Texas Sen. Ted Cruz drew overflow crowds in Murfreesboro and Franklin Monday, and the tea party icon didn’t disappoint his conservative audiences, levying attacks on President Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Cruz became the latest in a string of Republican presidential candidates to visit Tennessee, one of a group of states that will hold its primary March 1.
But none has been greeted as rapturously or by as large crowds as Cruz. Perhaps as many as 1,000 people turned out to see him at the Patterson Park Community Center in Murfreesboro, and a crowd that was at least as large packed a hall in the Factory in Franklin.
The GOP presidential contender delivered speeches in both locations that were unyieldingly conservative. He called Clinton “a socialist” and
reiterated his claim President Obama would become the “leading financier of radical terrorists” if the nuclear deal with Iran is approved.
Cruz also lodged attacks against the U.S. Department of Justice, the IRS and Planned Parenthood. The message played well with the ardently conservative voters who will likely decide the Tennessee primary. But Cruz says his message
can also win the Republican nomination and the White House.
“That is the only way we can win the general election,” Cruz said. “You know, every four years a bunch of consultants in Washington say that the path to victory is to run to the mushy middle. And yet history has shown, every time we listen to their advice we lose.”
Eric McCullough was among those who came out. The community-college instructor and paramedic from Murfreesboro came with his wife and two young children.
“I like his message. I like that he’s been at the forefront of the campaign,” McCullough said. “We’ve been watching him on CNN as he’s not been afraid or abashed to go against the Democrats and to state what needs to be stated.”
Cruz is spending much of the month of August on
an eight-state swing
through the South, paying the region far more attention than most other candidates.
Cruz spent several minutes cajoling the crowd to volunteer and donate money to his bid, telling them he won’t get much help from the Washington establishment.
He says he plans to be competitive in the early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. But Cruz adds that he needs to do well in the “SEC primary,” the spate of Southern races that includes Tennessee’s.
Those contests will take place just 10 days after South Carolina.
Cruz admitted the odds against him may seem steep. But he says the nation is in a similar place to where it was in the late 1970s, when a slow economy and discontent over foreign policy combined to oust President Jimmy Carter.
“Now why does that analogy give me so much hope and optimism?” asked Cruz. “Because we know how the story ended. The late ’70s and 1980s we saw a grassroots movement begin to sweep this country that became the Reagan Revolution.”
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM