The DC Examiner’s Joel Gehrke reports that “Allies of Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., in Iowa have begun raising questions about whether Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, qualifies for president under the Constitution, according to an in-state political operative who supports the Texas lawmaker.”
This, of course, is consistent with something I wrote a couple weeks ago: “[O]n the surface, Cruz and Paul are friendly toward one another — which is exactly why (at some point) they will try to destroy each other. In reality, Christie is merely Paul’s nemesis. But Cruz is likely to become Paul’s archenemy.”
(I thought I was ahead of the curve, but it turns out that Alex Seitz-Wald saw this coming months ago.)
In any event, this was entirely predictable — and likely unavoidable. But don’t expect to hear the candidates, themselves, squabbling. This sort of thing is usually done via a whisper campaign. Still, it must be done — because they are competing for the same scarce resources.
If you don’t have time to read my column, this simple chart explains it all.
Note: Matt Lewis’ wife formerly worked as a consultant for Ted Cruz.