CRUZIN' – AT 9:16 A.M. ET:  Ted Cruz has become the first Republican to announce formally for president.  From NBC: 

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is the first in for 2016.

"I'm running for President and I hope to earn your support!" Cruz announced on Twitter early Monday. The conservative Republican famed for his staunch opposition to the president's signature health care law and his executive actions on immigration will announce the start of his campaign at an address at Liberty University in Virginia later in the day, making him the first presidential candidate to formally announce a White House run.

Can Cruz win the nomination?  Well, it would take a miracle.  He is young, brash, and brilliant.  He's in his first year in the Senate and has already burned many bridges.  To say he's an outsider is an understatement.  When the GOP establishment sees him coming, they lock the doors and load their rifles. 

But he is brilliant.  Alan Dershowitz, late of the Harvard Law School, has said that Cruz was one of the best students he ever had.  But brilliance alone is not enough.  I really don't think Cruz is exactly ready to take on the presidency.  But he will help shape the debate, and introduce himself to the nation.  I think he is more of a man of the future than the present.  I'm glad he's in it.  He will raise the level of the debate, as well as the heat. 

March 23,  2015