Ted Cruz has studiously avoided conflict with the combative frontrunner Donald Trump. When Trump proposed a ban on all Muslim immigration, Cruz would only go so far as to say he disagreed with the plan, prompting scorn from Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina.
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Though Cruz and Trump have not attacked each other, it’s obvious that they have criticisms in the drawer and prepared for use.
“I’m leading big in New Hampshire”. “While other candidates in this race have gone out of their way to throw rocks at him, to insult him, I have consistently declined to do so and I have no intention of changing that now”.
Trump took a new approach at the event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, standing on a riser in the center of supporters, and speaking without a lectern. In a Monmouth poll out this week almost 1-in-5 likely caucus-goers said the congressman’s recent endorsement of Cruz makes them more likely to support the Texas senator. This summer, Trump raised questions about Cruz’s Canadian birth and whether he was constitutionally eligible to be president.
But then Cruz went beyond mere election platitudes-when he quickly listed exactly why he though both Trump and Carson were uniquely unqualified to be President. A member of the Republican Party of Iowa State Central Committee who had pledged to stay neutral, Loras Schulte, was so moved by Cruz that he resigned from his seat and endorsed for the first time in 16 years.
If it seems like I’m talking a lot about Ted Cruz and Iowa these days, it’s because I am.
Both stand to lose more than they would gain from attacking one another, as they appeal to numerous same sorts of voters, especially in Iowa where Cruz has been surging.
Mikesell and his wife Doris caught Trump’s speech in Newton, IA last month and enjoyed the Dominos pizza served afterwards courtesy of the campaign.
Do you support Ted Cruz?
Cruz also mocks the media trying to get him to rip on Trump and Carson in public. “I’ll only bring it up if he’s a final two”, said Trump. Twenty-nine percent of Republicans, who will pick the party’s nominee for the November 2016 election, said they found Trump’s remarks offensive against 64 percent who did not.
“Donald Trump says he might make a third-party run if he is mistreated by the party, but Donald Trump has severely mistreated the Republican Party with his outlandish and over-the-top statements against Hispanics, women and now against religion in terms of Muslims”, said Ron Bonjean, a GOP consultant and former aide to House and Senate Republican leaders.
If they can give up three hours on a Saturday afternoon [to attend a Trump rally], I think we can get them to give up 45 minutes on a Monday night [to caucus].
On Friday, it looked as though a New York Times story recounting a meeting between Cruz and his donors might have provided Trump with the Tonkin Gulf incident he needs to launch the Trump-Cruz war.
Cruz has been careful not to criticize Trump because he sees Trump supporters as looking to him as an alternative.
Bill O’Sullivan, treasurer of the Texas Patriot PAC, which supports conservative candidates and causes, told VOA that while Trump rules the media, Cruz is building a strong organization in Iowa.
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“At the end of the day, we truly believe that Ted Cruz is the most consistent and principled conservative who has the ability to not only win Iowa but I believe to win the [Republican] nomination”, Vander Plaatstold the Des Moines Register in an interview published Thursday, the same day he was scheduled to announce the endorsement at the Iowa Capitol. I won’t say Cruz because he’s been nice to me. Because making the equivalent argument about Trump that Cruz made about the ACA would mean arguing that tolerating Trump is a betrayal of deeply held conservative beliefs.
