In this campaign, manipulation politics is coming of age, and we are learning how integral a part it is in the campaign of Senator Ted Cruz for President. Money and power characterize his strategy for winning the Republican nomination for President.

We need to understand that the seed of Ted's campaign started as a dream in his father Rafael Cruz's mind over thirty years ago. A Canadian citizen, Rafael Cruz Sr. believed there was no smarter boy than his, and he should be groomed to become the President of the United States of America someday. At a young age, Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz Junior was required to memorize the Constitution and display his knowledge before civic groups. Rafael Cruz Sr. began calling himself "Pastor" and preaching dominionism, a teaching that in the end time the "righteous" kings are destined to take the "spoils of the wicked" and usher in the return of the Messiah. We are just now learning how assiduous the passion of the father for his son's success has been in the courting process of evangelical leaders like Tony Perkins and Bob Vander Plaats. They have been convinced that Ted is the one who can win, and they have since been part of considerable pressure to get their associates to "coalesce" behind him as the one evangelical candidate.

While Governor Huckabee turned away the money of billionaires because he refuses to let them influence his decisions, particularly on issues of sanctity of life and marriage, Cruz has no such compunction. Money is necessary, the new evangelicals believe. Cruz, along with most Republican legislators in Washington D.C., function as if money equals golden opportunity equals necessary to winning. But it is not really winning, when that gold ties the hands of the Republicans to defeat spending bills.

This election cycle, a group of the nation's most powerful evangelical leaders have taken to their bosoms a belief that they needed to "coalesce" support for one candidate in order to defeat the Democrats, but one of their pillars on which they have rated candidates has been an ability to bring in large donations. Cruz won; Huckabee slid in their estimation.

Gov. Mike Huckabee sees donor class influence as one of the main problems that keeps a Republican Congress from voting any differently than Democrats. And that perpetuates the ongoing national debt crisis and many other problems affecting our national security. Only a President Huckabee would have the freedom from the donor class to push the 5th and 14th Amendments to protect the life of the unborn. He among the candidates would be the only one able to implement the Fair Tax and get rid of the IRS. Without the leadership of a strong and independent President, little progress is likely in defeating abortion and solving our financial crisis.

On the subject of doing anything to win, I will let the following article describe how Ted Cruz is spying on us and mining our Facebook information to tailor his approach to different groups. As Governor Huckabee says, there are two Teds (at least!). He says one thing in Manhattan and another in Iowa. And he apparently knows how each of us believe and how he can change his message to fit the group or person to whom he is addressing.

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/4 ... ysis-plans

Americans, who have been upset about the data-mining the government's National Security Administration has done by recording our emails and peeking at our Facebook pages, should be equally unhappy knowing that the Cruz campaign is following the Obama strategy of employing the Cambridge Analytica psychological data-gathering group to spy on their Facebook to tailor his campaign's approach to them.

Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Huckabee is constrained by principle. In a sense, he handicaps himself in the race. But as a man whose honesty and principle makes him eschew donor class money, he can speak the truth wherever he goes. He is campaigning in Iowa the old-fashioned way--person to person, listening and sharing his plan for this nation. Will the people of Iowa respond to that, as he hopes, or will the coalescing of evangelicals and the targeting of people with psychological spying and analysis be the approaches that win? I am praying that honesty and principle will prevail, and that the truth about the scheming of man will be exposed.

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True words. We lose, if we try to win by all and any means. Not worth it. Only those with true principles will endure. The last few days have already shown how shakey Cruz' campaign is, due to the inbuilt unrighteousness. Come a wind, and it be gone.

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He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. -Jim Elliot

The dominionism thing worries me the most if that's actually what Cruz believes in. It's a very dangerous and unbiblical belief system.

Huck described people like Cruz very well this weekend. They're like a vending machine which gives you whatever you want out of it. More than Cruz himself, his advocates like Levin have made me go with Trump if it came down between those two.

As for tomorrow, if Huck can come in at 4th place (hopefully higher), it would be a huge boost for him. And it wouldn't suprise me if he did place that high!

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Most people believe what they see, the Left see's what it believes.....

I could not support Trump for any reason. I have never been a Cruz guy but, if forced to choose between the two of them for some reason, would have to go with him over Trump. Too much is on the line. The next President will likely be able to appoint four Supreme Court Justices. Trump has been pro-abortion (pro LATE-TERM abortion) and never explained why he says he's pro-life now. I hope Huck does well tomorrow. But under no circumstance could I ever support Trump. Would support ANY GOP candidate except for him.

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The Values Voter
http://thevaluesvoter.spaces.live.com

I see your point about the Supreme Court justices, but it is not too much comfort to know that it was Ted Cruz as a member of the Bush administration who fought so hard to nominate Judge Roberts to the Supreme Court. He is the Chief Justice who gave us Obamacare on a silver platter when he called it just another tax. What a great disappointment Roberts has been to conservatives, and what great damage his deciding vote has made to our economy!

With Trump not being a Christian man, I do not expect any different behavior than he shows in his personal life. I hope he is truly pro-life now. I hope he has become a Christian, as he says. I hope he is not just saying this to get elected. Probably these claims are very shallow. But he is shaking things up and saying what others wish they could get away with saying. Who knows? If he were to accomplish what he says he wants to do, that could be good, but he is not the type of President who could lead morally.

While Cruz hypes his Christianity, he does not act in accordance with it either if he takes money from those same billionaires that want him to be silent on pro-life or pro-family issues. One of his billionaire donors is a gay marriage activist. His finances do not show a love for the Lord or the ministry, as he gives only about 1% to church or charity. This indicates a self-centered lifestyle to me. Gov. Huckabee is the only one who has kept himself free of the donor class by refusing to take their money. He gives a tithe of about 12% to his church and charity. He puts the needs of others and his relationship with the LORD and with his family first.

Perhaps we do not deserve a purist and good man like Mike Huckabee, but we NEED Huckabee in America now, for his character and leadership. I cannot see anyone else being able to beat Hillary Clinton. Democrats and her campaign would make toast of Cruz with the Canadian birth issue.

We are at a crux in the future of America. Consider--if we do not stop ISIS, if we do not seal the borders and stop amnesty, if we do not build our military and help our veterans, and if we do not stop the Iran deal, our nation will fall. The Caliphate is in earnest about taking over the world, and all that will prevent it is America not becoming involved. And if we do not stop runaway spending (which neither Cruz nor Rubio fought with effectiveness because of their donor class funding); if we do not stop the ties of Washington to corporate and hedge-fund wealth; if we do not pass the Fair Tax and dismantle the IRS; and by it, if we do not bring business, manufacturing and jobs back to the United States, our middle class will be lost and we could soon have a financial crash that will make the Great Depression look small.

Governor Mike Huckabee is the only one consistently fighting on all these counts for all the right things. He alone has the right ideas and well thought out plans such as the Fair Tax, that can actually solve America's problems.

That is what will be necessary to save our nation: experience, wisdom, and the great determination and work to get the job done. Not just talked about. We need a President with the will and determination to fight for what is right for the nation and not just for his own self interests.

God blessed our nation and brought America back from the brink with President Ronald Reagan. He gave us hope and did many things to strengthen our military and position in the world. Huckabee would be like him in popularity, but would go much further by eliminating the corrupt IRS and stopping illegal immigration. We have a rare opportunity to hire an experienced, principled candidate who would make one of the most-beloved Presidents ever.

Please pray for the Iowa caucuses today! Who knows how God may use even the weather to keep the Trump folks home; who knows how deep his popularity is or if it is all celebrity hype. We have tried to tell Huckabee's story and support him. Maybe we should have done better. But now we trust God to be merciful to America. Have we repented? "God be merciful to me, a sinner."

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Thank you, goalieman. I am not sure how much Cruz Junior believes. He attends a Baptist church, but he says he is very proud of his father's faith...It is useful for Ted Cruz to know that his father believes that he (Ted) is appointed of God to be a king that will take the spoils of the wicked.

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A poll done by Emerson now has Huck in 4th place in Iowa!

I'm expecting a mini Huckaboom tonight.

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Most people believe what they see, the Left see's what it believes.....

I agree with Values Voter regarding Trump vs Cruz. My biggest issue with Trump is that he's not really a Republican. Even Christie is a Republican even though he is more liberal on some issues then the platform says. I think that the long term well being of the party is threatened when an upstart can suddenly change his registration to Republican and run for president just because he feels like it and has enough personal fortune to pay for it. I'm pretty confident that a Cruz presidency would be preferable to any Democrat. I'm not sure that is true for Trump.

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Judith Martinez
"It is true poverty for a child to die so that we may live as we wish."

There has to be a reason that Trump is the only Republican Planned Parenthood has said nice things about. He's the guy they'd be least worried about. His own sister, whom he said would be a great Supreme Court Justice, overturned a late-term abortion ban as a Judge in New Jersey.

Like I said, I could support any other GOP candidate. But not Trump.

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The Values Voter
http://thevaluesvoter.spaces.live.com