From the National Journal: How Ted Cruz Will Pull the GOP Presidential Primary Right - The Texan spent the last months before his presidential campaign showing off his knack for articulating the most conservative position on numerous issues.
Though Cruz is not considered a favorite to win the GOP nomination, he will undoubtedly play a huge role in the 2016 campaign by catering to conservative voters, who tend to dominate primaries, with his knack for articulating the most conservative position on key issues.
Just in the past couple of months, the fiery Cruz has shown off that knack in visits to Iowa and New Hampshire, on cable news, and on the Senate floor. Cruz made his name in the Senate as one of the GOP's staunchest critics of the Affordable Care Act—even driving a strategy that led to 2013's government shutdown—but Cruz is deeply conservative on any number of issues and he's not afraid to say so. That could have a big impact on the rest of the field: In the 2012 presidential race, conservative candidates similar to Cruz often pulled the GOP primary field along with them.
How Cruz affects the 2016 primary will come down to how the other candidates react to him—whether by moving to the right themselves on some issues or by using Cruz as a contrast to try to distinguish themselves as more moderate. Either way, Cruz has spent his last months before officially becoming a presidential candidate highlighting his ability to get on the most conservative side of an issue.
