It’s barely spring. No one “fears” anyone at this point. Brace yourself if you hang onto the moment and call it the future, two years out.
The big mistake politiphiles make is believing General Election voters vote based on ideology. Most don’t. How many don’t? According to polling done by insiders since 1943, that answer is 85% don’t vote based on ideology in the General.
This is why it takes money to win. Name ID wins most elections below POTUS and narrative crafting wins the high profile races. Both take gobs of cash. This is why the Establishment thinks it can safely ignore you once the primaries are over: ideology doesn’t matter in the General.
Moving to the center is flawed thinking. It turns off your committed voters without netting new voters.
Obama won not because of his ideology but because he presented himself as something different and ran a perfect campaign to juxtapose Hillary in the worst light. There was no ideological difference between him and Hillary.
A movement conservative sticking to his guns will light the base on fire. Add to that the genuineness and freshness that you get from not constantly double speaking and you add the independents. Project an underdog story compared to Hillary, and you add in LIVs. That’s how to win.
Besides, Sen Cruz’ entire messaging is that he’ll shoot straight. It’s how he plans to set himself apart from the field. Only Sen Cruz will tell the ethanol producers, “No.” That’s a tune that he cannot change now. Any deviance from his current strategy will be the equivalent of sticking the transmission in reverse at 60mph for his campaign.