GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said enough people will stay home to ensure the election of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton if Republicans don’t nominate a candidate in 2016 who is sufficiently conservative.
“The only way for Republicans to win, I believe, is to run a candidate who runs as a strong conservative with a positive, optimistic, hopeful message,” he said Thursday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Mr. Cruz, a possible 2016 presidential contender, said he likes and is a fan of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and is going to let him make his own decision on whether he runs.
“But I will say this: We need to learn from history — we need to look to history and what works and what doesn’t,” Mr. Cruz said. “And the one thing is clear is that if Republicans run another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole or a John McCain or a Mitt Romney — and let me be clear, all three of those are good, honorable men — they’re decent men, they’re patriots.
“But if we run another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole or a John McCain or Mitt Romney, we will end up with the same result which is millions of people will stay home on Election Day … and if we run another candidate like that, Hillary Clinton will be the next president,” he continued.
“Republicans win nationally when we draw a clear distinction,” Mr. Cruz said. “We lose, and this is true over and over again, when we move to the mushy middle and we muddle the differences.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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