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WASHINGTON

Sen. Ted Cruz's citizenship saga could linger

Catalina Camia
USA TODAY
Sen. Ted Cruz addresses a crowd of more than 250 people during a dinner put on the Montgomery County Republican Party at the Lone Star Convention & Expo Center on Monday in Texas.
  • Cruz%2C born in Calgary to an American mother%2C said he will renounce Canadian citizenship
  • Dallas newspaper had reported Texas senator had dual citizenship
  • Cruz released birth certificate amid speculation he could run for president in 2016

WASHINGTON -- The questions about Sen. Ted Cruz's citizenship may just be beginning.

Political analysts said Tuesday that Cruz may think he's tamping down a controversy by renouncing his previously unknown Canadian citizenship, but the situation may prove to be nettlesome — just like questions about President Obama's citizenship.

Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire, calls it the "nuisance factor."

"If we learned anything from the allegations surrounding President Obama's citizenship, it's this: Facts may be stubborn things, but people's beliefs can be a lot more stubborn than the facts," Scala said. "Many people believe what they want to believe, regardless of the facts, especially when it's about a public figure they do not like in the first place."

Cruz, a Tea Party favorite still in his first year in the Senate, said Monday night he will renounce his Canadian citizenship, following a Dallas Morning News report that the Texas senator holds dual U.S. and Canadian citizenship.

Cruz has been making speeches to the GOP faithful in key states such as Iowa and New Hampshire, appearances that have helped land him on early lists of potential 2016 presidential candidates. Cruz released his birth certificate to the Dallas newspaper amid concerns about his eligibility to be president.

The document showed Cruz was born in 1970 in Calgary, Canada. His mother, Eleanor, was born in Delaware and was a U.S. citizen and his father, Rafael, was born in Cuba. Cruz had said in interviews prior to his Senate election that he is a U.S. citizen because his mother was born in the USA.

"Because I was a U.S. citizen at birth, because I left Calgary when I was 4 and have lived my entire life since then in the U.S., and because I have never taken affirmative steps to claim Canadian citizenship, I assumed that was the end of the matter," Cruz said in a statement released Monday.

"Now The Dallas Morning News says that I may technically have dual citizenship," Cruz continued. "Assuming that is true, then sure, I will renounce any Canadian citizenship. Nothing against Canada, but I'm an American by birth and as a U.S. senator, I believe I should be only an American."

Cruz will have to explain in writing why he doesn't want to be Canadian, fill out a four-page form and get clearance from Canada's spy agency, according to Reuters. The process could take up to eight months.

The U.S. Constitution says only a "natural born" citizen can be president. It has been the general rule that anyone born overseas to an American parent is eligible for the White House. Arizona Sen. John McCain, born in the Panama Canal Zone, had legal experts research his eligibility for president because questions came up.

Steffen Schmidt, a political science professor at Iowa State University, predicts the citizenship issue will linger for Cruz.

"I am certain that the issue of dual citizenship, which was never an issue with Obama, will percolate through the GOP herd of potential presidential contenders because politics is hardball at best and a contact sport at worst," Schmidt said. "Any controversy such as birth and citizenship will be material for other Republicans aspiring to the White House to make hay with."

Obama had insisted throughout his 2008 presidential campaign that he was born in Hawaii, but doubts about his citizenship and eligibility to be president bounced around on the Internet fueled by critics known as "birthers." Donald Trump persisted about Obama's birth certificate in the last presidential campaign.

Bowing to what he called "silliness" and distractions from "sideshows and carnival barkers," Obama released his long-form birth certificate in 2011 that showed — as he had said all along — that he was born in Hawaii in 1961. That hasn't stopped some critics. Last year, for example, Maricopa County (Ariz.) Sheriff Joe Arpaio had volunteer investigators looking into the authenticity of Obama's birth certificate.

James Henson, director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin, said the stories about Cruz's dual citizenship could be perceived as the first big bump in the road for the new senator, who has been hailed by some conservatives for his willingness to challenge his own Republican Party.

The fact that Cruz said he would renounce his Canadian citizenship on the same day as the story first broke is right out of the "Campaigns 101" book, Henson said.

"Like a lot of things like this, they have a longer half life in part because of social media and the Internet. Things never quite go away," Henson said. "I fully expected he would renounce his Canadian citizenship. They (Cruz and his team) did it very quickly in the same news cycle so as not to step on his message they want in Texas about repealing Obamacare."

Cruz has not said whether he's interested in a White House bid, but that hasn't stopped the speculation. In a Granite State Poll released earlier this month, Cruz was in the single digits and finished well behind New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in a survey of likely New Hampshire GOP voters about the Republican presidential nomination. Cruz won a straw poll last month conducted at the Western Conservative Summit, sponsored by Colorado Christian University.

Contributing: Associated Press

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