Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) says Republicans will blow another presidential election if they nominate a moderate candidate. Responding to former Florida governor Jeb Bush's Tuesday announcement that he is "actively exploring" a 2016 bid, Cruz told Politico that recent history has shown moderate GOP candidates — Mitt Romney, John McCain, and Bob Dole — don't "work" in the general election.
"If we nominate another candidate in that same mold, the same voters who stayed home in 2008 and 2012 will stay home in 2016, and Hillary Clinton is the next president," he said.
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