White House: Toronto is Cruz's 'other hometown team'

The two candidates have taken on a chummy attitude toward each another.

The latest polls out of CBS and FOX have Cruz trailing only Donald Trump and Ben Carson, but there is a wide separation that still exists.

"There aren't a lot of Kansas City people in DC", Earnest said.

Context: A classic opening line for Cruz, it's an easy way to welcome the crowd at his town halls while playing off of the alleged other-worldliness of the nation's capital.

At a ski resort in Deer Valley, Utah, last weekend, Ted Cruz toasted his top donors to celebrate their $12 million fundraising haul.

"Right now, if we did nothing else, we are not only organized, but we're funded through March 1 and probably close to March 15", Tyler said, alluding to the delegate-rich clusters of primaries set for those dates.

The exchange between U.S. Senator Ted Cruz and Sierra Club president Aaron Mair during an October 6 Senate judiciary subcommittee hearing was a brief flash in the news cycle.

At least one person very close to the senator believes he's being seriously overlooked: his wife. Cruz's campaign took notice first. Cruz wants to listen to the people.

Organization in every county of the first four states could be key, said Jenny Beth Martin, chairwoman of the Tea Party Patriots Citizens Fund, which has not endorsed a candidate yet. Konni Burton of Colleyville.

Cruz said that he and the others were there because the country is in crisis and "we're bankrupting our kids and grandkids".

But a Cruz rise might be predicated on Trump's demise.

So does Cruz picking a fight indicate debate?

"You know, if you think back to 2013". And he has called for a conservative speaker to lead the Republican majority in Congress. "(Here), the more they talk to them the better", Norman said. Last week, there appeared to be a crack in the truce when Cruz told a New York radio host Trump would not be the GOP nominee and the "lion's share" of the billionaire's backers would ultimately support the senator.

"It depends entirely on Trump flaming out", Rose said.

"If you think things are going great in Washington, that we need to keep going in the same direction and just keep fiddling around the edges, then I'm not your guy", Sen. "We haven't really had our moment yet where you kind of blow up, but that's fine". I see Trump out of the race by November. 28 or sooner.

Finally, during the question and answer session, one of those young people in the 5th grade class asked Cruz what his thoughts are about Social Security. Decidedly not. In fact, as Mair pointed out in his video response, Cruz's claims during the hearing have been debunked by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, an agency over which Cruz has oversight in his role as chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Unsurprisingly, Cruz's rivals are not so sure of his overall strategy, which more broadly relies on consolidating conservative support from three GOP constituencies: members of the Tea Party, evangelicals and libertarians.

Republicans have organized local campaigns for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., which accused him of trying to create the illusion he was making inroads with the liberty movement.

Sandra Johnson, who lives in Keokuk, said that's a reason to like him.

"I've described Obama as the prefect Harvard Law School president because he reflects the views of the elite academy", said Cruz.