Cruzin'

[billhammond]

Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz will become the first major candidate for president when he launches his campaign Monday, kicking off what's expected to be a rush over the next few weeks of more than a dozen White House hopefuls into the 2016 campaign.

Cruz will formally get into the race during a morning speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, choosing to begin his campaign at the Christian college founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell rather than his home state of Texas or the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. It's a fitting setting for Cruz, a 44-year-old tea party darling whose entry into the 2016 campaign drew cheers Sunday among fellow conservatives.

"The official Republican pool of candidates will take a quantum leap forward with his announcement tomorrow," said Amy Kremer, the former head of the Tea Party Express. Cruz's announcement, she said, "will excite the base in a way we haven't seen in years."

Elected for the first time just three years ago, when he defeated an establishment figure in Texas politics with decades of experience in office, Cruz has hinted openly for more than a year that he wants to move down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Senate and into the White House. His plans were confirmed Sunday by one of his political strategists, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so as not to preclude the announcement.

While Cruz is the first Republican to declare his candidacy, he is all but certain to be followed by several big names in the GOP, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and two Senate colleagues, Kentucky's Rand Paul and Florida's Marco Rubio.

The Houston Chronicle first reported details about Cruz's campaign launch. His move puts him into pole position among those whose strategy to win the nomination counts on courting the party's most conservative voters, who hold an outsized influence in the Republican nominating process.

"Cruz is going to make it tough for all of the candidates who are fighting to emerge as the champion of the anti-establishment wing of the party," said GOP strategist Kevin Madden. "That is starting to look like quite a scrum where lots of candidates will be throwing some sharp elbows."

Following his election to the Senate in 2012, the former Texas solicitor general quickly established himself as an uncompromising conservative willing to take on Democrats and Republicans alike. He won praise from tea party activists in 2013 for leading the GOP's push to partially shut the federal government during an unsuccessful bid to block money for President Barack Obama's health care law.

In December, Cruz defied party leaders to force a vote on opposing Obama's executive actions on immigration. The strategy failed, and led several of his Republican colleagues to call Cruz out. "You should have an end goal in sight if you're going to do these types of things and I don't see an end goal other than irritating a lot of people," said Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch.

Such admonitions mean little to Cruz, who wins over crowds of like-minded conservative voters with his broadsides against Obama, Congress and the federal government. One of the nation's top college debaters while a student at Princeton University, Cruz continues to be a leading voice for the health law's repeal, and promises to abolish the Internal Revenue Service and scrap the Department of Education if elected president.

Last weekend in New Hampshire, one voter gave Cruz a blank check and told him to write it for whatever amount he needed.

"He's awfully good at making promises that he knows the GOP can't keep and pushing for unachievable goals, but he seems very popular with right wing," said veteran Republican strategist John Feehery. "Cruz is a lot smarter than the typical darling of the right, and that makes him more dangerous to guys like Scott Walker and Rand Paul."

The son of an American mother and Cuban-born father, Cruz would be the nation's first Hispanic president. While in New Hampshire this month, Cruz told voters his daughter, Caroline, had given him permission to join the presidential race in the hopes that the family puppy would get to play on the White House lawn instead of near their Houston high-rise condo.

"If you win, that means Snowflake will finally get a backyard to pee in," Cruz said his daughter told him.

To get there, Cruz knows he needs to reach out beyond his base. He is set to release a book this summer that he said would reflect themes of his White House campaign, and said in a recent Associated Press interview he will use it to counter the "caricatures" of the right as "stupid," ''evil" or "crazy."

"The image created in the mainstream media does not comply with the facts," he said.

[Dub]

Woo hoo! Maybe they'll draft Joni Ernst for veep.

[brucemacneill]

Mar 22, 2015 17:14:21 GMT -5 Dub said:

Woo hoo! Maybe they'll draft Joni Ernst for veep.

I doubt that but a Walker/Cruz ticket looks possible. Walker has the experience at management so I figure Cruz as the VP.

[factorychef]

She will be carrying her gun in the White House.

[theevan]

If you're going to Cruze, you need a street rod...

[Village Idiot]

Mar 22, 2015 18:00:12 GMT -5 factorychef said:

She will be carrying her gun in the White House.

And wearing bread bags on her feet.

[Village Idiot]

Mar 22, 2015 17:14:21 GMT -5 Dub said:

Woo hoo! Maybe they'll draft Joni Ernst for veep.

Joni has Iowa values. I hope those don't clash with Texas values.

Seriously, though, the guy is wasting his time. I'm not saying this a a dem or a rep; both sides are looking for something else this round.

[Tamarack]

So if we elect Cruz, and he abolishes the IRS, does that mean we won't have to pay taxes anymore?

[Village Idiot]

No, we won't. Which won't matter, as we won't be funding pubic education.

[Deleted]

Someone made a website.

www.tedcruz.com/

[millring]

Mar 22, 2015 21:52:17 GMT -5 Village Idiot said:

No, we won't. Which won't matter, as we won't be funding pubic education.

Yes we will.

[millring]

Mar 22, 2015 21:25:06 GMT -5 Tamarack said:

So if we elect Cruz, and he abolishes the IRS, does that mean we won't have to pay taxes anymore?

No, if we were to be able to abolish the IRS, it would be in favor of a more streamlined tax system that doesn't require a bureaucracy that itself costs $431,000,000,000.

I'm guessing that if the tax code doesn't get modified, neither will the IRS.

But what a strange political world we live in to be praising the IRS while ridiculing its critics.

[fauxmaha]

We've learned how useful the IRS can be.

[drlj]

Iris, not Irs. Can't you guys even spell flowers?

It will be interesting to see the clown car fill up with candidates for the next election.

[theevan]

Mah, mah, wutEVAH would we do down heah with no Ah-aruh-ess?

[Deleted]

We've had a Kenyan, why not a Canadian? Anything but a Cheesehead. They're scary.

[PaulKay]

Mar 22, 2015 21:24:11 GMT -5 Village Idiot said:

Mar 22, 2015 17:14:21 GMT -5 Dub said:

Woo hoo! Maybe they'll draft Joni Ernst for veep.

Joni has Iowa values. I hope those don't clash with Texas values.

Seriously, though, the guy is wasting his time. I'm not saying this a a dem or a rep; both sides are looking for something else this round.

I agree. In fact Walker, Cruz, Rand Paul and Christie are wasting their time as far as I'm concerned. But I guess if we want to assure a Dem wins the White House again, any of these would make sure that happens.

[Marshall]

Mar 23, 2015 7:21:00 GMT -5 drlj said:

Iris, not Irs. Can't you guys even spell flowers?

It will be interesting to see the clown car fill up with candidates for the next election.

(GOP has the best clown cars)

[Lonnie]

I expect to see the term cruz-control bandied about a lot in the coming months.

[millring]

Mar 23, 2015 8:36:26 GMT -5 PaulKay said:

Mar 22, 2015 21:24:11 GMT -5 Village Idiot said:

Joni has Iowa values. I hope those don't clash with Texas values.

Seriously, though, the guy is wasting his time. I'm not saying this a a dem or a rep; both sides are looking for something else this round.

I agree. In fact Walker, Cruz, Rand Paul and Christie are wasting their time as far as I'm concerned. But I guess if we want to assure a Dem wins the White House again, any of these would make sure that happens.

I agree that they're wasting their time. But running another Democrat as a Republican won't fare any better. That has been proven three times in the past twenty-five years. For instance, though you assert the proposition that a Republican should run on the Democratic platform, you wouldn't vote for him anyway, right? And why would you? There's already going to be one Democrat in the race. Your "choice" is already available.