During the afternoon hours of the South Carolina Republican caucus on Saturday, supporters of U.S. Senator and GOP presidential sorta frontrunner Ted Cruz are planning on gathering in Clearwater to help get the word out about their guy.
They plan on getting together at 1 p.m. at Quaker Steak and Lube, at 10400 49th St. N., to show their support for the über-conservative son of a Cuban immigrant.
"This is THE event where grassroots voters can gather and prepare to "Paint it Red for Ted" (and America) in the Tampa Bay area. Our goals are to make sure that voters are fully informed, and that they vote in the primary on March 15th," reads an email touting the event.
Organizers expect the event to be "HUGE." Whether that's a slight dig against frontrunner Donald Trump, who spoke in Tampa on Friday, we do not know.
But we do know that Cruz will not be in attendance, given that he'll likely want to be shaking hands with voters up until the last possible minute in South Carolina.
Florida's presidential preference primary is March 15, and it's uncertain where his standing will be by then. Depending on how Saturday's caucus turns out, as well as the Nevada caucus on Feb. 23 and Super Tuesday on March 1, Cruz might show up in strategic spots along the I-4 corridor leading up to Florida's primary.
After all, winning Florida is kind of a must; the Sunshine State offers a crap-ton of delegates to whoever wins the state.
As one of the most socially conservative, Obama-hatin' candidates among the remaining batch of Republican presidential hopefuls (especially since former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee dropped out after minuscule showing in Iowa), Cruz's platform is highly anti-immigrant, anti-LGBT and pro-war.
Renowned horror writer Stephen King recently called him the most terrifying presidential hopeful in the pack, and that electing him "would almost be like electing the analog of an Imam — someone whose first guiding principle would be the scripture, rather than the Constitution."
But even though Cruz is the most recognizable evangelical candidate, Trump has managed to carve out some appeal among evangelical voters.
