MANCHESTER - In his first visit to New Hampshire as a declared candidate for President, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz drew a line in the sand, one that he hopes will separate him from the rest of the pack in a crowded Republican primary.
He embraced his reputation as the most conservative candidate as his surest path to victory.
"I think the way we win elections, is you draw that line," he said in a meeting with New Hampshire Union Leader editors and reporters after a day of campaigning. "You make the election a meaningful choice - one that matters, one that will make a difference to you and your family."
Republicans lost the White House in 2008 and again in 2012, he said, because Sen. John McCain and Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney failed to ignite conservative passions.
"The central question if Republicans are going to win in 2016 is how do we bring back to the polls the millions of conservatives who stayed home," he said. "I see others in the race who I respect, but who are not going to mobilize and inspire those conservatives. Every time Republicans run to the mushy middle, we lose."
Known for his leadership in the battle against Obama-care, Cruz was one of only two Republicans to vote against the $3.7 trillion Senate budget plan approved in the wee hours of the morning Friday before his flight to the Granite State.
"I cannot support a budget that claims to balance in the year 2025 by utilizing revenue increases generated by Obamacare taxes," he said in a statement after the vote. Moves like that have earned him the designation of "wacko-bird" by establishment Republicans like McCain, and ridicule in the media. And he thrives on it.
In his first New Hampshire stop, he told a large crowd at the Conservative Business League of New Hampshire, "Have you guys heard? I'm not supposed to win, and my favorite outlet, the New York Times, says Washington elites hate me."
Cruz has defied predictions and polls before. His 2012 victory in Texas was described by the Washington Post as "the biggest upset of 2012 ... a true grassroots victory against very long odds."
"We were at 2 percent in the polls. No one thought we had a prayer," he said. "My opponent was the sitting lieutenant governor, who controlled the state legislature, so every official opposed us, every lobbyist, every major corporation."
Cruz said he plans to run a similar campaign in New Hampshire, "Visiting any coffee shop, any VFW, anywhere I can get my message to voters."
One high-profile New Hampshire Republican called Cruz the GOP version of Obama because of their similar personal (not political) profile. Cruz is a former law professor running for President after only one term in the Senate, just like Obama in 2008.
While governors in the GOP field are making the case for their executive experience, Cruz says he has been front and center in the Senate on the most hotly contested and politically charged issues of the day.
"Think of the dozen biggest fights we've seen in this country - stopping Obama-care, executive amnesty, fighting to rein in the debt, defending religious liberty, the Second Amendment, stopping Common Core, standing with Israel, stopping Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons," he said. "Look at the field, and ask, on the great fights of the day, how many of them have actually led. For most, you can find one issue, maybe two, but for much of the field, they have not been leading on these issues."
Cruz said he will not tailor his message to the crowd, even telling Iowa voters that he can't support the federal mandate for the use of corn-based ethanol in gasoline. "I don't think the federal government should be picking winners or losers," he said. "I've introduced legislation to end the ethanol mandate."
He thought that stance might get him booed at a gathering of the largest ethanol producers in the Hawkeye State, but instead it got him a cordial reception.
"I told the folks there, you can count on me for two things, I am going to tell you the truth and I'm going to do what I say I'm going to do."
Cruz drew large and supportive crowds at the Conservative Business League event in Merrimack, and at the Young America's Foundation Conference in Nashua, where he was preaching to the faithful. Whether he can broaden his appeal to break out of his current long-shot status remains to be seen.
"Republicans get only two characterizations in the mainstream media - we are stupid or evil - and they invented a third one for me, which is crazy," he said. "They go out of their way to say Cruz is this wild-eyed lunatic with dynamite strapped across his chest. The reason that caricature doesn't bother me is that it's not true, and I have real faith that the American people make their own judgements,"
The first to make those judgments at the polls will be here in New Hampshire, where Cruz expects to be spending a lot of time in the months ahead.
"I respect the role that Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina play in the election," he said. "Each of those first three states has a unique role in testing the candidates, looking them in the eye and asking, 'Is this guy blowing smoke or telling the truth?' and caricatures don't stick."
dsolomon@unionleader.com
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