Cruz takes his confrontational message to Iowa

Tea Party members praise Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for standing up to mainstream Republicans. Tea Party members praise Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, for standing up to mainstream Republicans. Photo: Ron Jenkins, McClatchy-Tribune News Service Photo: Ron Jenkins, McClatchy-Tribune News Service Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Cruz takes his confrontational message to Iowa 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Des Moines, Iowa -- Ted Cruz rolled into the pivotal political state of Iowa on Friday, finding an enthusiastic crowd of Republican activists cheering his message of smaller government and a "new paradigm" of grassroots power and influence.

About 600 Republicans eager to see the face of the Washington standoff over health care that shut down the government packed a conference center to celebrate the legacy of Ronald Reagan and consider whether Cruz, the renegade Texas senator, could become a worthy apostle.

He hit all the conservative notes. The battle over the health care law, he said, "elevated the national debate," a notion widely disputed by many politicians, including some leaders of his own party.

Cruz spent much of his talk pointing out where the Obama administration has failed and how a grassroots uprising can change American politics and policy. He insisted nothing is more egregious than "that power grab" that is the Affordable Care Act.

Regardless of criticism from the party's establishment class that Cruz led them into a fight and shutdown they could not win, Republicans in the heartland were intrigued by him.

"He's a conservative fighter and he's really speaking for a lot of little guys," said Iowa Republican chairman A.J. Spiker.

Still, many wanted to hear more. "I want to like the guy, but I'm still trying to be sold," said Ryan Frederick, a real estate appraiser.

Like its state counterparts around the country, the Iowa Republican Party has been split between those demanding ideological purity and brinksmanship and those urging a more pragmatic, less confrontational approach. Cruz and his allies want to keep fighting the health care law, even if means employing controversial tactics and being blamed for the 16-day federal government shutdown.

"We're told we should water down the message to win elections, and then we wonder why we don't win elections," Spiker said to a mix of cheers and polite applause. "The Republican Party was formed as a party of principle and we must continue to be one."

Others see the battle as one that can't be won now, as long as Obama stays in office and Democrats run the Senate. The way to win, this crowd argues, is to defeat Democrats at the polls and elect like-minded Republicans.

Cruz offered familiar conservative remedies. It's important, he said, that "we need to be about economic growth, every day." He also talked about a new paradigm, a rise of the grassroots "that has Washington absolutely terrified."

It's been tested, he said, "unlike the Obamacare website." One test, he said, was Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's filibuster earlier this year against drone policy. A second, he said, was after the December school shootings in Connecticut, when Obama "chose to target the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens."

The political world is watching all this closely, because Iowa is the site of the first major contest of the 2016 presidential campaign. At this early stage, it's the libertarians and the Tea Party Republicans like those in attendance at the annual Iowa Reagan dinner Friday who organize and fund those efforts.