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Is Ted Cruz the 2016 GOP frontrunner? In Iowa, maybe
Washington Examiner ^ | 08/12/2013 | Byron York

Posted on 08/12/2013 9:08:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

There are no polls showing Ted Cruz leading the 2016 Republican presidential field in the Iowa. A PPP survey last month found Cruz in sixth place in the state, behind Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, Jeb Bush, and Marco Rubio. But after a particularly well-received appearance at a conservative event in Ames, Iowa over the weekend, there seems little doubt that Cruz, who has been in the U.S. Senate all of eight months, is zooming toward the front of the GOP pack in the nation’s first-voting state.

The gathering, sponsored by the social conservative organization Family Leader, featured appearances by Rick Santorum, winner of the 2012 Republican caucuses, and Cruz, along with billionaire gadfly Donald Trump. From all accounts, Santorum was a popular speaker; the social conservative crowd appreciated not only his positions but the enormous effort he has made to get to know the state of Iowa and its conservative residents.

But Santorum’s welcome could not compare to the wildly enthusiastic reception for Cruz. Joined by his pastor father, Rafael Cruz — he was a big hit, too — the Texas freshman senator wowed the crowd, and then wowed them again.

“The reception for Santorum was appreciative, consistent, and steady,” Bob Vander Plaats, head of the Family Leader and organizer of the event, told me via email. “The anticipation for and reception of Cruz was over the top. He was propelled by an amazing speech by his father, Rafael. All that said, Cruz delivered. Most walked away talking Cruz!”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonexaminer.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: Iowa
KEYWORDS: 2016; cruz; iowa; potus; tedcruz
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QUESTIONS ABOUT HIS CONSTITUTIONAL ELIGIBILITY STARTS IN 10,9,8....
1 posted on 08/12/2013 9:08:10 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Let’s apply the same standard that applied to Owhatshisface.


2 posted on 08/12/2013 9:13:03 AM PDT by Silentgypsy (:))
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To: SeekAndFind

Fox News is portraying the 2016 contest as a three-way race between Fats, Bushy and El Reconquistador.


3 posted on 08/12/2013 9:13:48 AM PDT by Fiji Hill
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To: Fiji Hill

RE: El Reconquistador.

Questions about Senor Cruz’s eligibility apply to El Reconquistador. as well.


4 posted on 08/12/2013 9:17:48 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

I think it is being forgotten that while Santorum was always received with small e enthusiasm, he was not considered a serious contender in Iowa until near the end. If there had been a serious socially conservative alternative, he probably would NOT have won Iowa.

It’s different with Cruz. People are enthusiastically supporting him, not doing so with a shrug of the shoulders.

Moreover, he appeals across the conservative/liberatarian perspective. Even those ambivalent to social issues but libertarian leaning on econ love Cruz.

Cruz may win the nomination.

I don’t think he can win the general, but, at least we will lose with a message. I’d prefer that to losing with a moderate where we lose the race, AND lose the message.

That said: I hope tons of y’all can explain to me that a fearless conservative like Cruz can actually win the general in today’s America. I just don’t feel that in my bones anymore, but, wow, would I love to be wrong.....


5 posted on 08/12/2013 9:20:46 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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To: Silentgypsy

Ted Cruz....yes!!! “www.dontfundobamacare.com” Sign it!!!


6 posted on 08/12/2013 9:25:41 AM PDT by JLAGRAYFOX ( My only objective is to defeat and destroy Obama & his Democrat Party, politically!!!)
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To: ConservativeDude

Michael Medved writes that Americans vote for talented politicians with winning personalities. Ideological purity isn’t a priority.

See here:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324136204578642003851557518.html


7 posted on 08/12/2013 9:25:49 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Eventually that is going to come up.

IMO Obama already cracked that glass ceiling.

There is no way Cruz can be turned down without opening the Pandora’s box on Obama.

We are all entitled to know Obama’s secrets, all of them.


8 posted on 08/12/2013 9:29:50 AM PDT by Venturer ( cowardice posturing as tolerance =political correctness)
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To: Fiji Hill

I have no doubt Christie will be a formidable candidate. It will be revealed early that the public wants nothing to do with another Bush (can u imagine Bush vs Clinton?) and that without the base Rubio has nothing with which to compete in primaries. Christie for all his faults is popular. Not my choice i recognize the reality.


9 posted on 08/12/2013 9:30:29 AM PDT by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
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To: ConservativeDude

What did Obama offer besides race and an ability to speak? How’s that for hope?


10 posted on 08/12/2013 9:31:31 AM PDT by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
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To: Silentgypsy

Let’s apply the same standard that applied to Owhatshisface

If you do-— then you are ligitimase the usurpter Obama and have no higher standards then the dimocrats


11 posted on 08/12/2013 9:32:32 AM PDT by munin (MSNBC?)
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To: SeekAndFind

So what is the deal with his birth? Wasn’t he born in Canada? And saying that Obama is ineligible, etc is an absolute non-starter. I simply don’t buy it and, even if true, it has nothing to do with Cruz’s eligibility. I hope he is eligible but I was unaware of this issue til recently. Guess I need to do some research.


12 posted on 08/12/2013 9:33:58 AM PDT by RIghtwardHo
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To: SeekAndFind

Oh never mind. Did my research. Appears his Mom was an American citizen at the time. That solves it.


13 posted on 08/12/2013 9:35:27 AM PDT by RIghtwardHo
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To: wiggen

Well, I think what obama offered was that he positioned himself as a polite, moderate, pragmatic centrist. And because of extraordinary guilt from the unthinking middle, they bought it.

And - shock - it turns out that he is a leftist!

If Cruz can focus on the conservative messages that resonate Across The Board, and then of course, govern from the hard right....then he might have a chance.


14 posted on 08/12/2013 9:35:59 AM PDT by ConservativeDude
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To: Venturer
Eventually that is going to come up.

Of course it will. And, the Cruz haters will buy lots of books and DVD's from birther hucksters. But, none of that will matter because the vast majority of Americans will correctly regard his having been born a citizen as sufficient to make him a natural born citizen.

Ted Cruz - 2016

15 posted on 08/12/2013 9:36:22 AM PDT by Tau Food (Never give a sword to a man who can't dance.)
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To: RIghtwardHo

I don’t see how Cruz can run since he was born in Canada. In fact, I wasn’t sure about McCain, though he was born on U.S. territory in the Canal Zone.


16 posted on 08/12/2013 9:36:48 AM PDT by Entrepreneur (We're past the tipping point - the only variable is the rate of decline)
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To: RIghtwardHo

RE: So what is the deal with his birth? Wasn’t he born in Canada? And saying that Obama is ineligible, etc is an absolute non-starter.

From Breitbart’s legal columnist Ken Klukowski :

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/11/Yes-Ted-Cruz-Likely-Eligible-to-be-President

No one is certain what that means. Citizenship was primarily defined by each state when the Constitution was adopted. Federal citizenship wasn’t clearly established until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. The Constitution is not clear whether it means you must be born on U.S. soil, or instead whether you must be born a U.S. citizen.

Cruz was born in Canada, but his mother was a lifelong American, born in Delaware. (His father was a political refugee from Cuba.) So under federal law, Cruz was born an American citizen by virtue of his mother. His family moved back to Texas, where Cruz grew up, and lived his entire life except the years he spent in New Jersey attending Princeton, Massachusetts attending Harvard Law School, and Washington, D.C., clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the Supreme Court and later serving in the Bush administration.

So this former Texas solicitor general was born an American citizen and has spent almost all his life in America—usually serving his state or nation.

It would be better to report, “Some constitutional experts say he would be ineligible,” or more accurate still, “A small minority of constitutional experts say he would be ineligible.” But no one can make the unqualified claim that the Constitution declares Ted Cruz is unable to run for president.

There’s never been a court case to decide this issue, and there are only a few law review articles written by professors. The only professor I know of who thinks Cruz in ineligible to run for president also said John McCain was ineligible to run for president because he was born on a U.S. Navy base in Panama. I don’t recall any media outlet reporting John McCain was ineligible to be president.

The most likely meaning of the national-born clause is that you must have been an American citizen at birth, so that you would not have greater loyalty to some foreign nation. Cruz was born an American citizen, and has spent most of his life serving this nation with unabashed patriotism.

If Cruz runs for the White House, then one of his opponents in the primary would have standing to sue in federal court to argue Cruz is ineligible. But the smart money would be on a court agreeing that Cruz is as eligible as anyone else who was born an American citizen.


17 posted on 08/12/2013 9:41:46 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: Entrepreneur; RIghtwardHo

From Breitbart’s legal columnist Ken Klukowski :

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/03/11/Yes-Ted-Cruz-Likely-Eligible-to-be-President

No one is certain what that means. Citizenship was primarily defined by each state when the Constitution was adopted. Federal citizenship wasn’t clearly established until the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. The Constitution is not clear whether it means you must be born on U.S. soil, or instead whether you must be born a U.S. citizen.

Cruz was born in Canada, but his mother was a lifelong American, born in Delaware. (His father was a political refugee from Cuba.) So under federal law, Cruz was born an American citizen by virtue of his mother. His family moved back to Texas, where Cruz grew up, and lived his entire life except the years he spent in New Jersey attending Princeton, Massachusetts attending Harvard Law School, and Washington, D.C., clerking for Chief Justice William Rehnquist at the Supreme Court and later serving in the Bush administration.

So this former Texas solicitor general was born an American citizen and has spent almost all his life in America—usually serving his state or nation.

It would be better to report, “Some constitutional experts say he would be ineligible,” or more accurate still, “A small minority of constitutional experts say he would be ineligible.” But no one can make the unqualified claim that the Constitution declares Ted Cruz is unable to run for president.

There’s never been a court case to decide this issue, and there are only a few law review articles written by professors. The only professor I know of who thinks Cruz in ineligible to run for president also said John McCain was ineligible to run for president because he was born on a U.S. Navy base in Panama. I don’t recall any media outlet reporting John McCain was ineligible to be president.

The most likely meaning of the national-born clause is that you must have been an American citizen at birth, so that you would not have greater loyalty to some foreign nation. Cruz was born an American citizen, and has spent most of his life serving this nation with unabashed patriotism.

If Cruz runs for the White House, then one of his opponents in the primary would have standing to sue in federal court to argue Cruz is ineligible. But the smart money would be on a court agreeing that Cruz is as eligible as anyone else who was born an American citizen.


18 posted on 08/12/2013 9:43:31 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: Tau Food; txhurl
Birther hucksters?

You've destroyed my faith in humanity......../s

:-)

19 posted on 08/12/2013 9:45:34 AM PDT by Lakeshark (KILL THE BILL! CALL. FAX. WRITE)
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To: munin

I suppose the sarc tag is necessary.


20 posted on 08/12/2013 9:53:26 AM PDT by Silentgypsy (:))
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