Cruz Control in Iowa

Texas Senator and GOP presidential hopeful Ted Cruz is catching fire and in control of the race for the Republican nomination in Iowa. The Hawkeye State is key, as it is the first state in the national primary process. Cruz’s surge there could lead him to victory, which would likely attract more support and undercut national front runner Donald Trump’s perceived untouchable lead.

The Gazette reports:

Ted Cruz has assembled an impressive presidential campaign structure in Iowa, veteran political observers here say, with one going so far as to describe Cruz’s campaign as perhaps “the most sophisticated” the first-in-the-nation caucus state has ever witnessed.

Because of that grass roots organization, Cruz is primed to maintain his recent surge in the polls and win the Iowa Republican caucuses in five weeks, those observers say.

Cruz, the Tea Party firebrand and first-term U.S. Sen. from Texas, was the first Republican candidate to enter the presidential race, on March 23. Nine months later, he has overtaken longtime front-runner Donald Trump in several polls published recently in Iowa, including a 10-percentage-point lead in the highly regarded Iowa Poll.

In Iowa, Cruz has appealed to the state’s abundance of evangelical Republicans and attempted to tap into the anti-establishment sentiment that pervades Republican voters this year.

Cruz’s success also stems from a massive and innovative campaign structure, according to Iowa campaign veterans.

Experts on the ground in Iowa are predicting a Cruz victory when the state caucuses in just five weeks.

While other Republican candidates have surged to the top of the GOP field and then faltered — think Scott Walker and Carson — observers in Iowa said they think Cruz is better positioned to remain strong in the race through the Feb. 1 caucuses.

“I’d be shocked if he doesn’t win going away,” [Doug] Gross said of Cruz. “He built his organization, then he developed his narrative, and that organization captured the narrative, while others are still trying to build a narrative. And it’s too late to build a narrative.”