Ted Cruz Has a Chance to Win. Here’s the Path.
Some of his opportunity is the result of his own strength. He has succeeded in building a robust campaign organization, buoyed by fund-raising tallies of the sort we generally haven’t seen from anti-establishment, conservative candidates. Fund-raising isn’t everything, but it’s a big part of why candidates like Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum have not been serious contenders this time.
A lot of Mr. Cruz’s opening, however, reflects the weakness of his rivals, not his strength. Few would have guessed, for instance, that his solid but hardly astonishing $26 million in official campaign contributions (not counting outside groups) would be more than Jeb Bush’s total. By comparison, George W. Bush raised more than both candidates combined by this point 16 years ago (when a dollar was worth more).