Ted Cruz, declaring his
win in Iowa's GOP presidential caucuses as a "remarkable victory," hailed the results as a "victory for the grassroots" and said that Americans "want a leader they can trust."
"It is breathtaking to go see what happens when so many Americans stand up and decide they're fed up with what happens in Washington and they want something different," the Texas Republican told CNN's Dana Bash in an interview recorded Monday night and airing on the network's
"New Day" program Tuesday.
"They want a leader they can trust. They want someone who will stand and fight for them against the corruption of Washington."
But rather than focusing on whether third-place finisher Marco Rubio took votes away from Trump, Cruz said he's more focused on "the fact that courageous conservatives across Iowa, all across the country generated the most votes ever given" in a GOP primary.
He also praised the grassroots movement behind his campaign, noting that it has 200,000 volunteers, including 12,000 volunteers in Iowa.
Cruz insisted he likes and respects everyone in the race, and noted that both Trump and Rubio had good nights, as well as Ben Carson.
"Everyone in this field I like and respect," he said. "We're going to stay focused on making the case to the American people that we can't have another campaign conservative."
Meanwhile, Cruz said he's amused hearing pundits saying Iowa was "tailor made" for him.
"I heard Trump will win, Trump will win," he said. "Every media pundit [said it]. Suddenly, the grassroots proved the media wrong. Of course it was a foregone conclusion that Ted was going to win. This is the power of the conservative grassroots."
He described his campaign as being built on "common sense. Live within your means. Don't bankrupt your kids."
Cruz also said he believes that it will be entirely possible that the GOP nominee will be know by the end of March.
"Winning Iowa is a good first step," said Cruz. "You have to do more. That doesn't do it on its own. But winning Iowa particularly, if you look at the past two caucus winners, when they came out of Iowa they were broke.
"They didn't have the national infrastructure to be able to compete effectively enough to win the nomination."
Cruz, though, noted that his campaign still has as much as the campaigns of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie combined.
"I believe we have the national campaign and infrastructure to capitalize on this victory, to keep working to go win the votes," said Cruz.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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