Presidential candidate Ted Cruz told CNN’s Jake Tapper Thursday that if the Republican primary boils down to a head-to-head competition with Marco Rubio, he’s “very confident [he’s] in a position to win the race.”
TAPPER: If it does come down to you versus Rubio, why you? …
CRUZ: As I look at the race, historically there’s been two major lanes in the Republican primary. There’s been a moderate lane and a conservative lane, and in past cycles there’s been a consensus moderate choice early on as soon as the money gets behind them… Conservatives — we fight like cats and dogs. There’s a ton of us. Nobody has any money, and that’s how the moderate wins the nomination and goes on to lose the job… In this cycle, that’s flipped. It’s inverted… I think Marco is certainly formidable in [the moderate] lane. Jeb’s campaign seems to view Marco as his biggest threat … But when you look at the conservative lane, what I’m really encouraged by is that conservatives are consolidating behind our campaign… Once it gets down to a head-to-head contest between a conservative and a moderate, I think the conservative wins. If you look at Republican primaries, conservatives outnumber moderates three to one right now, so if we get head-to-head, I’m very confident we’re in a position to win the race.