Ted Cruz presidential race 2016: Whose worst nightmare?
Fiery Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas is thinking about running for president in 2016, according to a . The freshman lawmaker may have been in office only four months, but he has risen quickly to national prominence, and some conservative leaders are privately pushing him to run, reports NR鈥檚 Robert Costa.
鈥淭here鈥檚 not a lot of hesitation there,鈥� says one Cruz donor quoted by Mr. Costa. 鈥淗e鈥檚 fearless鈥�.
Wow 鈥� a Cruz run would shake up the race, wouldn鈥檛 it? If nothing else a Cruz candidacy would provide the media with lots of spicy stories. This is a guy who鈥檚 irritated longtime Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California with what she took to be condescending remarks, charged that Pentagon chief Chuck Hagel may have taken money from foreign governments, and recently called some of his Republican colleagues 鈥渟quishes鈥� in remarks to a Texas tea party gathering.
The latter led conservative Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin to label Senator Cruz as immature and unsophisticated about the governance of the nation.
鈥淭here is being principled, and then there is being a jerk,鈥� Ms. Rubin wrote this week.
Of course, Cruz supporters might label Rubin, a committed supporter of Mitt Romney鈥檚 presidential bid, as an accommodator who鈥檚 hurting the party from within. Clearly a Cruz candidacy would be somebody鈥檚 worst political nightmare. The question is whose. We鈥檒l look at three scenarios:
Democrats'
His supporters say Cruz would be the scourge of the Democrats, a Barry Goldwater truth-teller who鈥檇 actually draw votes. In their view, the GOP has been captured by establishment big-government types who aren鈥檛 interested in shrinking federal spending or reducing Washington鈥檚 influence.
Cruz and fellow tea party favorites Sens. Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky are a Republican solution, not a problem, writes conservative pundit Erick Erickson at RedState today. If it was not for them, in Mr. Erickson鈥檚 view, the recently defeated Senate gun control bill would have become law.
鈥淭hose on the right who attack and assail them for daring to fight for their beliefs while in the Gomorrah that is our nation鈥檚 capital are the problem,鈥� .
Other Republicans'
See above. The rest of the GOP might groan if Cruz entered the race. He鈥檇 certainly be a foil for Chris Christie 鈥� can鈥檛 you already see them shouting at each other over whether the New Jersey governor should have praised President Obama鈥檚 efforts in the wake of superstorm Sandy? And Cruz would compete with Rand Paul, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, and probably others for the role of chief conservative contender. Immigration, an issue on which Cruz is to the right of Rubio, would become even more important.
鈥淗ow excited do you think establishment Republicans will be after all the post-2012 wooing of Latino voters to see the primaries turn into a referendum on whether the party betrayed conservatism by supporting a path to citizenship?鈥� writes Allapundit today on the conservative site Hot Air!.
His own
It鈥檚 also possible that Cruz could be the Rick Perry of 2016 鈥� a candidate who crashes and burns due to his own words. And we don鈥檛 just mean calling lawmakers 鈥渟quishes.鈥� Cruz鈥檚 unsubstantiated charges against then-Senator Hagel drew an angry response from GOP Sen. John McCain, even though Senator McCain opposed Hagel鈥檚 Pentagon nomination as well.
And Cruz in the past has embraced lots of 鈥渃onspiracy theories鈥� that now may come back to haunt him, at the liberal site Think Progress. According to Millhiser, these include charges that communists have infiltrated Harvard Law School (which Cruz attended), that Islamic law threatens the US, and that George Soros has led an international conspiracy to abolish golf.
鈥淚f Cruz runs, he would give voice to the conspiracy-minded John Birch Society wing of the Republican Party that the National Review鈥檚 founder [William F. Buckley Jr.] fought so hard to purge several decades ago,鈥� writes Millhiser.
