Texas Sen. Ted Cruz said Sunday he is poised to win the Iowa Republican caucuses so long as grassroots conservatives and “Reagan Democrats” cancel out intra-party attacks against his candidacy and nudge him ahead of flamboyant businessman Donald Trump, who leads by 5 percentage points in recent polling.
“If conservatives come out, we will win,” Mr. Cruz told a special edition of “Fox News Sunday” from Iowa’s state capitol in Des Moines.
He said voting for someone else would be a “roll of the dice,” because he is “the only candidate in the race who’s been a consistent conservative.”
The latest Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll has Mr. Trump leading Mr. Cruz, 28 percent to 23 percent. Yet Mr. Trump is piling on the Texan, throwing jabs at his low likability ratings in the halls of Congress and his Canadian birthplace.
Mr. Trump says Mr. Cruz should find out if he’s really a “natural-born citizen” eligible for the presidency.
“Donald looks very rattled, there,” Mr. Cruz said after a series of clips Sunday, saying Mr. Trump is the one hurling insults, not him.
In defending himself, Mr. Cruz took a swipe at Mr. Trump’s financial condition, saying it was the “height of chutzpah” for the mogul to criticize him for failing to disclose a pair of campaign loans for his 2012 Senate race, including one from Goldman Sachs, where his wife, Heidi, worked.
Mr. Trump, he said, is millions of dollars in debt right now from his various business streams.
“When Heidi and I take loans,” Mr. Cruz said, “we pay them back.”
Fox host Chris Wallace, who sparred with Mr. Cruz at times during the last GOP debate, challenged Mr. Cruz’s assertion that Obamacare is a drag on the economy.
The candidate cited “historically slow” economic growth and reports from employers who are burdened by the law.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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