Cruz moves into spotlight at GOP debate

Since Donald Trump and his helicopter descended on the Iowa State Fair back in August, the billionaire businessman has been the steady front-runner in Iowa, surviving attacks from fellow candidates, controversial proposals and a short-lived burst in two polls from Dr. Ben Carson. This is the first GOP debate since the Paris terror attacks and the mass shootings in San Bernardino, California, and Colorado Springs, Colorado, all of which have shifted the tone of the race towards national security.

His call to ban all Muslims from entering the US may have been criticized by Republican officials, but it has resonated among GOP voters. “Cruz in his battle with Trump is that voters view him much more favorably than Trump, meaning that the Texas lawmaker may have a higher potential upside”, said Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac poll. Behind Rubio, a passel of candidates range in support from 7% to 9% – Carson and Cruz each average 9%, Bush 8% and Kasich and Christie 7%. Ted Cruz moved into second, with 15 percent, twice what his support was last month.

The problem is that having Cruz at the top of the ticket could be as disastrous for the Republican Party as rolling the dice with Trump.

What I mean is, will Trump fans conclude that it’s rigged? Ted Cruz emerging to challenge Donald Trump for front-runner status. “Look at the way he’s dealt with the senate, where he goes in there like a, you know, frankly like a little bit of a maniac”. You can’t walk into the Senate and scream and call people liars and not be able to cajole and get along with people. And if they didn’t buy it, if they thought that shadowy establishment forces had put a thumb on the scale at the last minute to push Cruz past their populist nemesis Trump, how could Cruz continue to woo those voters?

Do you agree or disagree with Limbaugh’s contention about Trump that a “geniune conservative wouldn’t go after Cruz in this way?”

Even talk radio host Rush Limbaugh seem perplexed by Trump’s tactic. Bush, Rubio and Cruz have been roughly steady in the Granite State lately.

“People are very concerned that Cruz and Rubio are often thought of as candidates that will attract Hispanic voters when in fact their records are hostile to Latinos”, said Frank Sharry, founder and executive director of America’s Voice, a pro-immigration group. On Fox News Sunday, he questioned Cruz’s temperament and judgment. “He’s never fallen off the wave”, said Doug Heye, a former spokesman for the Republican National Committee. Cruz even recently delivered a speech warning against military adventurism that has ensnared the U.S.in fruitless ground wars across the Middle East. They will take to the stage tomorrow night.

At a rally with supporters at a hotel just off the strip here Monday afternoon, Rubio stuck to his standard stump speech and was only laudatory about his competitors on the debate stage. “And I think that is a question that is a challenging question for both” Trump and Ben Carson, whose standing has plummeted, to Cruz’s benefit.

Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster working with a pro-Cruz super PAC, said Trump’s rivals would be better served by simply ignoring the bombastic frontrunner and focusing on their own key issues, instead.

The X factor, as always, is Trump himself. “I think he can walk into this room and speak with anyone”. Rand Paul (R-KY), 91 percent vs. Gov. Bobby Jindal and 92 percent vs. Sen. And, as Trump learned when he planned – then abruptly cancelled – a trip to Israel after criticism from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Muslim-bashing could have real consequences in the global arena.

Trump enters the debate already swinging away.