Ted Cruz Wraps up NH Bus Tour as Establishment Escalates Attacks

Republican presidential hopeful Ted Cruz on Thursday ended his five-day, 17-stop cross-state swing bus tour throughout the Granite State as he continues to focus on building solidify support amongst voters with just less than three weeks left until the New Hampshire primary.

Cruz’s first stop on Thursday involved a youth professional town hall in Saint Anselm College where candidates were asked questions on a personal level. Talking about Obamacare, Cruz said he lost his health coverage all, in part because of Obamacare. “You know who one of those millions of Americans who lost their health care because of Obamacare? That would be me,” Cruz told a small group of audience in Saint Anselm College town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire. “I had purchased an individual policy and Blue Cross Blue Shield canceled all their individual policies in the state of Texas effective December 31st [2015].”

Cruz discussed how premiums across the country are going up with families scrambling to find another policy for their families. “We are in the process of finding another policy,” he said. “But our premiums are going up 50 percent and that is happening all over the country. That is happening in New Hampshire.”

Throughout the campaign trail, Cruz has talked about the issue of Obamacare, regularly stating his promise “to rescind and repeal every word of Obamacare.”

One attendee randomly gave Ted Cruz a light saber, the Jedi weapon from the “Star Wars” movie, while asking Cruz to join the Jedi force against Citizens United. Cruz would turn down the offer to fight against the court decision. “I believe in the American people and Democracy and the more you silence citizens, the more the power of government gets stronger,” Cruz said in defending the controversial court decision.

During a press gaggle following the town hall, Cruz was asked about the recent attack comments made by former presidential candidate Bob Dole saying if Cruz got the nomination, the GOP would suffer “cataclysmic and wholesale losses”. “What Dole is effectively saying and the establishment as well is the one guy that scares the heck out of us is Cruz because I am actually willing to stand with the American people against career politicians,” Cruz told reporters after the town hall.

Other attacks from prominent Republican Senators spoke out after Dole’s remarks against Cruz’s bid for the GOP nomination. Senator Orrin Hatch, a senior Republican senator told CNN if Cruz becomes the nominee, we would lose. “I think we will lose if [Cruz] is our nominee,” Hatch said. “There is a lot of people who don’t feel he can appeal to people across the board.” Both Dole and Hatch both prefer Trump for the GOP nomination believing the GOP might not “lose if [Trump] is the nominee because he is appealing to people who Republican candidates have not appealed to in the past.”

Former presidential candidate and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who recently endorsed Jeb Bush for president, said picking either Cruz or Trump is “like being shot or poisoned.”

The criticism from establishment Republicans helps Cruz reinforce his anti-establishment message during the campaign trail. He also suggested from the recent remarks from establishments concluding that “Marco Rubio can’t win this race, therefore the Washington establishment is now rushing over to support Donald Trump.”

“Conservatives are uniting behind our campaign,” Cruz said. “What we are seeing now is that the Washington establishment is abandoning Marco and now unifying behind Donald Trump.”

If voters in New Hampshire want a Republican president who will cut yet more details with Democrats, who will give in even more to Harry Reid and Chuck Schumer, then they should vote for Donald Trump.”

Cruz continued the weeklong attacks against Donald Trump that began during the GOP Debate in South Carolina. The one-time bromance between both have seen harsh attacks amongst both as the two top front-runners are vying to come out first in the entire first in the nation primaries that will play an outcome for Super Tuesday nations in March.

New Hampshire plays a key role for Cruz to whether or not his campaign strategy speaks to a broader appeal than just conservatives and evangelicals. Capitalizing the Granite state in a crowded field with votes spilt amongst the conservative and the establishment lane remains the questions for the next three weeks. A recent CNN poll released Wednesday night shows Cruz with 14 percent of New Hampshire support and in second place with Trump leading with 34 percent.

Following the town hall, Cruz made a stop for a meet and greet in the famous Theo’s on Elm Pizza in Manchester. The last stop on “Cruzin’ with Cruz” bus tour brought over 200 New Hampshire supporters assembled to hear Cruz speak

Cruz spoke for about twenty minutes making the case for why he is capable of being Commander-in-Chief. Laying out his stump speech agenda platform, Cruz detailed five policies he would implement on his first day in the Oval Office. Each policies Cruz said won him loud applause and cheers.

“The first thing I intend to do is to rescind every illegal, unconstitutional executive action taken by this president,” Cruz said. “This president likes to say he has a phone and he has a pen. Well, if you live by the pen, you die by the pen. Well, my pen has an eraser.”

Other plans Cruz laid out include ending the Obama administration’s nuclear arms deal with Iran, instructs the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute Planned Parenthood if criminal conduct was uncovered. Finally, Cruz added to “rescind every illegal executive action taken by President Obama.”

“And that is just day one,” Cruz said.