AG stumps for Cruz in Fallon

The Cruz campaign for president has accelerated beyond cruise control and ahead of the state’s First in the West caucus on Feb. 23 as a handful of informal meetings led by Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt are slated around Nevada.

The Caucus for Cruz tour kicked off in Fallon Thursday morning with a breakfast at Stockman’s, while other events in southern Nevada were planned later in the day and also Friday. Laxalt said he did something similar two years ago when he began his statewide tour as a candidate for attorney general. Down by 30 points in several polls, Laxalt used the grassroots effort to upset the incumbent Ross Miller. Although Laxalt’s margin of victory was slim across the state, he won Churchill County by almost 2,800 votes.

“Everything comes down to everyone turning out,” Laxalt said. “Fallon and the rural counties are where I won the statewide race,” Laxalt said. “We all share conservative values.”

It is that approach Laxalt, as state chairman for the Cruz campaign, is taking as he crisscrosses the state promoting the first-term U.S. senator from Texas. Laxalt said he has talked to all the Republican primary candidates either in person or on the telephone and feels Cruz possesses the most consistent conservative values with a proven record.

As the youngest attorney general in the country, the 37-year-old Laxalt said Cruz understands the United States Constitution and the rule of law.

“The last seven years, our political leaders have violated the Constitution and picked and chosen which law they want,” Laxalt said.

Laxalt said Cruz has been engaged with the Constitution since he was a teenager growing up in the Houston area and was appointed solicitor general by then Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, now the governor. Furthermore, Laxalt said Cruz has argued nine cases in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Laxalt said protecting America is another area in which he feels Cruz will take seriously.

“Americans needs to remain strong and take the fight to the enemies,” Laxalt said of Cruz’s stance. “Cruz calls the enemies for what they are: Radical Islamic terrorists.”

Laxalt said President Ronald Reagan was strong in foreign affairs when he served as president in the 1980s and at one point called the former Soviet Union as “the evil empire.” Thirty years later, Laxalt said Cruz opposed the nuclear deal with Iran and feels the country will still spread its state-sponsored terror in the Middle East.

“We need to pick someone strong on foreign policy,” Laxalt emphasized.

Finally, Laxalt said Cruz will protect people’s conservative values and does not believe in keeping the status quo. When Cruz won election to the Senate in 2012, Laxalt said Cruz went to Washington, D.C. to change the way policy is done.

“He was there to fight Washington and there to change Washington,” Laxalt said, adding the established Republican party was not pleased with Cruz because he supported his constituents — not Washington — on many issues. With weeks before Nevada’s caucus, Laxalt said Nevadans have an opportunity to elect a person who will be consistent in his core, conservative values and one who rose from a grassroots campaign.

Robert Uithoven, Nevada director for Cruz’s campaign, said he is a precinct chairman in south Reno and has been visiting homes of Republican voters.

“We can’t rely on others to do the work for us,” Uithoven said. “We need to get people engaged and perhaps they will get others involved.”

He is encouraging others to be committed and to bring their friends and neighbors to the caucus.

“I feel we can win a grassroots campaign like Adam did,” Uithoven added.

David Colburn, county chairman for Cruz, said a meeting conducted two weeks ago for caucus training attracted about eight people. As for Thursday’s breakfast, which was attended by about 30 people, he said the meeting is to get people thinking about the upcoming caucus and candidates.

“This is an interesting process,” Colburn said of the caucus procedures. “I came from a state that has primaries.”