What an incredible, amazing, wonderful night for Ted Cruz!
In less than two years, he managed to go from "Ted Who?" and polling in the low single digits, to winning the Republican primary for the Texas Senate by a decisive margin, earning the support of conservative activists across the country along the way.
During his victory speech last night, Cruz made reference to the fact that he only received 2% of the vote at the first poll that was taken in his race, providing yet another parallel with Marco Rubio's Senate race in Florida. Both Rubio and Cruz are attorneys with Cuban heritage, strong conservatives, and Rubio initially had a weak showing in the first public polls that were taken in his race.
Most crucially, Cruz shares not just a common heritage and some professional credentials with Rubio: he also carries the same conservative beliefs deep in his heart. Ted Cruz will be the exact kind of conservative reinforcements we need to send to D.C. to join Marco Rubio and Jim DeMint.
During his victory speech last night, Cruz made reference to the fact that he only received 2% of the vote at the first poll that was taken in his race, providing yet another parallel with Marco Rubio's Senate race in Florida. Both Rubio and Cruz are attorneys with Cuban heritage, strong conservatives, and Rubio initially had a weak showing in the first public polls that were taken in his race.
Most crucially, Cruz shares not just a common heritage and some professional credentials with Rubio: he also carries the same conservative beliefs deep in his heart. Ted Cruz will be the exact kind of conservative reinforcements we need to send to D.C. to join Marco Rubio and Jim DeMint.
Politico posted an article yesterday about how the Cruz campaign was very effective in their use of new media and relationships with bloggers. As one of those bloggers, I agree with Politico's assessment of the campaign.
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| With Ted Cruz at CPAC 2011 |
I've had the pleasure of seeing Cruz again at several other conservative gatherings, including last year's RedState Gathering, as well as CPAC this year, where he characterized his race as "ground zero between the tea party and the establishment."
The tea party is dead. The tea party is dead. The tea party is dead. Keep saying it until November.
— Francisco Gonzalez (@fgonzalez1978) August 1, 2012
Another fun little note: after the results were official, Texas Governor Rick Perry, who had endorsed Cruz's opponent, his lieutenant governor David Dewhurst, posted a tweet congratulating Cruz on his victory:
Congrats to Ted Cruz and his organization. That was an amazing race!#strongerthangarlicGod Bless Texas!
— Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) August 1, 2012
"Congrats" is definitely appropriate, and it certainly was an amazing race, but Perry's comment about Cruz being "stronger than garlic" cracked me up. I did a little searching online and apparently this is slang commonly used in Texas. Perry himself used it in an newspaper interview in February 2008, and before that, in May 2000, when he was lieutenant governor, Perry used the phrase to describe the technology sector in Texas at the time.
I'm still not 100% sure I completely understand the phrase, but last night was a great, great night for conservatives, so here's to having lots of garlic in 2012!
In case you missed seeing them before, here are two of my interviews with Cruz:
the Establishment should be shaking in their boots right now! WE THE PEOPLE are in charge this election, and we won't settle for anything less than the best!
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