Tea Party star Cruz on 'extraordinary ride,' King says

Although he's had “intense, one-on-one conversations” with Sen. Ted Cruz and considers him a “full spectrum constitutional conservative,” U.S. Rep. Steve King wasn't ready Friday morning to say whether the Texas Republican is more than the latest flavor-of-the-month.

“How do we know?” King said Friday morning, about 12 hours before Cruz was scheduled to speak at the Republican Party of Iowa's annual Reagan Dinner. Cruz is coming in the wake of similar visits by Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.

During the taping of Iowa Public Television's Iowa Press that will be broadcast at 7 p.m. tonight and at noon Sunday, King, a tea party favorite, said he's impressed with Cruz, who was one of the leaders of the 16-day partial shutdown of the federal government. However, time will tell whether the freshman senator is a shooting star on the political scene or a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.

“Anybody who steps up into the national arena and picks up all the press that a person like Ted Cruz is now, and others have and will in the future -- is the staying power theirs or is it the public loses its attention span,” King said.

“There's no question he's a very smart guy, so we will see,” King said. “He's also aware that this is an extraordinary ride he is on. I think he's just being the genuine Ted Cruz and we'll see how far it will take him.”

Iowa Press also can be seen at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on IPTV World and at

www.iptv.org beginning tonight.