LE MARS IOWA ¨C Sen. Ted Cruz used a series of long-scheduled appearances in Iowa over the weekend to cast himself as the natural leader of a burgeoning conservative movement that nearly derailed the new health care law.
¡°Two weeks ago it was impossible, this week President Obama and the Democrats are saying ¡®Holy cow, this thing really isn¡¯t working,¡¯ ¡± Cruz, a Republican, told a supportive crowd there a few hours after bagging two pheasants in a hunt with Republican Rep. Steve King. (¡°There were about a dozen Dick Cheney jokes,¡± Cruz said.)
No politician spends a weekend in Iowa in the chilly fall of an odd-numbered year unintentionally ¡ª and fewer political visitors bring along their spouse. But with his wife, Heidi, watching just beyond the television cameras, Cruz told reporters at a state Republican Party fundraiser Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa, that he¡¯s focused on staying and fighting in the Senate and increasing participation in the conservative movement.
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