March 23, 2015      3:19 PM
HK: Though somewhat lackluster, Cruz announcement largely succeeds in tactical goals
Despite polling at under 5%, Cruz temporarily has center stage
Although
it accomplished some of what was intended, Texas Senator Ted Cruz’ formal presidential campaign announcement today broke
little new ground other than flush Senator Rand Paul into driving some
competing coverage by pronouncing his campaign announcement would be April 7.
For
the most part, the event at Liberty College seemed a tad
underwhelming. Cruz delivered a slightly
more elaborate version of his standard stump speech to the weekly mandatory
convocation of students at the Christian institution. Repeal Obamacare, get rid of the IRS,
institute a flat tax and ending government intrusion of private email and
telephone conversations are all generally standard fare with predictable
applause lines.
But
while the speech was entirely predictable, Cruz drove the news cycle for the
entire weekend and will no doubt be a lead in tonight’s news broadcasts. More importantly to a Republican primary
contender, he will drive Fox News and talk radio for days as
a contrast to Jeb Bush and Scott Walker.
Besides
a week of dominating the media, Cruz got the optics he sought… sort of.
By Harvey Kronberg
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