Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. | Getty Heritage Action presidential scorecard rates Cruz near-perfect The hard-line conservative arm of the Heritage Foundation has tough criticism for much of the 2016 field, but high praise for the Texas senator.

The political arm of The Heritage Foundation has released a detailed assessment of the 2016 Republican presidential field — and it offers harsh words for many candidates. But not for Sen. Ted Cruz.

Cruz receives almost exclusively praise for his stances in the 50-page 2016 presidential policy scorecard, the first of its kind produced by Heritage Action. The report grades the candidates across six categories: growth, opportunity, civil society, limited government, favoritism and national security.


Many of the lines in the scorecard appear destined for future attack ads.

Jeb Bush, for instance, is accused of having “kowtowed to the state’s environmental lobby” in Florida. Chris Christie “has shown favoritism toward well-connected real estate developers.” Rand Paul’s “views at times veer outside the conservative mainstream.” And Donald Trump backs “massive tariffs that would damage the American economy.”

Cruz, by contrast, manages to emerge with barely a blemish, receiving only softly worded critiques of his adopting “sound policies advanced by others” rather than crafting his own.

Heritage Action, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, has no current plans to endorse a presidential candidate, but it clearly intends to be a player. Both The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action have become increasingly aggressive since former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint resigned his seat to take over the foundation in late 2012. Heritage Action held a major “Take Back America” forum in September in South Carolina that was attended by 10 candidates (Trump cancelled at the last minute).

“Americans are looking for a president who can speak to the real anxieties they’re facing, not simply manage the status quo in Washington,” Heritage Action CEO Michael A. Needham said in a statement.

Unlike its congressional scorecards, Heritage’s “presidential platform review” does not assign specific percentage scores to candidates. But the new report reveals Cruz is a darling of the hard-line organization.

“Cruz has been willing to pay a political price for taking on government favoritism,” the report reads.

The group even forgives Cruz for one of the few trespasses he has made against its positions, voting for a bill that served “as a bargaining chip for [Export-Import Bank] allies to secure reauthorization.” The report credits him for later switching his vote and then publicly attacking Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for allegedly lying about his plans.

Bobby Jindal, who is running hard to the right in Iowa, receives among the more glowing reviews. So does Marco Rubio, who angered the right with his pursuit of a comprehensive immigration plan after first being elected with tea party support.

The two current front-runners in the polls, Ben Carson and Trump, were dinged for their lack of a record on conservative causes and a lack of specifics in their visions. “His unconventional foreign policy prescriptions raise more questions of significant consequence than they answer,” Heritage writes of Trump.

Bush was singled out for some of the most biting critiques. “Has shown favoritism toward Florida special interests and supports amnesty” for undocumented immigrants, reads one bullet point.

In its 2016 assessment, Heritage dings Bush for not supporting recent efforts to defund Planned Parenthood this fall because he said he opposed precipitating a government shutdown. The report accuses him of “playing to President [Barack] Obama’s talking points rather than reinforcing conservatives.”

Lawmakers, often to the frustration of GOP leadership, closely track Heritage Action’s congressional scorecards as the group seeks a more combative stance toward the Democrats and downgrades Republicans who seek to compromise with them. In 2013, for instance, DeMint was a leading proponent of the anti-Obamacare tactics that led to the government shutdown.

In all, Heritage analyzed the records and promises of a dozen Republicans: Cruz, Bush, Carson, Trump, Christie, Jindal, Paul, Rubio, Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, John Kasich and Rick Santorum.

They did not include Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki, who both failed to meet the criteria for Tuesday’s debate.

