Top conservatives meet at secret dinner to discuss Cruz's future

Source: The Hill | June 15, 2016 | Jonathan Swan

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) attended a confidential dinner with more than 20 top conservatives on Tuesday night to plan his comeback as a movement leader in the mold of Ronald Reagan.

The dinner was at the Virginia home of conservative activist Brent Bozell, and the agenda was to plot Cruz’s future and the future of the conservative movement. 

The undertone of the dinner was about how to position Cruz for a future tilt at the presidency and to spearhead the conservative movement from his seat in the Senate, those in attendance said.

Dining with Cruz and his chief of staff, Paul Teller, were some of the most powerful figures in the conservative movement. 

The spectrum of economic, national security and social conservatives seated at the table included Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, Club for Growth President David McIntosh, direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie, National Rifle Association board member and former Cincinnati Mayor Ken Blackwell, and Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser, sources confirmed. 

According to those in attendance, the leaders discussed how they could work more effectively together and how to harness their vast financial and human networks in the service of conservative principles and Cruz’s career.

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Many of the leaders at the dinner want Cruz to run for president again, and they are viewing Cruz’s unsuccessful 2016 run as similar to Reagan’s failed attempt in 1976 to unseat the incumbent Republican president, Gerald Ford. 

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Contacted late Wednesday, Bozell said he wouldn’t reveal off-the-record conversations but stressed the dinner “was not about what Ted Cruz was going to do with Donald Trump.” 

“There was just discussion of the future of the movement and the future of Ted Cruz as the leader of the movement,” Bozell told The Hill. 

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“I wanted to keep the focus on the future of the movement and Ted Cruz.” 

Bozell said he derived “a feeling of enthusiasm for [Cruz] going forward.” 

“He was with kindred spirits, and I would say most people in that room see him as the leader of the conservative movement.” 

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McIntosh — who as leader of the conservative group Club for Growth authorized millions of dollars in primary campaign spending in a failed attempt to stop Trump — said his group is now focused on keeping Republican control of the House and Senate and ensuring a solid future for the conservative movement. 

He said he personally views Cruz as an important figure in the future of the movement, no matter what happens in November with Trump. 

“I think [Cruz] earned the position of being the leader of the conservative movement in terms of an elected official,” McIntosh told The Hill on Wednesday. 

“Talking to him … I think he’s thinking about how to do that and ready to step into that leadership role,” he added, saying he wouldn’t get into private conversations had at the dinner. 

“I’m a huge Ronald Reagan fan so the analogy I used with Ted is, ‘You’re Ronald Reagan in 1977 and you’ve got a choice: Are you going to take on the leadership of the movement?’ ” 

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Cruz was Blackwell’s choice for president and said the Texan “would’ve been the first Reaganite that the Republican Party has nominated for president since Ronald Reagan.” 

“I am very high on Sen. Cruz, and I know that there are millions of other people committed to conservative principles that share my view. 

“If he ran for president in 2020 he would still be in his 40s,” Blackwell added. 

Bozell said he didn’t want the story about his dinner to suggest that electoral politics were the focus of the discussion; but he couldn’t help adding a note about just that. 

“We didn’t look at the political, again on purpose. We wanted to look at the future of the movement from the standpoint of ideas,” he said. 

Bozell paused. 

“Although, clearly I would say most people in that room would like to see him run for president again.”

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