Can Ted Cruz actually win the White House

The Washington Post is reporting that ‘inside‘ sources close to the fire-breathing Junior Texas Senator will in fact announce an out-right campaign for the Presidency Monday at Liberty University.

There is now little doubt that the Republican Party is setting the stage for a massive “clash-of-the-political-titans” in the upcoming primary season.

Liberty University (Primarily a Christian Based Seminary) founded by Jerry Falwell (former televangelist) and principle of the once political powerhouse group “Christian Coalition” is the site that Ted Cruz has chosen for his announcement. I’m not quite sure ‘why‘ he has chosen this site to announce a bid for the highest office in the land, but he has. Usually Presidential Candidates choose a more emotional spot for their very personal choice to jump into the shark infested waters of a presidential campaign. Something along the lines of their child-hood home, their own State Capitol Steps or something of that nature. “How Liberty University landed this whale of a news story” is curious to say the least.

Cruz has stated that the “grassroots” support he has been receiving is one of his principle reasons he has chosen to toss his Texas Sombrero into the presidential political circus campaign. His entry now should change the landscape of this race in a very large way. This candidacy also causes some very serious questions for political junkies such as myself.

The political certainties of a presidential campaign are this. Between “registered” and “those that support and love” the Tea Party, there are some 40-50 million voters that fit this criteria nationwide. While this group (including 912, Pro-Life, Pro-Gun etc. anything regarded as hyper-conservative) is certainly a very large voting bloc, there are not enough of them (or us) to actually win a general election against the appointed Democrat (in this case most likely Hillary). With this said; the question now becomes, ‘can Ted Cruz reach the more moderate middle’ to actually win?

Keep in mind that the now infamous reading of “Green Eggs and Ham” to his daughters on the floor of the United States Senate still lingers in the minds of many. While many of us on the right loved his hard stand against Obama-Care back in September of 2013, many in the middle and the left found it to be nothing short of political nativity and juvenile. The reality was that (at that time) Harry Reid was not backing off of funding Obama-Care and all Cruz did was to shut down the Senate with his filibustering stunt.

Senator Cruz’s entry does bring about some very interesting questions. Keep in mind that it was the Tea Parties in Texas that launched Cruz to political stardom. The political reality is that it takes train loads of money (cash, pesos, dollars, gold bullion and IOU’s) to run for President. Jeb Bush has already had Karl Rove swoop in and grab up the Northeast establishment cash (estimates are currently in excess of $100M) and I am pretty sure that former Governor Rick Perry has pilfered the coffers of much of the Texas oil money.

With other Tea Party favorites (Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum) already splashing about in the “donation pool”, this does bring about a hard question. “Can the Texas Tornado raise enough to make a viable campaign happen“?

HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO;

Cruz manages to get past the primary season with a win. The first problem comes; “will the GOP establishment” go along with the “peoples” choice of the nominee or will they seize control of the convention and force a Jeb Bush nomination because of Cruz’s birth issues? This is a very real issue because even the “Tea Party Constitutional Purest” are questioning whether he can legitimately be President.

Now for the second problem. Let us assume for a moment that Cruz blows past all of the above landmines and actually wins the general election against Hillary. Hillary (and we know what she is like) will no doubt file lawsuits against Cruz’s legitimacy as being Constitutionally legal to be President. This creates an actual “Constitutional Crises” for America. Do we have a President that is even legal? I know what you’re thinking; well heck Ken, we have not a legal one for over 6 years now!

This is different because Obama claimed to be born in America and the media and records (even though they were forged) backed him up. The other issue with that was the McCain was unwilling to challenge him in court. Hillary will not be so polite, particularly because it is widely known that Senator Cruz was actually born in Alberta. This would no doubt cause a legal suite that would end up in the Supreme Court. Then what happens?

If the court ruled that Cruz could not be President, do we have another election? Does Hillary become President because she was 2nd in the vote count? Can you see the can of worms this opens up if Senator Cruz does manage to dodge all those mines and become victorious in his bid?

I honestly believe these are questions that are no doubt going to crop up on the campaign trail.

ONE MORE ISSUE;

Will this announcement cause some of the other possible Tea Party candidates such as Governor Huckabee to rethink? What about Santorum? There is no question that Scott Walker is going to run, in fact he is already largely staffed in Iowa now. Then we have the 2 ton elephant in the room that nobody is talking about, Mr. Donald Trump’s campaign. Oh yes; he is running and in a very large way. He has already hired Chuck Laudner (Chuck is highly respected and knows the state inside and out) in Iowa who is now “staffing up” for the campaign to come. Trump has made repeated stops and given stem winding speeches in Iowa that were actually well received. And what about Dr. Ben Carson who has offices open in Des Moines? Yes America; this is truly a “Clash of Political Titans” and it’s going to get politically bloody.

The other issue for all of the Tea Party candidates (I know, I touched on this earlier) is money. Trump without question will not face economic issues as will the other candidates. The other plus Trump has in his favor is 100% name identification. None of the other candidates can claim this award which is a very large issue if you’re running for President.

There is no question that tomorrow morning Senator Ted Cruz is throwing a hand-grenade into the tent of the Republican Party. He will no doubt create, drive and cause much stress for the “mushy middle” folks like Bush, Christie and Fiorina.

One thing is for certain; the Democrats are now without question cringing as badly as the Republicans over the Cruz announcement. Remember all those “Illegal Aliens” from Mexico who the Dem’s have been signing up for the last several years? Think of it this way. If you’re a Hispanic fellow from West Texas or Arizona, who is more appealing to you? A smiling young Hispanic fellow speaking Spanish on the campaign trail or a shrieking old woman with a bad attitude who spews lie after lie about her compassion for you?

Oh the irony is rich and as I have said before; “This is gonna be fun America“!