate this. Cruz does not have this ability.
Well very odd, but a lot of things about this season have been very odd.
I’ve made a point that this season probably is under the largest degree of prayer of any in memory. God doesn’t ignore this.
The results will look downright strange, as providence kicks in overtime, so to speak.
Well, I would. If God got him to that point in the game in spite of his eight balls, I figure that something larger is cooking and to treat it as a personal agenda would be stupid.
My beef is where Cruz is right NOW. He’s apparently sitting with a bushel basket over his real light, with a garish artificial “Christianesque” neon lamp flooding the scene in the meantime. Trump is more sincere than this, sins and all.
He could change that at any moment and far be it from me to wish him not to.
And Trump will come across as a bratty, petulant three year old, you know, himself.
Trump looks like he may force the issue by suing him.
Dream on.
You may be right unless they discuss issues!
Dream on nothing - it’s not up to Trump - CRUZ himself should show selfless good faith and put this issue to bed - it’s HIS problem but he make make it a problem for all of us if he is the nominee and then loses in court giving the communist Dems the election.
...then loses in court giving the communist Dems the election.
That's not how it works.
The demonrats are licking their chops.
Really? Get the point here and stop the Cruz-like deflection of the point.
If Cruz gets nominated and then DQ’d that certainly will not work and COULD hand the election to the Leftist tyrants. That is not the work of someone who is supposedly selflessly for America and her future. Your man needs to take this issue in hand. It’s his problem and he needs to own it and deal with it now. He should have dealt with it long before now.
Cruz has proven himself for many years as a solid conservative.
You, on the other hand, have been posting here for less than 3 months and have proven you love attacking the most conservative candidate in the race, and side with GOPe, Dems, Planned Parenthood, NARAL and other who hate Cruz almost as much as you as evidenced by the fact they criticize him less than you do.
And I know you said that you no longer will read my comments, but I am posting this for the benefit of others who may not see through your fake conservative concern.
It will not go unanswered when I see it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.