Ted Cruz: Waking Up the Left

I have predicted for some time that Ted Cruz would eventually surge, and he has a good chance of becoming the Republican nominee.

Cruz’s advantage is that he has conviction, yes I would say the conviction of Ronald Reagan.

Rand Paul has conviction, but he lacks the ability to deliver that conviction in a way that resonates. Ben Carson has conviction, but he is often misunderstood, and some would say not forceful enough in delivering his messages. One might argue that Donald Trump has conviction; however, his record is pretty clear that he is in a constant state of modification around social issues.

As for the other Republican candidates, they would all be better than Hillary Clinton. But that’s a low bar. And when you hear them speak, it’s easy for the astute to see that their content is mostly about appeasing an audience, searching for the right responses. This is why Cruz, I believe, will beat them all.

Over the election cycle, Cruz has always been in the middle of the pack. I described him to many as a “slow burning fuse,” because when you see him, he doesn’t hit home runs, but he never strikes out. For the most part, he hits singles and doubles. But now Cruz is starting to hit doubles and triples, and he’s moving up in the line up.

I’m not the only one to notice this, as Politico has finally noticed as well:

The press and the political class are beginning to catch on to Cruz’s strength and there has been more talk of a prospective Cruz-Rubio race over the past two weeks, but his coverage and his buzz have been lagging indicators — and they are still lagging.

The Atlantic tracks candidate mentions on cable TV. Over the past 100 days, Cruz ranks ninth among all presidential candidates from both parties, well behind Chris Christie and just above Kasich. Christie may begin to get some traction, but was relegated to the undercard debate in Milwaukee and is looking to throw a Hail Mary in New Hampshire. Kasich wants to complete the same unlikely pass in the same place.

Maybe the mentions of Cruz have picked up lately? No. Over about the past 30 days, he’s still ninth, just ahead of that juggernaut Martin O’Malley.

Well, Cruz is still pretty low in the polls, and coverage tends to follow the polling. Maybe that’s it? No. A Washington Post analysis specifically looked at the amount of cable TV coverage devoted to each candidate compared with his or her position in the polls. It found that Cruz got 60 percent less coverage than you’d otherwise expect from July through October.

From October to November, as the seriousness of his campaign has become even more evident, the disparity has gotten worse. According to the Post, “He’s on the air 70 percent less than his polling would suggest, even as he’s climbed past [Jeb] Bush and into fourth place in the race.”

The gist of what the writer is saying is that despite the lack of media attention, Ted Cruz continues to defy the odds. Knowing the media the way I do, I can tell you that their ignoring Cruz is not by accident. Ignore the “problem” and it will eventually go away. Or not.

In this case, for the Left, the Cruz problem has metastasized, and it will become full blown cancer for them. Cruz has been cruising up to this point, pardon the pun. But he’s about to hit stride. And his message resonates on both sides. I noted that when Cruz ended his comments during the debate, he always ends up pointing the finger at a Liberal sacred cow, e.g. unions, crony capitalism, and so on. I think this ability to close the argument in a way that makes left-leaning centrists take note is “Reaganesque,” and the very reason Cruz is the Left’s worst nightmare.

 

 

Copy */
Back to top button