More Choose Ted Cruz

US Senator and Presidential candidate Ted Cruz is gaining steam from erstwhile conservatives worried about his "numbers" problem.

The polling suggests that Cruz is a favorite with the base, but everyone else hates him.

Really?

How many wonks were jumping in their seats when they learned that a Republican won the Governor's seat in Maryland? How about the near miss in Virginia, where former RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie nearly unseated Mark Warner?

The polls were dead wrong in Virginia. They were also wrong in Illinois, when it seemed as though Democrat Pat Quinn was going to hold onto the Governor's seat. Bruce Rauner won, people. Paul LePage of Maine still reigns in his Pine Tree state. To all the pollsters who predicted his close demise, he shouted back: "Tell 'em to kiss my butt!"

So, what is all this nonsense about "unelectable" Cruz?

Polling has become a volatile art at best, as prospective voters get more information faster about their preferred candidates. The new threat of terrorism in our midst has forced Americans to reconsider their priorities, too. Cruz has developed a sounder, stronger ground game. He has not alienated Trump or Walker supporters, but rather continued his steady attacks against President Obama as well as the Republican phalanx of the Washington cartel, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Breitbart reports:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) went after House Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)

 Monday, arguing that he works for Democrats — including Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) — to help get their liberal policies passed in Congress.

“I have said that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is the most effective Democratic leader in modern times” wrote Cruz in Politico. 

It's a sad commentary indeed on the Democratic Party that they must depend on Republican leaders, whose weakness is growing and support eroding. It's grand that Cruz continues to blast and damn the poor leadership of McConnell, who would rather get along then get down and fight.

Ken Cuccinnelli, the former Virginia Attorney General, has endorsed Cruz, too:

I am one of countless Republicans exasperated with how the Washington Republican “leadership” has failed to even try to advance our basic principles, to say nothing how they continue to violate their own campaign promises. 

He speaks to the fears and frustrations of many conservatives. He lived through this disdain when his bid for Governor by a very narrow margin in 2013.

US Senator Ted Cruz (Gage Skidmore)

While many Presidential candidates are trying to make the case that they won’t be captured by Washington, only Senator Ted Cruz has the consistent track record to prove it.  Does that make him appear to not get along with the Washington leadership?  Yes.  Does the leadership dislike him?  Yes.  In the mainstream media, this conflict is portrayed as a bad thing.  I think it’s a good thing.  The folks that don’t like Senator Cruz in Washington don’t like him because he’s an unapologetic Constitutional Conservative that doesn’t back down.  I can live with that… in fact, I can get pretty excited about that!

In response to the likely rebuttals about Trump,  Cuccinelli writes: "Lots of people talk about fighting Washington, Senator Cruz has done it."

Exactly.

It's about "track record", not "recorded track" that matters. He has stood up to Big Government boondoggles, called out leadership on the floor of the US Senate and the House as well as the President. Independents dissatisfied with both parties share Cuccinelli and Cruz' exasperation.

Kurt Schlichter wrote for Townhall.com:

I like Ted Cruz – I gave him money and after the debate attended a small fundraiser for him at a private home in my town. He’s the closest thing to the guy I’d be supporting if I had picked someone yet. 

Bam! I could not agree more. Cruz hosted a successful fundraiser in Manhattan Beach, CA. The Cruz Campaign's California Chairman, Ron Nehring, informed the Sacramento Bee that Cruz is taking California seriously. With a splintered set of delegates out for the winning, Cruz is banking on strong support in key Congressional districts as well as the entire state for a higher count, and the win in June, 2016.

He started out his campaign off-putting to normal people (as lawyers usually are) and has worked hard to be more of a calm, pleasant, and funny family man than the monstrous caricature the media has tried to sketch. 

Michael Ramirez warned me about this. The Mainstream Media would go to incredible extremes to paint Cruz as an out-of-touch extremist. Fortunately, the Republican Party has Donald Trump sucking up all the hate.

But he’s got a ways to go. Did you know he went to Harvard Law? Well, like any other Harvard Law grad, if you listen to him for 30 seconds, you will. You can have a Harvard Law grad doing a closing argument on the most insignificant rear-ender whiplash case and it’ll go something like, “And the evidence shows that Mr. Smith’s car went through the red light, a red light not unlike the one just outside Harvard Law School, which I attended.”

Yes, I know Ted Cruz went to Harvard. The illiberal influence of higher ed did not have a negative influence on him. It probably enhanced his conservatism and his consistency to principles. While attending UC Irvine, I came out of college more conservative because I actually read the books and the arguments from my left-wing professors, and noticed how nothing they suggested ever added up.

Then Schlichter identifies his strengths as a liability:

Cruz is brilliant, and the problem is that he talks at people like he’s a brilliant guy. Not “with.” “At.” 

Frankly, he never talks down to people. His brilliance makes me feel smart. That's a good thing! I want someone who fights, and I want someone who will interrupt others who are lying through their teeth, thank you very much!

The Manhattan Beach conservative also claims that Cruz is a Rand Paul isolationist. Answer: "The day you join ISIS, you have signed your death warrant". Cruz' answer, not mine.

Further criticisms suggest that Cruz has painted himself as so conservative, that he could never win the general election, because he could never win over independents and Democrats.

Yahoo's Andrew Romano suggests that Democratic operatives' wishing for a Clinton v. Cruz battle royale will be dumb-founded then disappointed:

To be sure, Cruz is still a long way from winning the Republican nomination. He’s never run a competitive general-election race. (A single statewide contest in deep-red Texas against a sacrificial lamb of a Democrat doesn’t count.) And he’s been losing to Clinton in pretty much every head-to-head poll released since the summer of 2014.

Yet to assume that Cruz has already boxed himself in — that he is not cunning enough to pivot to general-election mode — is to ignore his entire history as a debater, lawyer, and senator and to gravely underestimate a strategic thinker who, as I demonstrated in a recent profile, is easily the most calculating figure in contemporary American politics.

He know how to frame arguments. He has refuted the bluster of brash nominees. He can balance a phrase yet stay true to principle. Abraham Lincoln engaged in smooth debates during his bid for the US Senate in 1858, his election win in 1860, and then finally his measures to end slavery toward the end of his first term in office.

Lincoln was a statesman, but he understood the necessity to be an effective politician. Cruz understands and enacts these necessary principles. too.

Romano depicts this crucial, tactical certainty about Cruz:

Yet like any effective lawyer or politician, Cruz has no problem shifting his emphasis when necessary. Today, he seems to place more emphasis on polarizing cultural issues such as guns and gay marriage than he did earlier in life.

Emphasis has led more people to emphasize him not only as a serious contender, but a likely nominee for the Republican Party. 

How about with Hispanics? Cruz earned 40% of the Hispanic vote in Texas in 2012, a higher turnout year. IJReview believes that a respectable message focusing on jobs and education will resonate and reward Cruz with a higher turnout in 2016, too.

The more people learn about Cruz, and not from the Mainstream Media, the more people will likely choose Cruz, too.