Cruz control?

November was an awful month for turkeys, the Philadelphia 76ers and perhaps most of all, Dr. Ben Carson. He went from top in the polls to 15 points behind Donald Trump in all of three weeks. Referring to Hamas, the Palestinian political organization viewed by the United States as a terrorist group, as “hummus,” a Middle Eastern dip viewed by the United States as a vehicle for pita chips, will do that to you. Emerging from this inevitable decline are Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz -- as of now the two most likely bearers of the Republican standard next November.

On face, the two share remarkable similarities. Both are children of Cuban immigrants. Both are 44 years old. Both are first-term senators -- Rubio from Florida and Cruz from Texas. Both have already developed big reputations -- Rubio for his role in immigration reform, and Cruz for filibustering Obamacare for 21 hours. Both, in theory, make sense for the Republican party, which has an aging base and needs to do better with Hispanic/Latino voters (Obama took 71 percent in 2012). But as the campaign moves toward being a two-horse race, we can expect more and more attacks directed at Rubio and Cruz, including from each other.

The two campaigns have attacked each other for being weak on a core issue. Rubio’s campaign used this week’s San Bernardino attacks to bring up Ted Cruz’s record of arguing against extensive government surveillance. Cruz previously voted for the USA Freedom Act, which weakened the federal government’s ability to collect and store metadata. Cruz responded by reminding Rubio of his support for NATO’s intervention in Libya, which has since spawned an even larger civil war in the country.

Cruz has criticized Rubio’s immigration reform history, especially concerning amnesty, and alleges that Rubio would provide a path to citizenship to undocumented workers en masse. Based on Rubio’s track record as part of the “Gang of Eight” senators who proposed 2013’s immigration bill, Cruz is not entirely wrong. In a blatant move of politicking, Rubio has since distanced himself from the bill, adding thatthe border with Mexico must first be secured before addressing current immigrants. Particularly because of Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, the entire immigration debate has moved further and further to the right, and Cruz is looking to take advantage of this.

This back and forth is going to define the next few months up until February’s Iowa caucuses, especially as Carson and potentially Trump continue to hemorrhage support. From a Republican perspective, if the goal is to beat Hillary Clinton in November, Rubio makes much more sense than Cruz. Beyond giving the Republicans an extremely strong chance at winning the must-win state of Florida, Rubio has a degree of universal appeal that Cruz simply does not. Cruz once read "Green Eggs and Ham" (1960) in front of the United States Senate, while Rubio has some history working with members of both parties on immigration. One is good politics, the other good parenting.