Cruz is All About That Base
Even Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, our most conservative presidents in modern times, left room for themselves to tack back toward the middle after their nominations to appeal to moderate swing voters. Instead of reaching out toward the political middle, Cruz is digging in with the far-right.
To compete with the well-funded business and country-club establishment that boosted John McCain and Mitt Romney, and that now favors pragmatists like Bush or Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Cruz appears to be turning to the populist foot soldiers of the tea party and religious right who will turn out to knock on doors, work telephones and raise millions through lots of small donations.
Yet, despite all the hoopla that has been raised by Cruz's announcement, it has an aroma of desperation about it. His polling numbers have slumped and resentments are rising among many of his fellow Republicans about his grandstanding.
A Quinnipiac University poll in late February of likely Iowa Republican caucus participants put Walker ahead of the pack with 25 percent, twice as high as his nearest rival, Rand Paul, who had 13 percent support.
Close on Paul's heels was physician Ben Carson and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee with 11 percent each, and Bush with 10 percent.
Only 5 percent of respondents favored Cruz.
Cruz's popularity may have peaked during his 2013 filibuster and revolt against the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, more widely known as Obamacare. He boasts about his bold stands but is much less eager to bring up how little his grandstanding accomplished, except a 16-day government shutdown.
With that in mind, Cruz's rivals already are murmuring that a vote for Cruz is a vote for Hillary Clinton. For GOP voters who miss having one of their own in the White House, an old question returns: Do you want to make a point or elect a president?
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E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@tribune.com.)
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