Texas Border Business
1. Cruz needs to cut through the noise and confusion created by the expanding GOP field
2. Getting in first should help Cruz raise money
3. Skipping the “exploratory committee” phase cuts through the usual persiflage that surrounds nascent candidacies
4. The early declaration bolsters Cruz’s bid to be the standard-bearer for the party’s conservative activists
5. The sooner Cruz gets in, the longer his long-shot candidacy will last