Sen. Ted Cruz says Texas Gov. Rick Perry is "terrific," despite the Republican governor's past swipes at the state's junior senator for his involvement in the government shutdown, among other things.
Cruz told the Dallas Morning News in a recent interview that under Perry, the Lone Star State's economy has been "remarkable." He even suggested he might vote for Perry in the GOP primary should the governor decide to repeat his 2012 bid for the White House in 2016.
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"Rick Perry's been a terrific governor," he said, adding: "I can tell you this: as a voter, the person for whom I intend to vote in the 2016 Republican primary is whoever is standing up and leading, effectively fighting for free-market principles and the Constitution."
Perry, who has not announced whether he will seek the presidency again, has insulted Cruz in recent months. During a trip to Israel and England in October, he called the government shutdown in October that was championed by his fellow Republican "political theater" and
told the Washington Times that the senator's name had not been mentioned overseas.
Cruz has also been mentioned as a possible 2016 GOP presidential candidate, but a November survey by Public Policy Polling found both
good and bad news for the tea party favorite.
While he is by far the top choice of Texas Republicans to be the party's presidential candidate in 2016, 50 percent of all Texans say Cruz has been bad for the state's reputation, compared to 37 percent who think he's been good for it.
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