Could This Be the Reason GW Doesn't Like #TedCruz

by Kim D.

Raise your hand if you thought it strange that former President George W. Bush would select Senator Ted Cruz to be the first politician he would openly criticize? Not Barack Obama, who has thrown a heap of criticism toward his predecessor. Not Donald Trump, who of late has made it his mission to annihilate Jeb Bush's chance for the Republican nomination. Nope, according to "anonymous" sources, supposedly GW doesn't like Ted Cruz.

Knowing the crucial role Ted Cruz played in Bush's success in the 2008 election, battling the legal issue raised by hanging chads and the Florida recount, it appears strange that the former President would attack Cruz, whose background in constitutional law and familiarity with the Supreme Court were key to proving that when it was all said and done and the votes counted four times, Bush defeated Gore to win the presidency. Perhaps GW is still harboring ill will for the  times Cruz bested the Bush administration before the Supreme Court (see  Medellin v Texas and District of Columbia v Heller).

Or could it simply be that Cruz is capturing a large chunk of Texas donations and has just secured the backing of the most powerful name in Texas politics? "Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick - a one-time foe of the Texas senator - also will now serve as the Texas chairman of Cruz's presidential campaign." 

So while Jeb! is hunkering down with the family to strategize his way forward in the contest to win the Republican nomination, Cruz is capturing the big Texas donors and supporters. 

Cruz is one of several Republican presidential candidates with Texas ties, but he has dominated the state's generous donor class. In the first nine months of the year, Cruz raised more than three times as much in the state as did Jeb Bush, according to an Associated Press analysis of donations.

Bush, a former Florida governor, spent much of his youth in Texas, and his father and brother, both former presidents, still call the state home.

The Bush family is rallying around Jeb Bush on Monday at a donor event that's taking place less than 6 miles from where Cruz is announcing his team's additions.

Patrick's backing of Cruz gives him a powerful surrogate in a delegate-rich state where Republican primary voters go to the polls on March 1.