By Michelle Seiler-Tucker, Special for USDR
The 2016 race for the White House is starting early this go-round. Ted Cruz is officially the first republican presidential candidate to launch his campaign for the next election. He’s selling himself as an unabashed Christian conservative, who has the intent to undo a lot of Obama’s agenda.
The man is fairly young (much like Obama was when he ran). As a first term senator from the state of Texas, he first became popular though his involvement with the tea party. He drew widespread attention for helping put together a strategy that was designed to end Obamacare, and that very initiative is what ended up leading to the 2013 government shutdown. His actions have turned him into a hero in the eyes of several conservatives, but he may be a little too controversial to gain the majority vote.
Thus far the man has received $69,000 in campaign funding for president, while also having already raised $18.4 million since 2012 following his run for senate. It’s expensive to run for president, and that number still is not good enough. And so the question becomes where will the funds be coming from if he really wants to be a top candidate? Corporate money tends to favor candidates disinclined to rock the boat, but Cruz’s declarations suggest he’s trying to capsize it. With his preacher-stylized delivery not only does he plan to eliminate Obamacare, but to place unprecedented restrictions on abortion, empower states to decide about gay marriage independently, and lastly promises to aggressively tackle illegal immigration and deport them all.
Despite being a man with a mission—a trait I admire in all people who have it—I think that Cruz will struggle to raise the funds needed for an effective run. His biggest fans in corporate America are within the oil and gas industry, but that industry is not fairing very well these days. Cruz will undoubtedly be an underdog in the 2016 fund-raising games, but there is no arguing that this party is only JUST getting started. Despite my more conservative nature, I cannot say that I plan to attend any party Cruz is having. Let’s just hope the pickings get a little more favorable in the coming future.
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