Can Cruz run for president??

[wiredshut]

Ted Cruz, born in Canada. Isn't one required to be born in the U.S. in order to run for president? Yet all I hear on msnbc is their wondering out loud "why is Ted Cruz doing this?" The answer, after the usual "I'm not sure" , is that "he wants to raise his profile to run for president". Does he have to be born in the U.S.? Please enlighten me.

MY THEORY: Cruz is following the Palin Plan. Raise all sorts of hell, get your people behind you, then quit and start writing books. He's probably already writing.

[DrDan]

1. yes he can - his mother is a U.S.citizen so he was a citizen at birth

[lapfog_1]

2. ah no... not according to the birthers.

after all, no one has disputed that Obama's mother was a US citizen. But despite all the evidence that Obama was born in Hawaii, the birthers still claim that he cannot be President.

There is no formal definition of "natural born citizen" that I know of...

McCain was born in Panama... however, he was born in a military hospital on a US Army base. No one ever questioned his right to be President.

[DrDan]

4. "citizen at birth" seems to be the widely accepted definition

and he qualifies

I sure hope we are not on our way to become followers of the "birthers" - that would be darned embarrassing

[dballance]

5. Yep, but it's not like hypocrisy or consistency is a problem for those people.

They'll be more than happy to say that Calgary Ted's mother confers US citizenship on him without the slightest hint of irony or hypocrisy. Because it's okay if you're a Republican.

I don't believe any court has ever actually addressed the issue. But from what I've been reading the legal scholars believe that since Calgary Ted didn't have to undergo any naturalization process to become a US citizen he is, therefore, a natural citizen and eligible to run. And yes, that's not at all a logical argument anyone brought up with respect to Obama because no sanity and logic was involved in the birther movement.

I'm guessing this is the same reason no one challenged Romney's dad's eligibility even though he was born in Mexico it was to two US citizens so he was a citizen at birth.

[HubertHeaver]

7. Romney the Elder's citizenship would have been challenged

had his campaign not blown up for other reasons. Nixon's backers would never have allowed Romney near the nomination.

[Igel]

8. They had two lines of argument.

The first was place of birth. It wasn't sufficient by itself. Some argued it was. But that's a caricature of at least some Birther opinion. (Nothing's ever as simple as its opponents make it out to be. Simpleton, meet simpleton.)

They also claim there's an obscure constraint on legacy citizenship. Something like your US-citizen mother has to have resided in the US for so long before birth or can't have been out of the US for more than a certain period of time. I don't recall ever seeing an actual statute cited. But that's the rest of the argument.

[Gore1FL]

3. Yep

He meets the Constitutional requirements.

He doesn't have a chance in hell of winning, unless they find a way to put massive amounts of lead in our drinking water.

[joetoryt]

6. hmm

But he is not natural born

[Sunlei]

9. Yes, he can his Mom is an American and Cruz is also Canadian. Shale oil corp$$ must love$$ him.

[kydo]

10. One problem. He wasn't a natural birth. He was hatched.

I saw this movie called The Omen explained the whole thing. Only The Omen took some liberties with the facts. In the movie ted's oops Damian's dad was an Ambassador and he kills his mom, the rest is true.

[Nye Bevan]

11. Yes, according to most legal scholars.

Most believe that "natural born" means "US citizen at time of birth", as opposed to becoming a naturalized citizen.

[Mz Pip]

12. He can run

He just can't win.

[tavernier]

13. Yes Please!!!!!!!! N/t

[jenmito]

14. Even though the Birthers say about Obama, "Go back to KENYA! You're illegitimate," I can't

imagine them being consistent and saying to Cruz, "Go back to CANADA! You're illegitimate!" Hypocrites. Obama is "foreign" only because he's BLACK.

[MiniMe]

15. IOKIYAR

It's OK if you're a republican

[Iceberg Louie]

16. I don't know that Cruz will ever see the general election

The GOP establishment has already written him off, rightly so, as a liability on the national front. He will never get the RNC nomination; his only hope of getting on the ballot is to break off and go third party. I agree he may have his sights set on a lucrative post-electoral career in books and personal appearances. He's established his bona fides as knuckle-headed red-meat fodder; he has little to nothing else to contribute to the national dialogue.

[Lil Missy]

17. Yes he can, and that would be a gift to Democrats!

[Jamaal510]

18. With his Spanish surname and him being born in Canada,

it'll be interesting to see if the Birthers harass Carnival Cruz, too, but I strongly doubt they will. But yeah...Cruz definitely can run for U.S. president, since he does have at least one native-born parent.

[ancianita]

19. If he does, he must show the long form to Trump, other birthers and the media.

[SmittynMo]

20. I say let him run

It will be the worst turnout for the GOP, EVER!!! I'm thinking that they'll get around 30% of the vote. It will be a landslide victory for the democrats.

[agentS]

21. he MIGHT win Iowa...

But fail after that because NH isn't Iowa crazy.