Conservative activist Richard Viguerie tells
Newsmax TV that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz stands out as a conservative candidate for president in 2016 because he's "the whole package."
"He's running as the first top tier principled constitutional conservative since Ronald Reagan," Viguerie, the chairman of ConservativeHQ, told J.D. Hayworth and Miranda Khan on "America's Forum" on Thursday.
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Compared to other potential Republican candidates for president in 2016, such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Viguerie contends that "Ted Cruz is more of the whole package."
"Mike Huckabee has never, to the best of my knowledge, gone outside of the social issue arena," he explained. "He's very strong in that area, but he's made very little attempt that I can see to become a traditional Ronald Reagan conservative that unites what used to be three legs of the conservative movement."
He says that Huckabee is "kind of a one base candidate. Ted Cruz has got all four bases out there covered."
According to the chairman of ConservativeHQ, "we've had some good conservatives running for president, but quite frankly they weren't going to be nominated, they weren't going to be elected president, and the conservative movement is on fire with excitement because we finally got a top tier conservative candidate."
"Maybe there'll be others that will join, but right now, Ted Cruz has a base — the conservative movement — and nobody has united Ronald Reagan's three legs of the stool: social issues, economic issues, and foreign policy in the way that Ted Cruz has," he said.
Viguerie contends that there is a leadership vacuum in the country right now, and that "Republicans [will] get more of a backbone because the base will demand it with Ted Cruz articulating the issues."
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