What Ted Cruz Is Counting On

George Will: “Cruz’s audacious ‘base plus’ strategy … aims to leaven the electorate with people who, disappointed by economic stagnation and discouraging cultural trends for which Republican nominees seemed to have no answers, have been dormant during recent cycles. … Whites without college experience include disproportionate numbers of nonvoters whose abstention in 2012 … produced Obama’s Electoral College victory.”

“The Cruz campaign’s substantial investment in data scientists serves what [Cruz chief strategist Jason] Johnson calls ‘behavioral micro-targeting,’ changing behavior as well as gathering opinions. If a person drives a Ford F-150 and subscribes to Guns & Ammo, he probably is conservative. The challenge is to make him a voter by directing to him a package of three- or four-issue appeals tailored to him.”