Posted on 01/19/2015 5:23:34 PM PST by xzins
Team Ted Cruz is taking shape, and the Senate first-termer's presidential campaign could start before this spring.
The Republican senator from Texas tentatively plans to fill senior campaign positions with the triumvirate he signed last summer to expand his political operation. At the top is Jeff Roe, whose organizational title is undefined but who would be the campaign’s chief strategic and logistics decision-maker. Jason Miller would shape and oversee campaign messaging; Lauren Lofstrom would direct fundraising.
Cruz is in the process of “feeling out” additional campaign hires and prospective donors in preparation to join the field of 2016 candidates. If the senator decides to run for president, he wants to hit the ground at full speed, a senior Cruz advisor confirmed Monday.
Roe, founder of the direct mail firm Axiom Strategies, has never managed a presidential campaign. But he advised Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Rick Perry in 2012 and is familiar with the terrain in the early primary states. Republicans who have worked with Roe describe him as a talented strategist who is capable keeping a campaign operation humming. Perhaps most importantly, Roe is a good fit for Cruz’ aggressive style.
“He is a mean, bare-knuckles brawler,” one Republican operative told the Washington Examiner.
Rounding out the team are pollster Chris Perkins, who earned plaudits for being among the few to correctly forecast November’s Georgia Senate race, and Jason Johnson, the senator’s longtime political consigliere. Nick Muzin, Cruz's deputy chief of staff in his Senate office, is steeped in South Carolina politics. He is viewed as someone who might take a leave of absence from Cruz' Senate office to join the campaign.
Johnson, meanwhile, is often referred to as Cruz’s “political brain." He is rooted in the Texas GOP establishment and has been with the senator the longest among his advisors. Johnson served as chief of staff to Greg Abbott for a period when the incoming governor was state attorney general. It was in Abbott’s office that he and Cruz, then the the Lone Star State's solicitor general, bonded. Johnson guided Cruz to second place and then victory, respectively, in Texas’ 2012 GOP primary and runoff contests.
Those two races constitute the 44-year-old lawmaker’s only experience with competitive campaigns. Cruz had a very easy time in his general election win against an under-funded, no-name Democrat. Republican insiders expect Cruz to contend for first choice among GOP primary voters who favor the most confrontational and conservative candidate. But to compete for the nomination, Cruz has to step up his game.
“His early reviews among tea party audiences have been stellar in Iowa,” a Republican insider in the Hawkeye State told the Examiner. “I don't think he can appeal as broadly in the party or in the general electorate as other candidates, but his support will be intense among those voters who have the highest anger score.”
Cruz has countered that to win the White House, Republicans must nominate a strong conservative who contrasts sharply with the Democratic nominee, likely Hillary Clinton.
Cruz has maintained a vigorous political travel schedule and been a constant presence in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — hosts, in that order, of the first three 2016 primary contests. On Sunday, he was in Myrtle Beach to address the South Carolina Tea Party Coalition Convention. Cruz has cast himself as the conservative alternative in a field that could feature multiple Establishment and Tea Party candidates. That is consistent with the image Cruz has cultivated since bursting onto the national scene three years ago.
In 2012, Cruz defeated an Establishment favorite in his GOP Senate primary. Once on Capitol Hill, he led a campaign to derail Obamacare by leveraging a government shutdown and opposed comprehensive immigration reform plans that included a pathway to legalization for illegal immigrants. These moves helped Cruz solidify a fevered fan base, particularly among Tea Party Republicans, and positioned him as a national leader.
But competing for the presidential nomination, which will be decided by more than just the most conservative voters or those sympathetic to the Tea Party, requires organization, money and an expanded network of supporters. Cruz has to assemble all of that from scratch. If the senator is as skilled at the business of campaigning as he is debating, he could surge into the top tier of candidates and propel himself beyond South Carolina. Getting there usually depends at least somewhat on how a candidate performs in Iowa and New Hampshire.
In Iowa, Cruz is expected to face stiff competition in the struggle to be king conservative. The likely field includes former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the 2008 caucuses; former Sen. Rick Santorum, who won the 2012 caucuses; neurosurgeon Ben Carson; Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker; Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal; Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, and others. In New Hampshire, the top overall contenders could include 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney; former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush; New Hersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
“Cruz’s politics are likely too conservative for the New Hampshire electorate; his willingness to engage voters will serve him well here,” a Granite State GOP insider said. “Still, expectations for him here will be low. A strong showing in New Hampshire as the top conservative alternative would be a shot in Cruz’s arm.”
Yes, I agree, he may be looking past 2016. Nixon, Reagan, Bush1, Dole, and Romney all won on their second attempts. I believe Goldwater, Bush2 and McCain won on their first try.
He pulls the RINO herd to the right. Whether he wins or not we will see. It is all good concerning Cruz.
If JEB starts running as the Anti Cruz candidate, then you will know that Cruz has arrived.
Well the GOPe has tried their best to do that but it only made him more popular with the base. I think the DNC and the MSM will try the same thing with the same result.
Not so.
However, he DOES support the legalization of those who are here now illegally. HE wlso wants to UP the numbers of legal immigrants SUBSTANTIALLY.
And while he does not support making them citizens, making them legal is Amnesty by ANY definition.
When did Cruz come out of the immigration closet?
He supports the legalization of those here now illegally. Who cares if he does not support making them citizens?
It's still Amnesty by ANY definition.
You really can’t see the difference?
What is Cruz’s fundraising vehicle for President? I need to make a contribution ......
He has lots of legal experience.
We wouldn’t say that LTC Allen West has no experience just because he was a young LTC in the Army when political correctness kicked him out.
He clerked for Chief Justice Rehnquist. “He served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2003 to May 2008, after being appointed by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.[6] Between 1999 and 2003, Cruz served as the director of the Office of Policy Planning at the Federal Trade Commission, an Associate Deputy Attorney General at the United States Department of Justice, and as Domestic Policy Advisor to U.S. President George W. Bush on the 2000 Bush-Cheney campaign. Cruz was also an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin, where he taught U.S. Supreme Court litigation, from 2004 to 2009.”
The are all prestigious and work-heavy legal jobs.
A person might have a low opinion of lawyers, but it is probably incorrect to say they don’t work.
I think it’s still tedcruz.org until he actually declares for the presidency.
Allen West served in government.
So did I...a career Army chaplain.
I worked my butt off as did most officers and ncos that I ever came across. 24/7/365 and years deployed away from family.
Thanks. Done.
I used to love Laura Ingraham, but her love affair with Romney, ruined her credibility with me.
And you are spot on, in your analysis of her. She’s become the female Michael Savage, without all the crassness. IMO
I think Ted Cruz has more experience, intelligence and ability in his little finger, than Obama has in his entire life time.
While they may have led somewhat of a similar path to the role of Presidency, Ted Cruz came from a complete opposite background, upbringing and lively hood than did Mr. Oblamo.
If one looks at their past, not what they’ve done in their “careers”, it paints quite a different picture between the two. And I like the looks of Mr. Cruz’s picture SO MUCH MORE and BETTER than the evil picture that Obama came from.
Cruz has been on my “short list” for POTUS candidates for a while now.
He runs, he has my support.
Lincoln once said that he hoped God was on his side, but that he needed Kentucky. The GOP needs Ohio and Florida, plus Virginia and one other state, to flip sides in 2016.
I don’t think the Democrats have any statewide judges but they hold some of the regional appellate ones.
“When did Cruz come out of the immigration closet”?
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/us/cruz-tries-to-claim-the-middle-ground-on-immigration.html?_r=1&;
Cruz is the real deal. A real conservative who can think on his feet and articulate conservative ideas in a friendly, intelligent manner.
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