"Cruz was the earliest to organize here and unquestionably had the deepest connections on the ground. His top local organizer, Bette Grande, has been supporting him for months, dating back to when Cruz's father, Rafael Cruz, came to her house last September during a North Dakota campaign swing."
How do you not love this? Literally eight months ago, he was already having his father campaign in North Dakota. And not just doing events, but going to the house of top local organizers in, again, not Iowa, not New Hampshire, not South Carolina, but North Dakota. And it's not like Ted was working any less hard.
There is a serious discussion to be had about policy in this election campaign, about how increasingly extreme and often dangerous views are becoming ever-more-acceptable, and how about one of the two major parties in the United States is approaching a breakdown as its leaders are finally engaging with their voters, and finding they don't like what they see, and what that means.
That is a serious topic, and there is much to be said about it. But this campaign is also a testament to hard work. The only reason why Ted Cruz is still standing, and not Marco Rubio or Ben Carson or Bobby Jindal or Scott Walker, and remains the most likely person to be the Republican nominee, is because Cruz outworked every opponent of his by a factor of four. Not only did he outwork his opponents, but his father and wife outworked his opponent candidates by a factor of two.
I respect work in the way that only a truly lazy person can, and I must say that as distasteful as I think an enormous number of Ted Cruz's policy views are, I am in awe of his work ethic, and the work ethic of his campaign. For those of you who are actually wondering what it would take to make a revolution, or any such grandiose effort, it starts with this; doing simply everything, every possible thing, to make it work, going even to North Dakota eight months in advance on the off chance that an organizer there can win you an extra three delegates the better part of a year later.