Cruz may do very well with the Mexican / Hispanic vote.
He received 41% of the “Hispanic” vote in Texas in his senatorial victory.
But you are so right about the World War II generation.
Most of them were in their late 50’s through mid 60’s during the 1980 general election.
My dad was 60 in November 1980. If he were still alive, he would be 96 in November 2016. Some of these WW II guys are still around, but most of them are not, and they are sorely missed.
For Freepers wondering what happened with this country, for me it started in 1992 when Ross Perot split the WWII generation vote and we allowed Slick Willie in there.
Then in 1998 the country made the seminal decision that moral values didn’t matter when they allowed Slick to stay in office after the Lewinsky debacle.
By 2000 when Slick left office, most of the WWII generation had retired from any positions of power in business, culture, etc.
Brave new world the last 15 years.
I have a small hope that Cruz might be the ambush candidate regarding the "hispanic" vote. Hispanics just might vote in numbers far stronger for Cruz than the Democrats are expecting.