Ted Cruz: TrusTed?

The day after he won the South Carolina primary, Donald Trump was a gracious victor.  "Look, I'm dealing with very, very talented people, smart people, good people and you know, I think they'll be competing," he said Sunday on CBS's Face the Nation.  But in an appearance on ABC's This Week, Trump disparaged Senator Ted Cruz's campaign. "I said to myself, wow, this is a tough business," he asserted, "These people are worse than Manhattan real estate developers."

For his part, Cruz, the third place finisher, said he was the victim of character attacks.  "There's no doubt that both Donald and Marco (Rubio) got very personal, got very nasty," he charged on Face the Nation.  "They scream liar, liar, liar.  They impugn your integrity...and from the beginning of this campaign, nearly a year now, I have consistently refused to respond in kind," he continued. 

But the Cruz campaign may have taken politics to a new low this election.  His campaign team spread word, just as the Iowa Caucuses were beginning, that candidate Ben Carson was going to drop out of the race.   Cruz disingenuously blamed the incident on a CNN report, but Carson called on him to fire his campaign staffers who were responsible for the misinformation.  Of course, Cruz did not do so, but he did win the Iowa Caucus. 

A strong finish for Cruz in South Carolina was critical to his nomination strategy.  However, leading up to the contest Trump led in the polls and Senator Marco Rubio was gaining momentum.  The Cruz campaign pulled out all the stops.  South Carolina Representative Trey Gowdy accused the Cruz super PAC of creating a Facebook page that made it appear Gowdy had retracted his Rubio endorsement.  Further, Rubio's campaign accused Cruz's operatives on Saturday of robocalling voters that Rubio was dropping out. However, this claim has not been confirmed.

The Cruz campaign did put out mailers, with a picture joining Rubio and President Obama's face as one, saying they both support trade legislation.  And Cruz accused Rubio of employing aides who are supportive of gay marriage.  Nonetheless, Rubio eked out a second place finish Saturday.

Cruz campaign also attacked frontrunner Donald Trump.  The Cruz PAC assailed Trump for supporting the removal of the Confederate flag from South Carolina state grounds.  They sent out a robocall charging Trump was too supportive of LGBT rights.  In the call, the narrator says, "It's about mandatory celebration.  It's about forcing people to bake cakes and photograph gay weddings.  Forcing clergy to officiate.  It's about transgender bathrooms in your child's schools.  It's about tearing down our Judeo-Christian values.  It's about tearing down America."  

Cruz has attacked Trump on the campaign trail for supporting Obamacare, even though Trump has consistently vowed to repeal and replace the law.   And Cruz attacked Trump for supporting Planned Parenthood, a favorite target of conservatives.   Trump explained his position in the last Republican debate.  "It does wonderful things, but not as relates to abortion."  He added, "There are wonderful things having to do with women's health."   

According to the South Carolina exit polls, Trump won 78% of those voters who chose a candidate who "tells it like it is."  Trump also won a plurality of the evangelical vote, a category Cruz was expected to win.

Cruz took the high road Sunday morning when reacting to his disappointing third place finish in South Carolina.  "I'm not going to impugn anyone's integrity.  I'm not going to attack their character," he said on Face the Nation.  "And, in fact, I will happily praise both Donald Trump and Marco Rubio as men who I admire, as people who I am not going to go personal with."

Sure, Senator Cruz.

Here Comes Newt

On the eve of the South Carolina primary the Republican race has been turned on its head by two developments that may have a profound impact on the campaign. The question now is can frontrunner Mitt Romney beat off the surging Newt Gingrich to win his party's nomination?

Texas Governor Rick Perry withdrew from the presidential race because he was not getting any traction with South Carolina voters and he didn't want to help split the conservative vote and hand Romney a sizable win Saturday. Instead, he threw his support to Gingrich saying, "I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform our country."

Perry acknowledged that he and Gingrich have "had our differences," but he went on to say, "I have no question that Newt has the heart of a conservative... with the ability to rally and captivate the conservative movement." This was a clear message to voters that he believes Romney is not a true conservative.

Gingrich's record as Speaker of the House has been under assault by negative Super PAC ads in support of Romney. And questions have been raised about Gingrich's personal life, including a claim by his second wife the he asked for an "open marriage." Perry seemed to address these criticisms in his remarks. "Newt is not perfect, but who among us is," Perry said. "There is forgiveness for those who seek God, and I believe in the power of redemption for it is a central tenant of my Christian faith."

Propelled by his recent debate performance, Gingrich has been closing the gap in recent polls taken among South Carolina voters. On the other hand, Romney has been seeing his lead erode over the past few days. To make matters worse for the former Massachusetts Governor, on Thursday the Iowa Republican Party revised their final caucus totals giving Rick Santorum a 34 vote lead over Romney. No longer can Romney claim he won an unprecedented victory in both Iowa and New Hampshire. Game on!

Gingrich wasted no time in embracing Perry's endorsement and in enlisting Perry to lead a "10th Amendment Enforcement Project" that, if successful, would ultimately restore more power to the states while curtailing the role of the federal government. The 10th Amendment says that, "Powers not granted to the federal government nor prohibited to the States by the Constitution are reserved to the States." This is a key issue for many conservatives who may see this as bold and imaginative leadership. But taking power away from the federal government and giving it back to the states is a most controversial and complex issue.

While Gingrich and Santorum both received a big boost to their campaigns on Thursday, Romney has suffered largely self-inflicted wounds over the past few weeks. For example, he fumbled his handling of when and if he will release his tax returns. Under immense pressure he finally admitted on Wednesday that his income tax rate was about 15%, or the rate paid on capital gains that is largely the source of his income from his Bain Capital investments. But are any of those investments parked offshore?

Romney supporters, such as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, have urged the former Massachusetts Governor to release his tax returns as soon as possible. But the always-opportunistic Newt Gingrich seized the moment by releasing his tax returns on Thursday.

Republican voters in South Carolina now find themselves with a horse race. Will Romney be able to hold on? Will Gingrich be able to rally enough support to pull out a victory? Will Santorum be helped by is narrow victory in Iowa? Will Representative Ron Paul be able to capitalize on the chaos?

There is no question that Romney is now feeling intense pressure and he is on the defensive. In a heated exchange with a protestor on Thursday in South Carolina he called for unity and emphatically denounced those who were dividing the nation. Perhaps he should take a closer look at himself.

Republican Slugfest

With the Iowa Caucuses little more than two weeks away the two Republican frontrunners are now in a slugfest. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has surged into the lead in several state polls, including Iowa, Florida and South Carolina, leaving Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney rattled.

Now Romney is sounding more desperate and flustered. In Saturday night's Republican debate Romney inexplicably offered to bet Texas Governor Rick Perry $10,000 that he was misrepresenting Romney's position on individual mandates, which are part of Romneycare. While that is a substantial amount of money for most Iowans, it is not for multimillionaire Mitt Romney. And it didn't play well in Des Moines.

On Monday Romney decided to come out swinging, but it sounded more like the pot calling the kettle black. Romney attacked Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac, the government sponsored mortgage company that has been lambasted by conservatives. Romney called on Gingrich to return the millions he made working for Freddie Mac after he left office. Romney told Fox News, "One of the things that I think that people recognize in Washington is that people go there to serve the people and then they stay there to serve themselves."

But Gingrich later responded to Romney harshly. "I love the way he and his consultants do these things," Gingrich said. "I would just say that if Gov. Romney would like to give back all the money he's earned from bankrupting companies and laying off employees over his years at Bain, then I would be glad to listen to him and I'll bet you $10 dollars -- not $10,000 -- that he won't take the offer." Romney founded Bain Capital in 1984, an investment and consulting company. Romney is now worth more than $200 million.

Gingrich and Romney have many things in common. They are both very wealthy. In fact, Gingrich has bragged he regularly gets $60,000 to make a speech; the median family annual income in the United States is about $50,000. They have both supported health care mandates. Both supported the Wall Street bailouts, government subsidies for ethanol and agree that humans play a role in climate change. And, most noteworthy, both are serial flip-floppers on several issues.

But in Saturday's debate, Governor Romney pointed to his lengthy career in the private sector as the reason he is the best qualified to turn the American economy around. Gingrich wasn't buying it, "The only reason you didn't become a career politician is you lost to Teddy Kennedy in 1994. It's a bit much. You'd have been a 17-year career politician by now if you'd won."

No doubt Gingrich was not amused by an earlier Romney political ad in which he claimed to be a man of "steadiness and constancy." In his narration Romney said, "I've been married to the same woman for 25 -- excuse me, I'll get in trouble -- for 42 years. I've been in the same church my entire life. I worked at one company, Bain, for 25 years. And I left that to go off and help save the Olympics." This was clearly attack on Gingrich's personal life.

This is Romney's second attempt at the Republican presidential nomination; he first ran in 2008. Since he declared his candidacy last April he has devoted all of his energies to getting nominated. While has always been among the frontrunners, Romney has never been able to get more than 25% in Republican polls. The reason is simple: they just don't trust him.

Gingrich was written off a few weeks ago by most observers. He is intelligent and energetic, yet he is equally unpredictable and mercurial. And, despite all his flaws, he has now emerged as the darling of the right because they are willing to forgive his past transgressions. His debate performances have lifted him to the top and his supporters believe he is best able to take on President Barack Obama in a debate.

Two weeks is a long time in politics, especially given the intensity of this race. But an almost certain victory in the Iowa Caucuses and a strong showing in the New Hampshire Primary against frontrunner Romney will likely propel Gingrich to victories in the South Carolina and Florida primaries. But Romney will fight on.

The ultimate winner of the Republican nomination will have to unite a battered party in order to defeat President Barack Obama. And the will have to keep Congressman Ron Paul from declaring as a third party candidate, which is a real possibility.

Ronald Reagan must be rolling over in his grave.