“We believe we have a clear path to victory and have the ability to raise the money to get our message out,” said Cruz senior adviser Jason Miller. “So we’re full steam ahead.”
Cruz undeniably enters this contest as a dark horse. Just two of 50 Iowans surveyed in The POLITICO Caucus — a weekly focus group of the most plugged-in people in the two states that kick off the nominating process — think he would win the caucuses if they were held this week. None of the insiders in New Hampshire believe he’d win the primary if it was this week. He’s often low in the pack in early polling, though that is not worth much at this stage.
He sees himself in the mold of Ronald Reagan circa 1979, or perhaps 1975, in that he is not taken seriously by Washington Republicans but that he appeals to independents and other nontraditional voters who like the way he speaks truth to power and never goes along to get along.
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