The Brief: Cruz Wastes No Time, Goes All In on Presidential Bid

By: John Reynolds |The Big ConversationAs you read these words over your morning coffee, Ted Cruz is already a candidate for president. He announced about 11 p.m. Texas time via Twitter.I’m running for President and I hope to earn your support!pic.twitter.com/0UTqaIoytP— Ted Cruz March 23, 2015He’ll follow with an official announcement in a speech set for later this morning at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. The Tribune will livestream the speech. Click here to get the feed.The Tribune’s Abby Livingston notes that Cruz’s choice of venue flies in the face of tradition, which calls for announcing in the candidate’s home state or in a strategically important primary state. Instead, Cruz is sending a clear message to the evangelical base of his party by choosing the university founded by Jerry Falwell, who made his mark on the political landscape by creating the Moral Majority.Also worth noting is Cruz’s decision to bypass an “exploratory” phase and become a full-fledged candidate right away. Some are already questioning if this demonstrates a weakness in fundraising: Cruz announcement also suggests problems expanding his super PAC donor base. No reason to wait; better to get early start on hard dollars.— Nick Confessore March 22, 2015The Houston Chronicle’s Theodore Schleifer reported that Cruz advisers are setting a fundraising goal of $40 million to $50 million for the primary season. That’s well short of the $75 million identified by other GOP strategists as what will be needed to get through the first three primary contests.Cruz advisers, naturally, disagree with that assessment.”If you have a really good grass-roots operation, which Cruz does, that can compensate for money,” said Hal Lambert, a Cruz fundraiser and former Republican Party of Texas chief fundraiser. “A lot of it is running a well-organized and smart campaign strategy where you don’t spend a lot of wasted money on consultants and others.”