Can Ted Cruz prove to the GOP establishment that far right isn’t wrong?

With the exception of Rand Paul on certain issues, no major presidential candidate is as conservative as Ted Cruz. He even pushes past Paul on many of the issues. He’s love by the tea party, loved by Texas, and loved by those who believe a conservative candidate is the best way for the Republican party to reacquire the White House in 2016.

The question that some are starting to ask is whether or not he can demonstrate enough popularity with the GOP establishment, the moderate branch of the party that has churned out every candidate since unofficially taking over in 1976 after losing to Jimmy Carter, that they’re willing to allow him to be their candidate. There hasn’t been anyone as conservative as him get close to winning the nomination since Richard Nixon.

History is not on his side. In 2012, both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum were more conservative than Mitt Romney, but when all was said and done they chose to go with the weak moderate candidate than to take a shot with the outspoken Santorum or the controversial Gingrich. George W. Bush was also an establishment choice, but here’s the strange part: his politics turned out to be much more moderate than his initial campaign in 2000 and turned conservative again for the 2004 election. Between campaigns, his policy outside of foreign relations was moderate at best and possibly even liberal by some accounts.

Before Bush, the GOP establishment’s list of failures include John McCain, Bob Dole, and George H.W. Bush. Ronald Reagan was an “open-minded moderate” on certain issues but, like GWB, had a conservative posture on foreign relations and enough conservative backing to overcome his moderate undertones.

Ted Cruz is ideologically to the right of all of them.

A recent article on the National Journal starts asking some “what if” questions about a Cruz campaign that makes the right moves:

This has been the stuff of dreams and schemes among conservative leaders since George W. Bush left the White House. Convinced that Republicans nominated a “moderate” in the past two presidential elections because the conservative vote was splintered—and certain that John McCain and Mitt Romney lost in November because the GOP base didn’t turn out—this clutch of right-wing activists wants desperately to prevent a third act. In conference calls, email chains, and private meetings across the country, they have plotted to accomplish in 2016 what they could not in 2008 or 2012: uniting behind a single candidate.

Read more on the National Journal.