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Friday, March 29
The Indiana Daily Student

Cruz taps Carly Fiorina as his Vice President

Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz addresses a sold-out crowd at the Indiana Republican Spring Dinner Thursday at the Primo's Banquet Center.

INDIANAPOLIS — Twitter reports were proven true in Indianapolis Wednesday when Sen. Ted Cruz tapped former technology CEO Carly Fiorina as his desired Vice President.

“After lots of prayer, I will run on a ticket with Carly Fiorina,” 
Cruz said.

The crowd of Hoosiers erupted.

“Ted, Ted, Ted,” and “Carly, Carly, Carly,” chants were set against the background of country-rock music as Fiorina joined Cruz on stage.

Cruz staffers passed freshly printed “Cruz-Fiorina ’16” posters among the crowd, and “Cruz-Fiorina ’16” displayed on the projector screens above the stage.

Neither Cruz nor GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has secured the necessary delegate count to secure the Republican Party 
nomination.

Indiana’s primary is next Tuesday.

“Nobody is getting to 1,237 delegates,” Cruz said. “The Hoosier state is going to have a powerful voice.”

A warm-up video that included a clip of MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow belittling Cruz rallied the crowd.

A crafted playlist of upbeat patriotic and family-oriented music, including Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life,” played through the speakers. So long as they had maroon “Press” stickers, media roamed free.

Cruz and Fiorina articulated big-picture ideas without getting too much into nitty-gritty policy.

They talked about restoring power and ending the Iran Nuclear Deal. When the United States Constitution was mentioned, the crowd cheered. When Trump was mentioned, the crowd booed.

Several months ago, Fiorina endorsed Cruz for president, on the condition that she would campaign for him “all-in,” Cruz said. He did not explicitly say the condition included a VP nomination.

Ivy Tech student Logan Busse, 19, stood alone in the sixth row wearing a flannel and a beanie.

Busse said he’s socially liberal, but desires fiscal policy changes that lower taxes. He believes a conservative tax system will benefit students more than free tuition.

In his speech, Cruz said Fiorina, like himself, has endured hardship, which is a necessary quality for anyone seeking leadership.

While Trump and Hillary Clinton were handed everything in life, he said, Fiorina defied workplace sexism to climb the corporate ladder to CEO at Hewlett-Packard, grieved the drug overdose death of her child and survived breast cancer.

When Fiorina took the stage, she repeated similar sentiments about the competition. Clinton and Trump have never challenged the system, she said, because they’ve never had to.

“They are the system,” Fiorina said.

IU junior and journalism major Andrew Ireland smiled as Fiorina addressed the crowd.

Ireland is a member of “Millennials for Cruz” and says he is “confident” that the Cruz-Fiorina ticket will secure the Party nomination.

Indiana was the perfect place for the announcement, he added.

“We’re the political focus of the world right now,” Ireland said. “This is probably the only time in our lifetimes that Indiana is going to have an impact on the cycle.”

Ireland said he considered protesting Bernie Sanders’ Bloomington visit Wednesday evening. Sanders is an “honest guy,” Ireland said, but is not viable to secure the nomination.

Busse agreed.

“I don’t think you can tax a nation into prosperity,” 
he said.

Both Cruz and Fiorina called the crowd to denounce Trump and Clinton as “Washington insiders” who disregard the Bill of Rights and use the government to their own benefit.

“People of Indiana, it’s time,” Fiorina said. “We must take our country back.”

Afterward, Busse held a Cruz-Fiorina sign and said he was impressed by the speeches.

He had recently been to a Trump rally and called the differences between the two rallies “stark.”

“People were getting thrown out left and right,” he said. “Trump is so negative.”

Busse said he was a little 
overwhelmed by Cruz’s early announcement.

“That’s still a lot to take in,” he said.

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