Ted Cruz and Rick Perry dueling for dominance in the Texas Republican Party

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Dumb and Dumber for pres.

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) – Neither U.S. Senator Ted Cruz nor Governor Rick Perry are on the ballot in Tuesday’s run-off elections in Texas, but that doesn’t mean the two larger-than-life politicians who share a penchant for cowboy boots are not central figures in the contest.

The Lone Star State’s two most prominent Republicans are dueling for dominance of the state party – and, perhaps, for the inside track to be the GOP’s nominee for the 2016 presidential race. Tuesday’s results could shift the balance in that battle.

Cruz appears likely to win this round, with Tea Party allies poised to post victories in several contests. That could further raise the first-term senator’s profile and return some luster to the Tea Party movement after several candidates were defeated by mainstream Republicans in primaries this week in other states.

“This would serve as further verification that Texas Republican primary voters have moved further to the right and embraced Cruz’s message of ideological purity and partisanship over a more pragmatic conservative vision of someone like Perry, during most of his tenure in office,” said Mark Jones, chair of the political science department at Rice University in Houston.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/05/23/ted-cruz-and-rick-perry-dueling-for-dominance-in-the-texas-republican-party/