| The day has finally arrived after a long, drawn out, really lowbrow campaign. Tonight, Texas Republican primary voters are probably going to put us on Cruz Control for the next six years. A third poll came out on Sunday showing Cruz ahead...this time by ten points.
From Public Policy Polling:
Cruz's victory is driven by 4 things: the Tea Party, the enthusiasm of his supporters, a generational divide within the Texas Republican ranks, and the lack of regard the party base currently holds for Rick Perry.
Cruz is ahead by a whooping 75-22 margin with Tea Party voters, more than making up for a 56-39 deficit to Dewhurst with voters who don't consider themselves members of that movement. There has been too much of a tendency to ascribe any Republican primary upset over the last few years to Tea Party voters, but this is one case where it's well justified.
So there you have it, folks. Ted Cruz is going to win (apparently) because of the Tea Party. Cruz likes to frame the race as the answer to the question of whether the Tea Party still matters. While it may matter in terms of who wins the race - as it also did when Richard Mourdock beat Dick Lugar in the Indiana primary - it matters only for the purposes of political posturing. Truth is, if Cruz had been Lt. Gov. for ten years and Dewhurst were a never-elected former solicitor general, Dewhurst would be the surging and likely victorious Tea Party candidate. It's a formula: if you're in office, you're suspicious. If you're out of office with no real record, you're "Tea Party" - that is, until you run for re-election.
Just check out the #txsen hashtag on Twitter. Texas Republicans are going buckwild over a guy who was basically a lawyer-robot, arguing whatever Texas's Attorney General told him to argue. The fervor of these Repubilcans cannot be understated, and there's no question that Cruz has run a very impressive campaign.
A reminder about our likely next senator: Ted Cruz believes Medicaid is unconstitutional, believes Social Security is a "Ponzi Scheme," has proposed unconstitutionally nullifying Obamacare, and believes liberals are attacking golf courses.
I had a dream last night about Cruz winning tonight. Be warned: it feels terrible to know he's our next senator. |
