Cruz the Economic Populist

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has been the enemy of the Washington Establishment since he announced his campaign for the Senate in 2011, and for years the feeling has been mutual. He led the government shutdown fight, called his party's majority leader a "liar" and staked out policy positions many mainstream members of his party found extreme.

Now as the leading alternative to bombastic GOP front-runner Donald Trump, Cruz is finding that the ice is thawing. Establishment heavies such as South Carolina Sen.