Cruz takes the fight to Trump in New Hampshire

Source: Politico | 02/02/16 | Kyle Cheney

The real estate mogul has a hefty lead in the first-in-the-nation primary state, but Cruz has the momentum.

WINDHAM, N.H. — Ted Cruz, fresh off a win in the first presidential nominating contest, stormed into this suburban community with a plea to New Hampshire voters: do for me what you did for Ronald Reagan.

“What we saw last night was we saw that old Reagan coalition coming back together,” he said to a packed crowd at the Crossing Life Church here just hours after riding massive turnout to a convincing win in Monday’s Iowa caucuses. “We saw conservatives and evangelicals and Reagan Democrats standing together and saying, ‘What on Earth are we doing?’”

The firebrand Texas senator, reviled by colleagues on Capitol Hill but beloved by a restive conservative base furious with Washington, has never been a natural fit in this moderate-tinged New England state. But he’s hoping to take a Texas-sized bite out of Donald Trump’s seemingly insurmountable lead in New Hampshire, even as the New York mogul has pledged to reclaim the frontrunner’s mantle here next week.

“The Granite State shocked this country,” he said, hearkening to Reagan’s primary win here in 1980, crediting the state’s voters with helping end the Cold War and tear down the Berlin Wall.

Cruz, who feigned limited interest in the state for much of his campaign, has a lot of ground to make up before next Tuesday’s voting – going into the week, Trump was leading Cruz by roughly 20 points in an average of recent polls.

The rivalry was on display on Tuesday, when Cruz responded to an attendee’s question about Trump’s mocking of a New York Times reporter with a disability.

“One of the greatest tests of character is how do you treat people you don’t have to be nice to … how do you treat the clerk at the convenience store. How do you treat the cab driver, people who you don’t have to be nice to, there’s no meaningful consequence in your life,” he said. “I can tell you, 6 weeks ago, Donald Trump was saying every day that I was his friend, that he loved me, that I was terrific that I was nice. And now I’m an anchor baby.

He went on to say nothing has changed about him, but circumstances have changed for Trump. “I don’t really think six months ago, something profoundly changed about me,” he said. “What did change is his numbers started going down and our numbers started surging.”
….

But the brash billionaire took to Twitter on Tuesday morning, after a 15-plus-hour break from his go-to megaphone, to try to spin his bruising loss as not all that bad.“My experience in Iowa was a great one. I started out with all of the experts saying I couldn’t do well there and ended up in 2nd place. Nice,” he tweeted.

He continued, “Because I was told I could not do well in Iowa, I spent very little there – a fraction of Cruz & Rubio. Came in a strong second. Great honor.”

And in typical Trump fashion, he lashed out at the media: “The media has not covered my long-shot great finish in Iowa fairly. Brought in record voters and got second highest vote total in history!”

…….

Tagged: , , ,

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)
  • Discussion
  • Consistent #318

    FinFlyer #336

    Long before I ever heard of Donald Trump, I have found people who constantly refer to something being “fair” or “not fair” as to how the world treats them, to be self-absorbed pills.

    Life isn’t fair. It never has been, and it never will be. In fact — Nobody ever said it would be!

    “Fair” –!?!? Seriously?

    What’s fair about being born into a wealthy family versus being born into a poor one? What’s not fair about being misunderstood? And what is accomplished once it’s been determined that “it wasn’t fair”?

    In a court of law and in a game where score is being kept, yeah, fair is fair. Other than that, “All is fair in love and war.”

    When someone whines that they weren’t treated “fairly,” it just means that they’re too little to play at love and war. Trump rhymes with so many apropos things, like “chump” and “dump.”

    I like “Choose Cruz,” myself.

    slhancock1948 #349

    I’m praying that Cruz keeps his momentum and wins or places very well. NH is not conservative, so Trump, Rubio should do well there. But I think Cruz could take a bite out of them there.

    Pray for righteousness to be restored and for the peace of Jerusalem

    Dom Ruinart #383

    Scarlett_Says #387

    Stuff like pointing out that global temperatures haven’t risen in 15+ years? Heaven forbid we question data and test conclusions. That would be what SCIENTISTS do!

    FReeper formerly known as Brothers4thID

    Victoria #389

    To all and slhancock1948:

    slhancock1948, you said: “NH is not conservative, so Trump, Rubio should do well there.”

    New Hampshire is known for citizen’s INDEPENDENCE. It takes guts to live in that state due to its cold/icy winters. Due to their individual independence, I don’t call them liberal. It’s true they are not a Bible belt, but they are independent thinkers and that translates into conservative in many ways and those could be Cruz voters.

    Also, I heard the NH Cruz chairman yesterday say they have NH counties covered just like they had Iowa counties covered and I expected that as Cruz has 200,000 county workers distributed throughout US states. This means they didn’t just start working in NH but have been there for months working NH just as his workers are already working in all the states..

    That NH Cruz chairman also said no other Republican candidate has a grass roots ground game in NH. That is a huge statement and gives Cruz an advantage over the other candidates.

    I don’t know what the polls are for NH right now, except Trump is first but he was first in Iowa and that was inaccurate. Now, let’s see what the NH results are next week. Hopefully, Cruz will come in first, second, or third.

    slhancock1948 #396

    Yes, I read that afterwards. I did not mean to offend. I lived in NYC for 6 years, so I know something about the NE. I was thinking about Senators Shaheen and Ayotte, that one is a (D) and Ayotte has been a mixed bag that seems to be becoming more liberal all the time. That was what I was basing my comment from.

    Pray for righteousness to be restored and for the peace of Jerusalem

Viewing 7 posts - 1 through 7 (of 7 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.