Other likely candidates have set up their exploratory committees. Ted Cruz, in somewhat typical fashion, isn't bothering with such a silly tease of a first step. Everyone knows he's running, so why not just get right to it? The announcement will come today at Liberty University:
Cruz, 44, will be the first candidate to formally throw his hat in the ring for what's expected to be a crowded GOP primary, with more than a dozen high-profile Republicans expressing serious interest in a White House run.
The Chronicle reports that Cruz will go straight to announcing his candidacy without first forming an exploratory committee, according to advisers with direct knowledge of his plans.
Cruz, armed with his trademark ostrich boots and impressive oratory skills, has quickly made a name for himself in the past two years since he started in the Senate, solidifying his brand as a conservative firebrand willing to take on establishment Republicans in Washington.
A constant and vocal critic of the Obama administration, he's perhaps best known for his stalwart fight against Obamacare in 2013, which led to a tense standoff between Democrats and Republicans and ultimately resulted in a 17-day government shutdown. The showdown was punctuated by Cruz's 21-hour speech on the Senate floor.
If your sole criterion is wanting to see "true conservative" bona fides, I can't imagine you'll have any problems with Cruz. So let me ask some other questions:
Are you one of those who thinks it should have been obvious that Obama - who had only served four years of his first Senate term, and had never managed anything - would be in over his head as president? If so, well then . . .
If you consider it to Cruz's credit that he reportedly hasn't made many friends in the Senate - since they're all establishment sellouts and he's the truly principled one - how do you think that augurs for President Cruz in his future dealings with Congress?
What is the big policy idea you could associate with Cruz? I'm not saying there isn't one, but I don't know what it is. Do you?
By the way, I'm a Cruz fan. Very much so. Few things chaffe me more than the conventional wisdom that Cruz "wanted to shut the government down" over ObamaCare. He wanted no such thing. He wanted the Republicans to show some spine in negotiations with Obama. If Obama's willing to see the government shut down rather than give an inch because he knows the media will blame Republicans for it, that's on him and not on Cruz.
If you want to be upset with someone for the way that turned out, point the finger at Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, who were (and still are) too afraid of the media to really use the leverage they have in the form of their congressional majorities.
I love Cruz's style. I love how he fights. I love how he doesn't let his cowardly colleagues get away with shrinking from the fights they should have.
But president is a whole other level. I want him to show me he's ready for it. I'm willing to be convinced. But I'm not yet. And showing me how much of a "true conservative" he is will not be enough.
