FENTON, Iowa — Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday swatted chief rival Donald Trump for skipping Thursday evening’s presidential debate in Des Moines and suggested that the move raises questions about his fitness for the White House.
The Texas Republican, speaking to reporters during a campaign swing through sparsely populated Kossuth County in north central Iowa, said the New York celebrity businessman’s decision to back out of the Fox News prime time debate was disrespectful of the voters and showed a lack of “humility” that is essential to good leadership. Public opinion polls released prior to the debate showed Cruz narrowly trailing Trump in the battle for first place in Monday’s caucuses.
“I was honored to be there. I think every candidate who is running for president owes it to the men and women of Iowa to show them the respect to come in front of them and answer questions about their record and to ask for their vote,” Cruz said. “Anyone who wishes to serve as president needs to demonstrate the humility and respect to go directly and ask for the support — and have your record scrutinized.”
Trump, who held an event ostensibly to raise money for military veterans instead of participating in the debate, was campaigning in Nashua, N.H., on Friday, and during remarks to voters he referred to Cruz as an “anchor baby” — a term that some consider derisive and that is used to describe children whose foreign parents traveled to the U.S. to give birth just so that their children could be American citizens. Asked to respond to the remark, Cruz demurred.
“I like Donald; he’s welcome to say whatever he likes,” Cruz said. “Now it’s all up to the voters.”
With three days to go until first votes of the 2016 GOP primary campaign, Cruz is hustling around Iowa to complete the “full Grassley,” the phrase used to describe the practice of campaigning in all 99 Hawkeye State counties ahead of an election. The term was coined for Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, the politician who popularized the practice. Grassley was set to appear at Cruz campaign Friday evening.
Cruz beginning around late October surpassed Trump as the favorite to win the Iowa caucuses, and for a couple of months he led in most public opinion polls gauging likely GOP caucus-goers. But in the past few weeks, Trump has regained the lead in those same polls.
The question is whether Trump’s reality television star fame and the enthusiastic commitment his supporters have for his populist campaign will outperform Cruz’s sophisticated ground game designed to coalesce and drive traditional conservative Republicans to caucus. Cruz expressed confidence in his position. He declined to comment on why his campaign only went on the air this week with television advertisements critical of Trump after weeks of being pummeled by the billionaire real estate mogul.
“I recognize the fascination with process stories,” Cruz said. “We’re 77 hours away, at this point it’s all about turnout — it’s all about courageous conservatives showing up Monday night, bringing their friends, bringing their family, and caucusing together. We’ve got over 200,000 volunteers nationwide; we’ve got over 12,000 volunteers, just in the state of Iowa, we’ve got people knocking on doors, making phone calls.”
“We’re seeing the old [Ronald] Reagan coalition coming back together,” Cruz added.
As Cruz hopscotched through farm country, his crowds were robust and energetic.
Around 100 people showed up to see Cruz speak at a bar in tiny Ringsted; he also filled a restaurant and bar 15 minutes down the road in Fenton. In this area, Cruz faced a lot of questions about his proposal to wind down the federal ethanol mandate over five years beginning in 2017. The mandate has been important to economic growth in Iowa, and Cruz’s position has engendered the opposition of Iowa’s popular Republican governor, Terry Branstad.
Cruz wasn’t backing down on Friday. The senator told one voter who challenged cited Branstad while challenging his position that the governor’s son works for the ethanol lobby. Cruz supporters appear satisfied with how he responded, both during Thursday night’s debate and on Friday.
“After hearing him today I think he could be first very easily,” said Cathy Wikert of Ringsted. Wikert, who serves as the town’s city clerk, said she decided to caucus for Cruz after listening to him Friday morning.
