The Rise of Rafael Cruz

[Valin]

Carnage and Culture:

 

Senator Ted Cruzs father is a conservative force.

Robert Costa

 

ed Cruz with his daughter, Caroline, and father, Rafael. (Credit: AP/David J. Phillip)

 

The political partnership between Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and his father, Rafael, is a rising force in conservative politics. To most observers, it seems like part of a familial game plan that has been in the works for years.

 

But according to Senator Cruz, it actually began quite recently with a phone call. My dad poured himself into my Senate race last year, he recalls. In the early months, we didnt have much of a campaign. One day, I couldnt make an event, so he drove out to West Texas alone no staffers, nothing and he spoke on my behalf. A few hours later, I called and asked how it went. He said, Even surrogates for the other candidates were asking for Cruz yard signs.

 

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There Rafael Cruz was in Des Moines, Iowa, last month, speaking to ministers at the Marriott hotel and collecting business cards in the lobby; a month later, he was in Ames, Iowa, pacing the stage at a conservative summit and drawing cheers for his broadsides against President Obama. His fiery speech at a FreedomWorks event in July drew heavy praise from talk radio.

 

(Snip)