Cruz Soundly Defeats Dewhurst For Texas Senate Seat

With 100% of the votes counted, Ted Cruz has handily defeated Lt Governor David Dewhurst for the Republican nomination in the Texas primary run-off for the U.S. Senate race. The final tally, according to the Texas Secretary of State is 56.80% to 43.19%. That is a solid 13 point victory.

  To state that this sends earthquake level ramifications within the state Republican party is accurate. This ends the next in line mindset so prevalent within the party structure. Many of the career politicians, the current leadership, the "establishment" members of the party threw in early support of Dewhurst in hopes of maintaining the status quo and their own career ambitions. The Senate members in Washington, D.C. will be all the better for this victory, if all indicators prove correct. Renewed enthusiasm from the grassroots of the party is crucial for future victories and many of us within the party are looking at the long term picture. The Republican brand has been updated after experiencing a slow decline in previous elections.

  This is how Politico's Mike Allen led off his daily "Playbook" column:

WHAT THE TEA PARTY WIN MEANS TO GOVERNING: The 13-point victory by Ted Cruz, the former Texas solicitor general, over the sitting lieutenant governor, David Dewhurst, is a dramatic manifestation of the repeated pattern in GOP primaries over the past three years: upset victories by more-conservative, non-establishment candidates. Don't underestimate the level of BUSH GUILT among activists over the spending of the past decade, and their determination to undo it. This means a growing swath of Capitol Hill Republicans have NO allegiance to leadership: The incentive, rather, is to REMAIN PURE. And these candidates have access to their own media and money - the traditional party levers for containing rebels.

SO EVEN IF ROMNEY WERE TO WIN - even if the GOP held the House and took the Senate -- there's no guarantee he'd be able to broker a deal with his own party, on deficits or anything else.

  From Politico's Dave Cantanses:

--"Move over, Marco: Cruz a GOP star-in-the-making," "He is the Canadian-born son of an American mother and Cuban father who fled to Texas at age 18 with $100 sewn in his underwear. [His parents worked] their way through college on his father's dishwashing job before starting a small business in seismic-data processing for oil companies. ... He was a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review, the first Hispanic to clerk for Chief Justice of the United States, William Rehnquist."

In the afterglow of his win, though, the future looks bright. Like President Barack Obama, Cruz is a telegenic constitutional lawyer with a Harvard Law degree and parents of different backgrounds. Like Rubio, he has a rich family history that’s rooted in Cuba.

  Should President Obama win re-election, who better to advance Republican philosophy and policy from the U.S. Senate than the voice of Ted Cruz?