Cruz runs away with first-ever conservative activist caucus, Carson second

Union Leader ^ | October 17. 2015 | Eli Okun

[Isara]

HOPKINTON – A casual observer could have been forgiven for mistaking the Hopkinton Fairgrounds for Iowa on Saturday.

Inside an unheated, cavernous barn, more than 700 grassroots activists conducted their own presidential caucus — rounds of voting and redistributing to select a candidate who would stand up for strict conservative values.

In this first-ever New Hampshire caucus, organizers hoped the new style of competition would help unify the right against establishment candidates. In the end (and in the beginning), it wasn't really close: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz cruised to the win after just three rounds of voting.

Though all Republican candidates were invited, only Cruz showed up, and his campaign made a concerted effort to encourage supporters to attend. Leaders of the 603 Alliance, the activist group formed this year that staged the caucus, endorsed Cruz upon his victory, per the caucus' rules.

But they also said they were disappointed by the event's lopsidedness and the other campaigns' reluctance to engage.

Other candidate appearances might have resulted in a very different outcome, said Fran Wendelboe, an organizer and founder. “Had his campaign worked to turn people out the way the Cruz campaign did, they potentially could have won this as well,” she said of Donald Trump. “It's a snapshot in time.”

But on Saturday, it was Cruz all the way.

Before the official event began, Cruz held a brief rally outside. He lauded the grassroots activists who energized his campaign and "scare the living daylights” out of Washington. The crowd brandished signs that read “Don't believe the liberal media."

"Mark my words," Cruz declared. "America's waking up."

He also took a few humorous potshots at Hillary Clinton, suggesting she had framed Tom Brady and saying that a future Democratic debate might be held on location at Leavenworth.

As the crowd filed into the barn for the official start of the Grassroots Presidential Selection caucus, "Courageous" by the Christian rock band Casting Crowns played on the speakers: "We could be the generation / that finally breaks the chains."

Inside, attendees were excited to partake in an event new to New Hampshire. "I think it helps to thin the crowd," said Doug DeDe of Dover, who was supporting Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

Ruth Southworth of Moultonborough was thrilled by "the enthusiasm, the excitement." And she was happy to be in Cruz's section, by far the most boisterous in the room. "He's honest and trustworthy," she explained. "He does what he says he's going to do."

First on the schedule were pitches from each candidate or a campaign surrogate. Cruz spoke for several minutes to a large, cheering crowd of people, most of whom dispersed to their seats as surrogates for Ben Carson, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Trump and Carly Fiorina offered brief pitches.

Under caucus rules, participants would sit in the section of bleachers devoted to their first-choice candidate and raise their hands to be counted. Then the bottom two candidates would be eliminated, and their supporters would have to join another group, continuing on until someone garnered a majority.

But with several stands empty from the get-go, organizers condensed the timetable a bit. After the first round, seven candidates had zero supporters: former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former New York Gov. George Pataki and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum. (The removals of Bush, Christie and Graham sparked loud cheers.)

Five more were immediately eliminated for failing to clear a 25-vote threshold: Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Kasich, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Rubio and Trump.

That left Carson, Cruz and Fiorina, all of whom had devoted supporters and plenty of signs. But Fiorina was eliminated after the second round of voting, and Cruz topped Carson for the victory.

Several speakers rallied the crowd in between rounds of voting, including Fredo Arias-King, who noted that the conservatives had made a final choice between a Hispanic man and a black man. "Don't ever let any of those liberals call you a racist" he declared.

Earlier, conservative New Zealand activist Trevor Loudon — author of Barack Obama and the Enemies Within — urged attendees to take their responsibility to the country and the world seriously. "This is the last, best hope for mankind," he said of the United States.

Whether the 603 Alliance can sway all of New Hampshire's very conservative voters to believe that Cruz is their best hope remains to be seen. In such a fractious field, getting a segment of conservatives to rally around the caucus winner could have a major impact on the outcome. But caucus attendees are under no obligation to vote for Cruz, and many could be reluctant to go for their second or third choice.

Though several candidates didn't respond to the alliance's outreach, there was outright hostility from the Paul camp, which accused the caucus of being rigged for Cruz in advance, organizers and attendees said. Paul was in the area Saturday but snubbed the event.

"They don't like to engage unless they think they can win," Wendelboe said.

The alliance — whose leaders include some of the state's Republican politicians — deems past nominees like John McCain and Mitt Romney insufficiently conservative, and it hopes that coalescing around Cruz will prevent an establishment pick from prevailing again.

"We thought that a candidate that was relatively the establishment/moderate candidate could come in and win with 20 percent of the vote if everybody kept their votes split," Wendelboe said, "and we'd end up with a weak candidate."

Regardless, Wendelboe added, the caucus was also useful for pushing conservatives to think seriously about their second and third choices for the presidency.

[Isara]

[NH Liberty]

I’m in that picture! LOL...

[SubMareener]

This is GOOD! We want Ted Cruz to move up to second or third place. Either he or Ben Carson will make a great VP for Donald Trump! ;-)

[twister881]

Cruz misstepped on TPA, I haven’t heard him commit to a triple border fence, and I want him to name at least a half dozen Federal departments he’d shut down. That said, he’s my first choice for now.

[Isara]

Presidential Candidates Comparison (Cruz vs. Carson vs. Trump)

Budget, Spending & Debt
Civil Liberties
Education
Energy & Environment
Foreign Policy & Defense
Free Market
Health Care & Entitlements
Immigration
Moral Issues
Second Amendment
Taxes, Economy & Trade

More at Conservative Review: https://www.conservativereview.com/2016-presidential-candidates

[Isara]

Are you in this picture also?

[SoCar]

All Cruz does is preach to the choir. Too bad the choir is not big enough to win the presidency. Go Trump!

[dforest]

This same thing has been posted at least three times in the last hour.

And golly, Carson and Snarly are now all conservative like to get second and third positions. /sarc

[DaveyB]

Cruz was conservative even when you weren’t looking.

[SubMareener]

I know that Ted is the best on the issues, so we need him in the Executive Branch. However, the Executive Branch is really screwed up with a lot of Progressive/Socialist/Communists/Muslims and needs to be cleaned out. So we need someone who has a proven track record in saying “You’re Fired!” The other thing we need is a person who has a proven track record of hiring and supporting people who are smarter than they are. Again, it is Donald Trump who has the record for this.

If YHWH puts up with this crappy world for another four or eight years, then Ted can run again in 2020 or 2024. I wouldn’t be surprised if Donald Trump gets so much done in his first term that he turns things over to his Apprentice after one term!

[deport]

This same thing has been posted at least three times in the last hour.

********************

Five articles have been posted five times. Now take a guess as to who has posted four of them .......

[dforest]

well, duh LOL

[deport]

Five articles have been posted five times.

****************

Sheesh.... s/b

Five articles have been posted.

[Dr. Sivana]

All Cruz does is preach to the choir. Too bad the choir is not big enough to win the presidency.

The "choir" votes in primaries. Reagan did the same thing in '76 and '80.

[sitetest]

Sounds like it was a fun time.

Did trump have a campaign representative address the first round?

[Isara]

So we need someone who has a proven track record in saying “You’re Fired!”

That person is not a Constitution Conservative. We don't have time to try someone who has limited knowledge of the Constitution. We need the real thing NOW.

[SubMareener]

I don’t think you understand the Executive Branch in our current situation. There are too many people who have way too much power and the only way to get these people out of our lives and businesses is to fire them. The political appointees can be gone tomorrow, but to clean out the Civil Service President Trump will have to get the authority and assistance from Congress to close down programs, agencies and departments.

Look at how much Donald Trump is doing at the same time during this campaign. He as the energy and drive to lead his administration. With Ted Cruz as his VP, Trump can let Ted be Ted and let Ted chart the course to return us to Constitutional balance.

Without Trump to spearhead the way, Ted will be as effective against the Bureaucracy as he had been against Mitch McConnell in the Senate. Be honest about it. Ted gives great speeches, but there haven’t been any real results.

[CatherineofAragon]

I'll never support that liberal Democrat. I'll stick with a conservative.

Trump's supporters are finally coming out as the liberals they are.

link

[CatherineofAragon]

Cruz isn’t running to be a Democrat’s lapdog. I know it’s hard for you to imagine, because everyone should be living life for Trump.

[Isara]

With Ted Cruz as his VP, Trump can let Ted be Ted and let Ted chart the course to return us to Constitutional balance.

Do you think that this is going to happen with President Trump?

Yes, let Ted be President Ted to clean up the Washington swamp with the Constitution as his guide. Trump will be in Ted Cruz's administration somewhere to do the firing.