Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took a shot at former Gov. Jeb Bush’s (R) prospects of clinching the 2016 Republican nomination for president on Thursday by wondering (rhetorically) if Bush could win any of the three crucial early primary states —New Hampshire, South Carolina, or Iowa.
“If you look historically since World War II no one has ever won the nomination without winning at least one of those first three,” Cruz said Thursday afternoon in an interview with Neil Cavuto on Fox News. “That has certainly been history. I think it’s an interesting challenge for a number of other of these candidates. You look at —the media describes Jeb Bush, for example, as the frontrunner. It becomes an interesting question when you ask, which of those states does he win?”
Bush hasn’t yet announced his candidacy for president (but he’s picked a date for it) but already there have been questions about whether he could compete in Iowa. In January Bush hired David Kochel, a former top adviser to Mitt Romney with deep ties to Iowa, to serve as campaign manager for an eventual run. The move was seen as Bush laying the groundwork for an aggressive push to win Iowa. But in mid-May Bush decided to skip the Iowa Straw Poll, sparking outrage from the the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party.
A Quinnipiac poll released just before Bush decision to skip the marquee Iowa event showed the former Florida governor lagging behind the rest of the field in Iowa.
National Journal also recently reported that Bush was aiming to compete heavily in New Hampshire and try and win that early primary state in lieu of avoiding the Iowa caucus. Polling has shown Bush to be much more formidable there. In South Carolina, Bush has polled closely with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) at the head of the pack.
Cruz, by contrast, polls on average near the head of the pack in Iowa, in the middle in South Carolina, and actually near the head of the pack in New Hampshire, right behind Bush.
But Cruz suggested he’s far more competitive than Bush across the nation.
“We are competing nationwide. We’re putting together a team on the ground, a grassroots team nationwide,” Cruz said.
He might actually be on to something there. This could be a GOP nominating contest where no one candidate wins more than 1 of the early primaries. Nevada was not discussed in this article. Not sure what the polling looks like there yet. IA Caucus is on 2/2,NH on 2/9,SC on 2/20 and the NV Caucus on 2/23. After that is Super Tuesday on 3/1 with these states:
Alabama
Arkansas
Colorado caucuses
Georgia
Massachusetts
Minnesota caucuses
North Carolina
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Texas
Vermont
Virginia
Florida is not an early state in 2016.
Clearly Ted you need another endorsement to pull even with the Smarter Bush Brother (SBB). I understand the Duggar family is available…
Message to Ted which he should share with the other four senators who are running. In the modern era, only two senators have been elected president, and both were singular figures; JFK and Barack Obama. None of today’s batch is nowhere near that special.
Then I hear all the conservative media exclaiming how intelligent Cruz is! He may be well-schooled, but he’s far from intelligent!
Cruz is correct, of course.
The GOP nomination depends on securing one of the big three crucial prizes up front: Charles, David, or Sheldon.