Can Ted Cruz run for President?

Cruz was a US citizen (and a Canadian citizen) at birth, thanks to his mother’s citizenship. Most of what I read says that’s good enough.

The law says the President must be a “natural-born citizen” (Section 1, Article Two of the Constitution).

But the Constitution does not define “natural-born citizen”, so there’s room for debate.

If he was born in America and moved away for a time then it is o.k. ~ I wonder if Donald Trump will ask for his birth certificate.

At least Obama was born in the US (Hawaii).

Cruz should create the same sort of birther issues that Obama did, but you can be sure that the republicans will quash those because Cruz is (so far) their golden boy.

My view: If Cruz is the Repo nominee, the democrat (Clinton or Biden) wins by a landslide.

While @elbanditoroso is correct in that Cruz would not raise the birther issue because that’s a card the rabid Republicans won’t play against one of their own, there is the practical matter that if he somehow managed to get teh GOP nomination, many non-rabid Conservatives would likely vote Democrat for the sake of sanity.

In other words, Cruz is not a viable candidate.

It is amusing (and a little concerning) how much editorial hypothesis has evolved into being presented as “news”.

Notice how often that “news” stories use words like “possibly”, “might”, “could”, ‘potentially”, etc.

Hey, news guys…..If Ted Cruz (or anyone else) makes even a casual comment that they are considering running for president (or local dog catcher), by all means, report it. I am interested.

Otherwise, please limit meaningless, thin speculation to your editorial pages….

There’s probably room for debate, but I doubt Cruz has raised his profile this high without having done a LOT of research into the issue and feels quite confident he’d be eligible. Whether he’s qualified or even has a real chance is, for me, unimaginable.

@Pachyderm_In_The_Room – you can say the same about Obama. But that didn’t keep the Repos from questioning his citizenship and demanding his birth certificate for five years, and some still do.

But then, Cruz is white. That makes a difference,

Even if he ran, he has ZERO chance of winning. McCain wasn’t born in the US either. He was born on a military base in Panama.

Come on, flip. “ZERO” ??

We both know that a few thousand of pinheads in Texas would vote for him. So his chances of winning are actually more like .000057%

Wherever he was born or raised his politics comes from Pluto!He already has a disapproval rating twice as high as his approval rating which means guaranteed failure!

I think we have to see his birth certificate.

@janbb He has shown his birth certificate. It says he was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

@flip86
Well, it is obviously a forgery.

@jaytkay nailed it.

A candidate in Cruz’s shoes isn’t totally unprecedented. John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, though that was at least under U.S. administration.

If you remember historical footnote Willard “Schitt” Romney, his dad George W. (seriously, not making this up) also ran for President. He was born in Mexico.

He can run, but he can’t hide. Or something.

It is the same story we’ve seen play out over and over. Cruz can win a primary, but he can’t win a general election. The Republican party doesn’t seem to be able to learn from its past mistakes – or perhaps it’s just setting Cruz up to entertain the loony base, and then will present the real candidate later.

@flip86 That was an attempt at irony.

And yeah, the fact that he’s Canadian is hilarious. Either the Reps have to admit that it doesn’t matter where the president was born (even if it’s Hawaii!), or they have to dismiss Cruz. But then, consistency was never their strong point anyway.

I wouldn’t think of challenging his citizenship, because I would LOVE to see him run. He can definitely win the Iowa Caucus too. If it were held today, he would blow everyone else in the party out of the water.

Loosely paraphrasing some political anekdota:

Alberta is a lot like Texas, but less hostile to the interests of the United States.

Watching that Jon Stewart / Stephen Colbert mock DC political rally on TV a couple of years ago, I’ll never forget a sign being held by a member of the audience:

“Birthers for Hawaiian Statehood”

@bolwerk That’s just about right, as long as you don’t consider “protecting the environment” to be an interest of the United States.

Although, in fairness – the lack of proportional representation is plainly an issue in Alberta. Traditionally, they have elected extremely conservative parties on a provincial and federal level, but most of the population is concentrated in two major cities (Edmonton and Calgary), and they tend to elect very liberal mayors, especially lately. So something is wrong there.

I believe the Tea Party Reps would try for a special exemption anyway, but I also believe like Jaytkay that the dual citizenship would pass the Constitution test. Anyone remember how Sen. Hatch was pressing for a Constitutional change when Schwarzenegger was hot?
The question would not have been this persistent if Obama were 100% white. . . . .

Just more exposed hypocrisy on the Right.

As the law is interpreted now I think he does not qualify. If you ask me personally, just as I said during the whole birther bullshit with Obama, I think since he was born as an eligible citizen of America, because he had an American parent, he should qualify.

They really need to redefine the law. I don’t even think place of birth should matter. Where the person was raised matters more. If someone is born outside of America, but moved here when he is two and lives here his/her entire life I don’t see how she is less American than someone born here. Their entire learning years and cultural experience is in America.

This question will happen more and more as the world gets smaller and smaller. People often marry people from other countries. It isn’t unusual for people to live a few years outside of the country. Accident of birth should not be the determining factor. What if your child is born early and you are vacationing off of American soil? Now your American baby can’t be President?

@glacial: Texas ain’t exactly very interested in helping the environment either. Actually, the parallels between those two really are striking.

@JLeslie: As the law is interpreted, Cruz is probably a natural-born citizen, and I assume he meets the residency requirement (which is a much more clear-cut issue, I suspect). I’m pretty sure American legislation defines who is natural-born, though that legislation has never been vetted by SCOTUS. SCOTUS had a chance with Obama, though they passed on it, presumably deferring to Congress the right to decide (IIRC, Obama had already been certified at that point). It’s likely they would do the same thing if, God forbid, Cruz won; Congress would have to certify the result for him to win, and it can theoretically refuse.

I really can’t see how that residency requirement isn’t ridiculous and counterproductive at this pont. A president from another country can only lend a unique perspective to a unique job. But, hurr, outsiders r scary!

@bolwerk Well, I should say that how it is legally interpreted I do think he can legally run, but the American ctizenry seems to think you have to be born here and that will affect whether the citizens vote for him or think he is a viable candidate. Not just the extreme birthers, but many Republicans went on and on about Obama supposedly not being born here and not being an eligible for President. The birthers went as far to say he was not an American. The hypocrisy and idiocy, will be so disgusting if they are ok with a Republican candidate not born on US soil. They really will look like racist bigots. They did anyway, but the ones who aren’t, but who just latched onto that whole birth certificate mess because they don’t like Obama for policy reason will look so dumb. What are they going to say? What are they going to say that makes it ok for this candidate and not Obama?

@JLeslie

“Selective memory”, I think they call it…

@JLeslie The American citizenry didn’t think you had to be born here when John McCain ran. Birthers don’t think being born here is enough when it comes to Obama. Go figure.

@ETpro McCain’s dad was stationed outside of the country, both ofnhis parents were American. I think saying McCain is ok to run is a no brainer for everyone. I don’t remember if he was born on an American base, that would be even more reinforcing. I never really looked into it, because for me I would always say he qualifies. Although, I agree with your point that for those who interpret it very strictly as born in one of the 50 states or DC McCain doesn’t qualify. Thing is the right wingers are so military supporting oriented they wouldn’t see straight if McCain’s Americanness was questioned.

I seem to recall there was even a court challenge about McCain, but it was flatly dismissed. But he never attracted the kind of flak the black guy did.

Sadly, the answer is apparently yes. Read/watch This.