And so the “Ted Cruz: Mountie” dream comes to an end.  In a move that Cruz more or less triggered with the release of his birth certificate, the Senator from Texas pledged to renounce his vestigial Canadian citizenship, part of the dual-citizenship status he has had all his life — and of which Cruz was apparently unaware:

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) announced Monday evening that he will renounce his Canadian citizenship, less than 24 hours after a newspaper pointed out that the Canadian-born senator likely maintains dual citizenship.

“Now the Dallas Morning News says that I may technically have dual citizenship,” Cruz said in a statement. “Assuming that is true, then sure, I will renounce any Canadian citizenship. Nothing against Canada, but I’m an American by birth and as a U.S. senator; I believe I should be only an American.”

The Dallas Morning News wrote in a story posted late Sunday night that Cruz likely remains a Canadian citizen, by virtue of being born there to an American mother. Having never renounced that citizenship, Cruz was technically a Canadian and an American citizen, according to legal experts.

Cruz said his mother told him that he could claim his citizenship if he ever wanted to, but that he never pursued it and thought the matter was settled.

This put a late end to an eventful day, although one has to wonder whether Cruz didn’t spend most of it doubled up in laughter, or sighing in disbelief. I’m guessing … the latter:

“Given the raft of stories today about my birth certificate, it must be a slow news day,” Cruz said.

The birth-certificate release had to be a tongue-in-cheek dig at those on the fringe claiming that his birth made him ineligible for the presidency.  By the afternoon, though, Cruz had had enough of the debate over the circumstances of dual citizenship, and by evening apparently decided that the quickest way to put an end to the nonsense was to officially renounce his Canadian birthright.  That will take a few months, but the process is unlikely to hold any surprises. Unless, of course, it takes place in another slow news cycle.  (Headline: Cruz Spells Color With A ‘U’. Still A Secret Canadian?)

That puts him in position to run for the nomination in 2016 if he chooses, although primary voters will have plenty of options with more experience in this cycle.  The longer this goes into the past, the sillier it will seem, which is why it’s a net plus for Cruz to have leveled this mountain-from-a-microscopic-molehill early on.