Conservatives shower Sen. Cruz of Texas with praise at Orlando gathering!

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

ORLANDO — 

For the second day in a row Saturday, a rising Republican star was interrupted while speaking to the crowd of conservative activists at the Americans For Prosperity conference here.

But while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio had to contend with a few hecklers who criticized his immigration stance on Friday, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz paused near the end of his remarks Saturday while the crowd of about 1,500 chanted, “Run, Ted, run!”

Cruz, one of four potential 2016 presidential candidates to speak to the two-day gathering, got by far the most enthusiastic response from the limited-government, free-market group. Walking the stage rather than standing behind a podium, Cruz railed against “career politicians in both parties” who don’t listen to ordinary people outside of Washington.

“There is a grass-roots uprising that is sweeping this nation,” Cruz said. “The American people are standing up and saying we want our freedom back. And I’m going to give the simplest and best advice for President Obama and for Republicans and Democrats in Congress: Listen to the people.”

Cruz got loud applause when he stated his opposition to Common Core education standards. He received standing ovations when he called for abolishing the Internal Revenue Service and repealing the federal health care law.

Cruz and Rubio both advocate cutting off funding for the health care law when Congress passes a short-term spending bill to keep the federal government running after Sept. 30. Many Republicans see the idea as a losing proposition that could lead to a government shutdown for which the GOP would be blamed.

“Right now the people who are fighting the hardest against our effort to defund Obamacare, sadly, are Republicans,” Cruz said. “Over and over they say, ‘We can’t win this fight.’ Well you know what? You lose 100 percent of the fights that you surrender at the outset.”

Cruz did have one word of approval for Obama. Speaking a few minutes after the president announced he would seek congressional approval for military action in Syria, Cruz said: “That’s the way it’s supposed to work. The constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, and I am very, very glad that the president listened to bipartisan calls to come before Congress and come before the American people.”

Cruz told reporters afterward that he has been “troubled” by the rationale the Obama administration has given publicly for U.S. involvement in Syria. But he said he is keeping an open mind and welcomes the debate in Congress.

Cruz, Rubio, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Texas Gov. Rick Perry all made speeches to the group and got the most enthusiastic responses when they sounded anti-Washington themes.

While Rubio’s Friday hecklers were a tiny minority in a mostly positive crowd, it was clear in conversations with individual activists that Rubio’s support for the Senate’s immigration bill presents problems with the GOP’s conservative base.

“He did it. He drank the Kool-Aid. I was all for him. I’m a tea party gal, I was all for Rubio,” said Terry Franklin of New Mexico, who says she now prefers Cruz or Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.

Retiree Lee Bright of South Carolina said he and his wife were big Rubio fans, “but he’s off our list because of his stand on the immigration. He got off the reservation there. It’s like he got, I don’t know, handled by some of the progressives. It’s unfortunate, because we had high hopes for him.”

Jacksonville tea party leader Billie Tucker said she disagrees with Rubio on immigration but considers him “a great conservative” and hasn’t written him off.

“There are a lot of people that are very upset about this, and then there are a lot that are really trying to understand it. And I’m one of those – I’m really in that camp of ‘I need to understand it,’ because I trust Rubio,” Tucker said.

While the 2016 election is more than three years away, Tucker and other activists said it’s not too soon to size up which candidate can run against what Tucker expects to be a Hillary Clinton Democratic candidacy.

“We sure as heck need a good candidate for 2016. That’s for sure. Because I know that they’re already polishing up Hillary and bringing her out of the closet and we don’t want that because all we’re going to get is Obama in a female body,” Tucker said. “We certainly, from my perspective, want a strong conservative.”

Barbara Gordon, a special education teacher from Arkansas who is leaning toward Jindal, agreed that the 2016 race is already underway.

“Things are already being determined now,” Gordon said. “As soon as one election is over with, people who are active like we are start thinking about the next one. We will be vetting candidates and watching them all the way from dog catcher on up on a regular basis.”