He might be right about being right

Democrats would be wise to be wary of Senator Ted Cruz.

He already has name recognition and acceptance among the far-righters.  He has been a champion of the ridiculous, such as repealing Obamacare and causing a government shutdown (which had no chance of accomplishing what it was supposed to accomplish).   When he doesn't get what he wants in the Senate, he appeals to the most right in the House to do it for him.  He has rankled the leadership in both the House and the Senate, which is greatly endearing to the Tea Party.

In short, he's the perfect Republican primary candidate, were it not for the circus candidacies of Donald Trump and Ben Carson, which are sure to ultimately fail.

And Cruz has a plan for victory.  Not by concentrating on the traditional early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire (which don't have a lot of convention votes anyway) -- rather, he plans to go after the deep South where the core of his Tea Party and fundamental religious support is likely to reside.

And the thing is -- he might be right.  He might emerge as the leader after that spate of Southern primaries.

Should Democrats be worried, and not just wary, if Cruz grabbed the nomination by this route?  I think not, but I'm never sure. Cruz has a long record of doing things that would move pragmatic moderates to vote against his brand of conservatism.  He can be blamed, rightly and repeatedly, for the government shutdown, and for advocating it as a tactic (though it is both useless and massively annoying to the populace).  His championing of the "repeal Obamacare" issue isn't likely to be welcomed by those whom the health care plan has helped.

And let's face it -- anybody who John Boehner is willing to label a jackass is just not Presidential material.

But I won't be surprised if this jackass is in the lead after the primaries on March 1, 2016.

In it to win it: Ted Cruz predicts Republican race will be between him and a 'moderate'