{"id":27240,"date":"2016-01-20T09:04:24","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T17:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/cruz-backers-should-he-temper-conservatism-with-moderation\/"},"modified":"2016-01-20T09:04:24","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T17:04:24","slug":"cruz-backers-should-he-temper-conservatism-with-moderation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/cruz-backers-should-he-temper-conservatism-with-moderation\/","title":{"rendered":"Cruz backers: Should he temper conservatism with moderation?"},"content":{"rendered":"

WHITEFIELD, New Hampshire<\/strong> \u2014 Ted Cruz says he is the first true conservative running for president since Ronald Reagan \u2014 and that will carry him to the Republican nomination come July.<\/p>\n

But as he campaigns through New Hampshire, which tends to favor more moderate Republicans, many undecided voters \u2014 and even some of his supporters \u2014 say the Texas senator needs to broaden his appeal to mainstream conservatives.<\/p>\n

The balancing act of wooing moderate Republicans while staying true to his unwavering conservative political brand presents a dilemma.<\/p>\n

Cruz doesn\u2019t always present a hard edge; he rose to prominence nationally after reading Dr. Seuss\u2019 \u201cGreen Eggs and Ham\u201d during a filibuster of President Obama\u2019s health care law. But if he changes too much, he risks losing the ideological consistency and reputation for challenging both Democrats and Republicans that have come to define him.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Associated Press on his campaign bus, Cruz rejected the idea that he needs to shift gears.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are tired of campaign conservatives,\u201d Cruz said as the bus rolled north toward the small town of Whitefield. \u201cThey\u2019re tired of empty rhetoric. They want a consistent conservative \u2014 someone they know and trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that evangelical Christians, many of whom sat out presidential elections in 2008 and 2012, could help catapult him to victory. So could \u201cReagan Democrats,\u201d whom he defines as blue collar workers, union members and gun owners living mainly in the Midwest and through the Northeast.<\/p>\n

Many in the Republican Party view Reagan as the model commander in chief. Cruz has often said that, like Reagan, he will bypass Congress, including lawmakers in his own party, if members try to impede his ability to serve the American people. That \u201cReaganite\u201d approach, he says, is how Reagan clinched the Republican nomination in 1980 and how he wants to do it now.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 1980, as a 9-year-old boy, I was cheering loudly for Ronald Reagan in that primary watching those debates as a kid,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Republican Party has never once nominated a Reaganite for office since 1984.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guy Eaton, a 57-year-old letter carrier, came to see Cruz on Monday in Washington, New Hampshire, a hilly resort town of about 1,000 people that was incorporated in 1776. Eaton said Cruz needs to broaden his appeal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s going to be president, he has to represent the whole country, not just one portion of the Republican Party,\u201d Eaton said.<\/p>\n

John Oliver is one of Cruz\u2019s staunchest backers. He made \u201cCruz for President\u201d bumper stickers on his own way back in 2013. But he, too, wants to see some changes.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to become more positive, not so angry,\u201d said Oliver, a 43-year-old retired member of the U.S. Navy who drove more than two hours from his home in Vermont to see Cruz at Lindy\u2019s Diner in Keene.<\/p>\n

Not so angry? Cruz himself has raised questions about rival Donald Trump\u2019s temperament, and Trump responded in kind Tuesday when asked about it in Winterset, Iowa.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you talk about temperament, Ted has got a rough temperament,\u201d Trump told reporters. \u201cYou can\u2019t call people liars on the Senate floor when they\u2019re your leader. … I haven\u2019t talked about his temperament, but he\u2019s got to be careful because his temperament is, you know, has been questioned a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in New Hampshire at Lindy\u2019s an obligatory stop for presidential candidates, payment is cash only, the specials include apple crisp and split pea soup, and decorations include a model of the bus from the 1950s TV show \u201cThe Honeymooners.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a longtime Cruz watcher and supporter, Navy retiree Oliver is hoping Cruz can tweak his sometimes divisive message to bring along other Republicans more reticent to embrace him.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he can,\u201d said Oliver, who has tattoos of a bald eagle and American flag on his forearms. \u201cI think it\u2019s built into his campaign to do that. The guy started out in the single digits. As it moves along, he\u2019s going to broaden and open it up.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Cruz backer Harry Price, a New Jersey firefighter who drove five hours to see the candidate in New Hampshire, doesn\u2019t want his man to give an inch.<\/p>\n

Bushy mustache draped over his mouth, Price described Cruz as a principled politician who understands how the Washington establishment works and can \u201cblow the whole place up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI love that,\u201d Price said inside the Keene diner. \u201cHis message is very clear, very simple, well thought out.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Cheryl Charron, an undecided New Hampshire voter, said she wanted to see more out of Cruz.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe needs to appeal to a broader audience,\u201d the 57-year-old Charron said, sitting in a booth at Lindy\u2019s as she waited with her college-aged daughter for Cruz to arrive. She praised Cruz as someone who \u201csticks to his convictions\u201d but said she wasn\u2019t sold fully on him just yet.<\/p>\n

But some of his supporters believe Cruz should stay on message for now, and consider modifying his strategy if he wins the nomination.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Jill Colvin contributed from Winterset, Iowa. Follow Scott Bauer on Twitter at https:\/\/twitter.com\/sbauerAP and find more of his work at http:\/\/bigstory.ap.org\/content\/scott-bauer .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WHITEFIELD, New Hampshire \u2014 Ted Cruz says he is the first true conservative running for president since Ronald Reagan \u2014 and that will carry him to the Republican nomination come July. But as he campaigns through New Hampshire, which tends to favor more moderate Republicans, many undecided voters \u2014 and even some of his supporters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-27240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27240\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27240"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=27240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}