"Why does Ted Cruz love America?" Fox News Host Sean Hannity asked the senator Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

"This country is the greatest country in the history of the world. It has been a haven for freedom. When my dad was imprisoned in Cuba and fled 58 years ago, he came because no nation on Earth has let so many come with nothing and achieve anything," Cruz said on stage at the Gaylord Convention Center in Maryland. "And if we get back to this, brighter days are ahead. We can do that together!"

Cruz waved to a cheering audience as he walked off the stage to the strains of Pat Green's "Wave on Wave." But he didn't get far before being mobbed by hundreds of young fans hoping for a selfie with the Texas senator.

CPAC's a magical place. And Ted Cruz can take a mean selfie. pic.twitter.com/FRCv8yyWFG — Kenzie Clift (@KenzieClift) February 26, 2015



The "Cruz Crew" millennial mania continued at other CPAC events. Cruz headlined a College Republicans reception and talked up the importance of young voters during a Turning Point USA event.



But despite having support from the CPAC-attending millennial crowd, going after the youth vote is not a major part of Cruz's likely 2016 strategy.

Cruz, who has not yet officially announced that he is running for president, outlined what he considers to be a winning strategy for the Republican nominee in 2016 during a round table with reporters and bloggers at CPAC. And while the prevailing political theory believes that candidates should be chasing down the votes of youths and minorities, Cruz said his attention will be on evangelicals and Reagan Democrats.

"If you compare 2004, the last election we won, to 2008 and 2012, by far the biggest difference is the millions of conservatives that stayed home in 2008 and even more than stayed home in 2012. They fall into two categories. Number one, evangelical Christians, showed up in massive numbers in 2004 and have stayed home the last two election cycles. Number two, Reagan Democrats, they tend to be ethnic Catholics up and down the Rust Belt, blue collar, union members, pro-life, strong national defense, Ohio steel workers," Cruz said.

"If we're going to win in 2016, we have to bring those voters back. If we nominate another candidate in the mold of a Bob Dole or a John McCain or a Mitt Romney—and let me be clear, those are good and honorable men, they love their country—but what they did didn’t work. It’s a losing strategy and if we nominate another candidate in that mold, the same voters who stayed home in ’08 and ’12 will stay home in ’16. And Hillary Clinton will be the next president.”

Cruz's theory is certainly a different strategy than we'll see from most other potential candidates. President Barack Obama claimed 67 percent of the youth vote in 2012, with young voters providing the crucial difference in at least four states.

Political analysis since the election has focused on ways to capture the elusive youth vote, which is often fickle and not very cohesive. But Cruz has other ideas.

"We have to reassemble to old Reagan coalition. The only way to do that is to bring together fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, and national security conservatives. If we just have one or two legs of the traditional Republican stool, we will lose. We won't get to 51 percent," Cruz told reporters.

"You need a candidate who will not only stand strong on economic growth, but also is willing to stand up for life and marriage. It means you need a candidate who will not only fight for our constitutional liberties, but also will lead in stopping ISIS and a nuclear Iran."

This description of the "ideal candidate" was meant to describe himself. But it puts him at odds with the popular opinions held by a lot of the 18-year-old to 29-year-old crowd. Support for gay marriage is high among this crowd and there is less support for heavy handed military action among this age group.

Still Cruz believes that if conservatives rally around this kind of candidate, it will work.

"The hope of a great many consultants in Washington is that conservatives will divide. All the men and women who are here at CPAC, the Washington consultant's dream is for a slice of them to go to one candidate, a slice of them to go to another candidate, the libertarians to go over here, the evangelicals to go over here, the conservatives to go over here, the tea party to go over here, because that is how they keep running the same candidates year after year and keep losing year after year after year," Cruz said. "I think it's critical that conservatives come together."