Weekly Standard - Among the Faithful Conservatives, Cruz Shines

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By Michael Warren

It's no accident that Texas senator Ted Cruz sounds like a minister on the stump. His father, Rafael, is an evangelical pastor, after all. And as the Republican presidential candidate displayed before the faith-focused crowd at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority conference in Washington this week, his pastoral pedigree may be paying off.

"The Word tells us," Cruz said Wednesday afternoon, rounding back toward the podium like a preacher returning to the Bible during a sermon. " "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh the morning.' And I'll tell you this."

Cruz's voice became more intense and purposeful. "Morning is coming," he said. "Morning is coming."

It was by far the best received address among the three presidential candidates speaking at the conference Wednesday at Washington's Omni Shoreham hotel. Cruz had been preceded by his fellow senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, and they all hewed closely to their stump speeches. Paul and Rubio performed well, though the latter stumbled over a few frequent lines that he ought to have down pat. But Cruz's soaring rhetoric, his focus on religious liberty, and his natural affinity for the crowd made him a standout on the conference's first day.

Among the folks here, Cruz is a rock star. His entrance to the stage was met with the most raucous applause. He opened his address by requesting a moment of silence to reflect on the murders of nine churchgoers in Charleston, South Carolina. It was a long and poignant pause, from which Cruz segued into his speech by telling the group it is a "new morning" and diving right into the issue he said would be the most important of the election.

"I believe 2016 will be the religious liberty election," Cruz said. "Religious liberty has never been more threatened in America than right now today."

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