New York Times: Cruz Campaign Manager–‘Scorched Earth and Victories’

Matt Flegenheimer writes in the New York Times:

For weeks, the labels have hung over Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign like dirty laundry: Deceitful. Cynical. Willing to do anything to win.

The attacks from Mr. Cruz’s Republican rivals have challenged his core campaign promises of integrity and conservative purity, cresting on Monday when he dismissed his communications director, Rick Tyler, for spreading a misleading video about Marco Rubio’s views on the Bible.

“There is a culture in the Cruz campaign, from top to bottom,” a Rubio spokesman, Alex Conant, said, “that no lie is too big and no trick too dirty.”

The episode threatened to tarnish Mr. Cruz’s brand. But not his campaign manager’s.

As Mr. Cruz has elbowed into the top tier of candidates, his campaign has reflected the brand of its principal architect: Jeff Roe, an operative with a reputation for scorching earth, stretching truths and winning elections.

“When you win campaigns,” Mr. Cruz said last month of the man he hired, “the people that lose tend to be unhappy about it.”

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