Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the man John McCain called a “wackobird” became the first high profile 2016 presidential candidate for the White House to announce his campaign.  McCain has endorsed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for president, but acknowledged it’s very possible Cruz may win the Republican nomination.

After Cruz’s announcement te Democratic National Committee said in an email to its members- “If you’re like us, just reading that phrase  probably sent shivers down your spine or produced a pretty serious roll of the eyes. But as of this moment, Texas Senator Ted Cruz is officially running for president, and if we don’t do everything in our power to stop him, the possibility of President Ted Cruz could become a reality.”

Meanwhile California Governor Jerry Brown blasted Cruz on NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday for his recent comments on climate change, calling the Tea Party favorite “unfit to run for office.” Cruz had challenged late night host Seth Myers’ assertion that 2014 had been the “hottest year on record,” arguing that the data on temperature told a different story.

Anyone who can upset John McCain, the DNC and Jerry Brown so much has to be a good man.

Cruz signaled he will be aggressively courting cultural conservatives when he chose to begin his 2016 presidential campaign at the flagship campus of the nation’s largest Christian university.

Cruz said “Democrats like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama believe in government more than the American people.”

“They believe that elites in Washington can govern every aspect of our life, Washington knows better and it needs to control the economy, it needs to control every basic detail of our lives,” he said.

“In contrast”, Cruz said, “I believe in the Constitution. I believe in the unlimited potential of free men and free women. We need to reignite the promise of America and there is an incredible potential to do so if courageous conservatives will simply stand up.”

“I am convinced that courageous conservatives coming together can bring us back to the free-market principles and constitutional liberties that this country was founded on,” Cruz said.