‘When we launched our campaign, the New York Times promptly opined, ‘Cruz cannot win because the Washington elites despise him,’” Ted Cruz tells a crowd of cheering supporters. “I kinda thought that was the whole point of the campaign!”
So begins “We the People,” a new, 60-second digital ad from Keep the Promise I, a pro-Cruz super PAC. As the Texas senator continues to climb in presidential polls, and with many now predicting he’ll win Iowa caucuses, Keep the Promise I is attempting to capitalize, targeting Iowa, South Carolina, New Hampshire, and Nevada with the ad’s social-media rollout.
It’s the latest effort from a Cruz super PAC that thus far has had little digital-ad presence in the early voting states, and it comes as television ads attacking Cruz begin to stack up. Keep the Promise I and the allied super PACs Keep the Promise II and III are putting up $600,000 for “We the People,” calling it a portrait of Cruz’s “unifying messages of leadership, American strength, and common sense.” The clip features scenes from various Cruz rallies, highlighting the grassroots ground game that has defined his campaign.
“As Cruz rises in the polls, his opponents lie about his record,” said Keep the Promise I president Kellyanne Conway in a press release. “Yet, thousands of our nation’s conservative grassroots citizens are uniting behind the proven and powerful leadership Senator Cruz can provide to America in our time of great need.”
#share#Keep the Promise I has also announced the coordination of a mail drop across Iowa and South Carolina. Starting Tuesday, nearly half a million households across the two states will receive an “8-page mini newspaper” introducing Cruz “in his own words” and promoting “the way in which family and freedom motivate him.” The pamphlet prominently features Representative Steve King’s endorsement of Cruz, as well as the answer to the question, “What Makes Ted Cruz Tick?” (The answer, in short: his family and Jesus Christ.)
The three pro-Cruz super PACs have stuffed their coffers with nearly $40 million, largely thanks to multi-million dollar donations from patrons such as Renaissance Technologies’ Robert Mercer and Texas oil and gas magnate Tony Neugebauer.
In the latest Monmouth poll, Cruz finds himself ahead of the pack in Iowa with 24 percent of the vote, easily besting longtime frontrunner Donald Trump, who claims 19 percent.
— Elaina Plott is a William F. Buckley Fellow in Political Journalism at the National Review Institute.