Talks family, American dream
Not to be outdone by the GOP's heavy hitters, Texas Senate candidate Ted Cruz took command of the Republican National Convention Tuesday night.
"We are seeing a great awakening, a national movement of we the people," Cruz told the delegates.
Insiders call him the new face of the Republican Party, a Latino with Tea Party beliefs, given a prime time slot to shine.
Cruz spoke of his mother, the first in her family to earn a college degree. And his father, who fled from Cuba with only $100 dollars to his name and no knowledge of the English language.
"He washed dishes making 50 cents an hour to pay his way through college and to start a small business in the oil and gas industry," he said.
Cruz fired up the convention, calling the current presidency a tragedy, pointing to how far we've come from "hope and change."
"Telling seniors Medicare will be taken away, telling Hispanic that we're not welcome here, and sending the vice president to preach a message of division," he said.
But his Democratic opponent Paul Sadler lashed back, insisting Cruz does not represent Texas as a whole.
"Mr. Cruz's message is a radical extreme message that hurts us as Texans in Social Security and Medicare, and destruction of the Department of Education," Sadler told KTRH News. "This is the first week of school and he would take more funds away from our children, and that's not the main stream message for Texas."
Experts say Cruz's appearance was all about drumming up support among Hispanics and young voters.
"When you see Marco Rubio, when you see Mike Lee, or Scott Walker, this is kind of a new era of Republican leadership," says GOP pollster Chris Perkins. "Ted Cruz is now part of that group."
