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[Music low in background]

Eleanor, Ted's Mother: Oh he had his nose in everything.  He was curious beyond belief...  He was very articulate and you know he'd want to know why.  And so we just had to say well just because I said so, eventually, which is an answer I don't like but after 25 why's you're ready for that

Ted Cruz: Well her story is quite remarkable I think.  She grew up in Wilmington, DE.  It was a working class family where no one in the family had ever gone to college, and my mother became the first person in the family ever to go to college.

Eleanor: Well I guess part of it came from my mother who only went through the 10th grade...but she said she always wanted more for us and so she encouraged me to do that.  I was you know a pretty good student so it was not out of the realm of possibliity.

Ted Cruz: My grandfather was a difficult man.  Didn't think there was any reason at all his daughter should go to college.  No one in his family had and his daughter certainly didn't need to be the first.  And my mom stood up to her father and blazed a career as really a pioneer, and she ended up getting a job at Shell as a computer programmer.; we're talking about two industries--oil and gas and computer science, neither one of them was very welcoming to women.  And it's one of the things I've always admired about my mom.

Eleanor: It's just overwhelming.  I look at him and I think this is my son.  I can't believe it.  He was always an overachiever, but this is somewhat beyond that.

I do pray about it a lot, have my prayer partner and we pray for his safety continually.

Ted Cruz: I alway knew I was loved.  Whatever I did, there was nothing I could do to change that.  And my mom's always been a best friend to me.  She would drive me to school and drive me home every day and we would talk about school, we would talk about my friends, we would talk about my life and she was always a confidante, she was always someone I could trust and share what I was excited about.

Eleanor: You're my favorite son [inaud.]...

Ted Cruz: I'm also your least favorite son.

Eleanor: Oh well we won't talk about that.

Male Voice (Reporter?): I'm going to ask you one question.  Senator, you obviously have a lot of fun as parents.  What's it like to have Heidi as the mother of your children?

Ted Cruz: Heidi is an incredible mom.  There is no one on the planet who our daughters adore more than their mom.  She's just full of love.  And both girls, their favorite thing to do is just be with mom.

Ted Cruz and Heidi Cruz exchange:
Ted Cruz: I'm not worried, I'm not worried about the need to convey that
Heidi Cruz: ...it's just being a parent is multifaceted and I think you only got, you only talked about one aspect of it.  It was kind of milquetoast.

Heidi Cruz: So it's you know tucking them in at night, it's teaching them, it's making them feel confident when they're facing difficulties, it's telling them to never give up.  The love of a mother sticks with them their whole life in a very subconcious way. So you should think of things like that.
Ted Cruz: What'd she say?

Ted Cruz: On this Mother's Day to all of us, to our moms we just say thank you.  Thank you for loving us.  Thank you for helping us.  Thank you for teaching us.  Thank you for picking us up when we fall off our bikes with our skinned knees and helping us dream big, helping us capture the future.  To the moms of the world, we love you.

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Notes:  This video shows the softer side of Sen. Cruz.  Compare Hillary for America "Happy Mother's Day."

Copyright © 2015 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.