Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) announced his intention to run for president in the 2016 election during a speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. (AP) 
 
 Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) announced his intention to run for president in the 2016 election during a speech at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. (AP) 
 
 With Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas becoming the first A-lister to throw his hat in the ring for president — in his case, I’m picturing a Napoleonic bicorn rather than a fedora — it’s time to handicap the race for the Republican nomination. I see it as Jeb Bush vs. the field, and I’m not ready to put my money on Bush. 
 
 Some may write off Cruz’s candidacy as a potentially entertaining sideshow, given his negligible showing in the polls. But that would be premature. Whatever else anyone thinks about Cruz, even his critics agree that he’s smart. 
 
 Eugene Robinson writes a twice-a-week column on politics and culture, contributes to the PostPartisan blog, and hosts a weekly online chat with readers. In a three-decade career at The Post, Robinson has been city hall reporter, city editor, foreign correspondent in Buenos Aires and London, foreign editor, and assistant managing editor in charge of the paper’s Style section. View Archive 
 
 True, his habit of usurping Speaker John Boehner’s job and leading House Republicans into hopeless battles has alienated much of the GOP establishment. But whatever game he’s playing, Cruz has the intelligence to look several moves ahead. For this reason alone, I can’t count him out. 
 
 Texas Ted is still a long shot, however. The man to beat is Bush — and I think someone could do just that, though I’m not sure who. 
 
 Take all of this with as many grains of salt as you like. Polling results are all over the map, and the number of potential candidates makes meaningful analysis basically impossible at this point. Anecdotal evidence abounds but is by definition unreliable. All of this explains why predicting the outcome of the nomination battle, at this far-too-early date, is so much fun. There are so few facts to get in the way of a good story. 
 
 With these caveats, we do know that Bush — not yet a declared candidate — has moved quickly to lock up a host of major Republican donors, assemble teams of experienced advisers and reportedly begin working out a comprehensive strategy for the general election. Since the beginning of the year, polls have shown him at or near the top of the field. 
 
 Is he, in the end, too much of a moderate to stir the passions of Republican primary voters? I don’t know, but I think he has a bigger problem: that unfortunate last name. 
 
 I can think of two people who would be absolutely delighted if the 2016 presidential election were between a Republican named Bush and a Democrat named Clinton: Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton. If they run against each other, the dynastic issue becomes a wash. For most of the country, however, I believe this prospect is less than thrilling. 
 
 Which might explain why Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is suddenly challenging Bush for the early lead — beating him, actually, in some polls. A couple of months ago, I’d wager, most Americans could not have picked Walker out of a lineup. Now, anyone paying close attention knows at least a few things about him: He talks tough, which Republican primary voters like. He won a battle against public employee unions in his state, which Republican primary voters love. And he isn’t named Bush. 
 
 Nobody knows if Walker has what it takes to make it all the way through primary season. And a host of others will have the chance to present themselves as the not-named-Bush alternative. 
 
 Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), like Bush, would automatically give Republicans a good chance of taking Florida’s electoral votes, which the GOP almost surely will need to have any hope of winning the presidency. Rubio has positioned himself as a foreign policy hawk. But will he have a positive message that can get voters excited? And will the party ever forgive him his apostasy on immigration? 
 
 Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), with his noninterventionist leanings on foreign policy and his libertarian views on some social issues, has unique appeal, among Republicans, for younger voters. But can he survive what will surely be a withering assault from GOP hawks who advocate a more muscular U.S. presence around the world? 
 
 Sen. Ted Cruz has declared his candidacy for president. The Texas Republican is known for his fiery oratorial style. Here's his take on immigration, Obamacare and, well, green eggs and ham. (Gillian Brockell/The Washington Post) 
 
 It is unclear whether former Texas governor Rick Perry can do better this time around or whether New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s presidential hopes still have a pulse. It is also unclear, at least to me, why famed neurosurgeon Ben Carson registers in double digits in some polls despite never having run for public office. 
 
 One of these men — and yes, they’re all men — may have the imagination to shape what Sarah Palin might call a “hopey changey” campaign message and the discipline to stick to it. If the candidate who does this is not named Bush, that’s where I’ll be placing my bet. 
 
 Read more from Eugene Robinson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A. ||||| WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas Sen. Ted Cruz will announce Monday his plans to run for president, becoming the first high-profile Republican formally to enter the 2016 presidential contest. 
 
 FILE - In this March 10, 2015, file photo, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the International Association of Firefighters (IAFF) Legislative Conference and Presidential Forum in Washington. Cruz plans... (Associated Press) 
 
 Cruz has hinted openly at his intentions to seek the White House for months, and his intention to jump into the race was confirmed by a strategist for the first-term Republican senator, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity so as not to preclude the formal announcement. 
 
 While Cruz is the first Republican to declare his candidacy, he is sure to be followed by several big names in the GOP, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and two Senate colleagues, Kentucky's Rand Paul and Florida's Marco Rubio. 
 
 Details about Cruz's Monday campaign launch were first reported by The Houston Chronicle. 
 
 Cruz, 44, has considerable appeal among the Republican Party's base of conservative voters. 
 
 Following his election to the Senate in 2012, the former Texas solicitor general quickly established himself as an uncompromising conservative willing to take on Democrats and Republicans alike. Criticized by members of his own party at times, he won praise from tea party activists for leading the GOP's push to shut down the federal government during an unsuccessful bid to block funding for President Barack Obama's health care law. 
 
 One of the nation's top college debaters while a student at Princeton University, Cruz continues to be a leading voice for the law's repeal. He also promises to abolish the Internal Revenue Service, scrap the Education Department and curtail federal regulators, likening them to locusts. 
 
 Cruz has left little doubt about his 2016 intentions in recent weeks. He made his first trip to New Hampshire earlier this month to help lay the groundwork for a presidential campaign, having already begun to ramp up outreach to party activists and donors. 
 
 While in New Hampshire, Cruz told voters his daughter, Caroline, had given him permission to join the presidential race in the hopes that the family puppy would get to play on the White House lawn instead of near their Houston high-rise condo. 
 
 "If you win, that means Snowflake will finally get a backyard to pee in," Cruz said his daughter told him. 
 
 Cruz is set to release a book this summer that he said would reflect themes of his White House campaign. 
 
 In a recent Associated Press interview, he said he wants to counter the "caricatures" of the right as "stupid," ''evil" or "crazy." 
 
 "The image created in the mainstream media does not comply with the facts," he said. 
 
 The son of an American mother and Cuban-born father, Cruz would be the nation's first Hispanic president. While born in Canada, two lawyers who represented presidents from both parties at the Supreme Court recently wrote in the Harvard Law Review that Cruz meets the constitutional standard to run. 
 
 Cruz would retain his Senate seat through early 2019 if he fails to win the presidency.
– If it seems like it's already gone on for years, we are currently 596 (five hundred ninety-six) days away from the election that will determine the next president of the United States of America. But we are only one day away from the first official hat getting tossed into the 2016 ring by one of the many who been circling it, and the Houston Chronicle reports that it belongs to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. Unnamed senior advisers say the Republican will announce his candidacy tomorrow, skipping right past the exploratory committee fun (looking at you, Jim Webb) and going right for the hat-tossing. More unnamed sources confirm the pending announcement to the AP, which notes Cruz will likely be soon joined by the likes of Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, Rand Paul, and Marco Rubio. And if 2016 doesn't work out for Cruz, he'll keep his current day job until 2019.