Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal wants to take on fellow GOP presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) one-on-one in a debate over ObamaCare alternatives.
“@TedCruz, you said you’d debate anyone, anytime,” Jindal tweeted Friday. “Let’s have a debate on repealing and replacing ObamaCare next week.”
{mosads}Jindal issued the dare as both men prepare for Tuesday’s Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee. Cruz will participate in the main-stage contest, and Jindal is slated for the undercard event.
Jindal said he takes issue with Cruz’s lack of a strategy for repealing and replacing President Obama’s signature healthcare law.
“You get Ted Cruz who wants to shut down the government, but he’s never even come up with his own plan,” the Louisiana governor said, according to The Washington Post.
“We’ve written our own plan and campaigned on it, rather than just complaining about ObamaCare. So let’s do it in Milwaukee. I’m happy to do it.”
Jindal said he is merely answering a call issued by Cruz earlier this week.
“I’m happy to have as many debates as we can,” Cruz said Wednesday evening on Fox News, according to The Washington Post. “I’m happy to debate anytime, anywhere.”
Jindal has never reached a main-stage GOP presidential debate this year due to his struggles in national polls.
The Louisiana governor has routinely polled below 1 percent in the RealClearPolitics average of samplings all summer and into the fall.
A Public Policy Polling survey released earlier this week, though, shows Jindal in the top five in Iowa.
Cruz ranks ahead of Jindal in the Hawkeye State, receiving 11.8 percent there to the governor’s 3 percent, according to the latest RCP index.
Both candidates have made courting evangelical voters a central part of their 2016 strategies.