|
 The freshman Republican senator from Texas has none of the moderate
tendencies that financiers often prefer in presidential candidates.
Cruz relishes his image as an anti-establishment figure and boasts
of his aversion to compromise. He has vowed to abolish the Internal
Revenue Service and repeal President Barack Obama’s signature
healthcare plan, commonly known as Obamacare.
Despite the uncompromising rhetoric, Cruz is winning praise from
some potential Wall Street donors, including bankers and hedge fund
managers, who told Reuters there is more to him than the
conservative firebrand of the campaign trail. He has been courting
financiers in their homes in New York and Greenwich, Connecticut,
they said.
But the praise does not appear to be translating into cash donations
- at least so far. Some potential donors on Wall Street said they
had doubts about whether Cruz can win the 2016 election, when he
would likely face off against Hillary Clinton.
A spokesman for Cruz said his campaign was happy with its initial
fundraising effort and believed that the senator appealed to a wide
range of people.
Financiers who have met with Cruz said he demonstrated a firm grasp
of specific policy issues and was able to discuss them at length and
offer specific ideas of his own, without dodging tough questions or
resorting to rhetorical flourishes.
This is one reason why he is seen as a stronger candidate than some
other favorites of the small government Tea Party movement such as
Michele Bachmann, who ran a failed bid for president in 2012.
"He's probably the smartest person running," said Thomas Peterffy,
the billionaire founder of Interactive Brokers. "Even though
personally I do not believe that abortion is something that should
be prohibited and I do not believe we should not care about the
environment, nevertheless I think Ted has the qualities - he
definitely has a shot."
Cruz has said state governments should be able to set their own
limits on abortions and that he does not see evidence that global
warming is occurring.
CRUZ SURPRISES POTENTIAL DONORS
Peterffy, who spent $8 million on TV ads in 2012 urging Americans to
vote Obama out of office or face creeping socialism, said he had not
yet made up his mind about which Republican to support in the 2016
race. He said his decision is going to be based on whom he deems
electable. But he added that he expected either Ted Cruz or Florida
Senator Marco Rubio to become president "within the next 20 years."
One Boston-based lawyer who advises clients, "mostly
multi-millionaires and just one billionaire," on political
donations, said each one of his clients had met with Cruz and half
of them had come away praising the senator as smart and compelling
in a one-on-one setting.
Based on Cruz's reputation as a right-wing flame-thrower, the
lawyer, who did not want to be identified by name, said he had not
expected any of his clients to like the candidate. "I'm surprised
about the half that came away impressed," he said.
But his clients are not alone. Others who have met Cruz in private
settings say he comes across as a brainy politician whose most
hardline statements seem like popularity-seeking varnish that will
eventually be scraped away.
"When I saw him he was completely sober – he was having serious
policy discussions," said one hedge fund CFO, who declined to be
named. He said he was not normally inclined to get involved in
politics and had to be dragged to a house party in Greenwich at
which Cruz had appeared alongside John Boehner, the top Republican
in the U.S. House of Representatives.
"He's a real person. He's smart, he knows issues – that's just not
true of a lot of politicians," the CFO said.
TRANSLATING PRAISE INTO CASH
It's not yet clear though whether Cruz can translate the
receptiveness of a powerful community outside of his base of
conservative activists into more financial support.
Robert Mercer, the billionaire founder of the hedge fund Renaissance
Technologies, last month contributed a large portion of the $31
million donated in one week to a consortium of pro-Cruz political
action committees called Keep the Promise.
[to top of second column] |
But other mega-donors who have met with Cruz and said they liked
him, including the billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, have
held off donating to him over concerns about his electability.
Strong showings in the early primary states of New Hampshire, Iowa
and South Carolina will be key to winning more donors, strategists
say.
New Hampshire strategist Dave Carney pointed to Cruz's strength in a
series of straw polls in South Carolina - in April he won in four
important counties - as evidence that his campaign has legs. To win
in New Hampshire Cruz needs to focus on meeting voters in person and
will have to win over moderate and independent voters in addition to
conservative activists.
"He has abilities as a retail politician to listen and be sincere
and authentic," Carney said, adding that while Cruz "may use
different language," his message has to remain consistent to be
taken seriously.
Cruz has establishment credentials that set him apart from other
populist Republicans such as Mike Huckabee, who won the Iowa caucus
in 2008 but lost the party presidential nomination to Senator John
McCain, and Bachmann, who won a straw poll vote in the early voting
state of Iowa in 2011 only to see her presidential campaign later
lose momentum.
Cruz, a former official in President George W. Bush's
administration, holds degrees from Princeton University and Harvard
Law School. His wife, who worked in the Bush White House, has taken
unpaid leave from Goldman Sachs in Houston, where she is a managing
director overseeing a wealth management unit.
Some investors said his braininess and establishment credentials
won't be enough for Cruz unless he pulls back from some of his more
hardline positions.
"Ted Cruz has been to my house with his wife," said Andy Sabin, a
metals trader and refinery owner in Easthampton, New York who gives
not only to political causes but to environmental conservation
efforts as well.
"I said, 'some time in the next four or five cycles you will be
president but you’ve got to come to the center.'"
Sabin is leaning toward supporting former Florida Governor Jeb Bush,
who has positioned himself as a moderate able to appeal to a cross
section of Republican voters.
T. Boone Pickens, the Texan hedge fund tycoon, called Cruz "a
serious guy" in an interview with Reuters. But he too, was throwing
his support behind Bush, he said on the sidelines of the Skybridge
Alternatives Conference, known as SALT, in Texas.
Anthony Scaramucci, who organized the hedge fund conference and is
founder of the hedge fund SkyBridge Capital, said he didn't think
Cruz had quite broken through to Wall Street.
"Ted is super smart and touches a nerve in the heartland where
people are unhappy with the way things are going," Scaramucci said.
"But it will be very difficult for him to garner establishment
money."
(Reporting By Emily Flitter in New York; Additional reporting by
Svea Herbst-Bayliss in Las Vegas, editing by Ross Colvin)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
