This morning, former Texas Solicitor General Ted Cruz announced via a blogger conference call that he is a candidate for the United States Senate.

This is great news. Really great news.

It is great news for those of us who recognize the need for new leadership in our nation, and the need to elect actual, proven, limited government, Constitution-respecting conservatives – especially from states like Texas.

The field is expected to be crowded, and there will be much more to say about this going forward. But, the simple truth is that there is absolutely no room for guesswork here. We must choose a Republican candidate with a proven track record of standing up and fighting for conservative principles.

This is no time for the Charlie Crists and Arlen Specters of the world. This is no time for “trusting” that someone is a conservative (think KBH, or perhaps David Souter comes to mind). This is no time for candidates who stand up and talk a big game about being conservative but don’t have a record of ever having actually stood up to fight.

The next U.S. Senator from Texas must not only proudly declare himself a conservative, but have the battle scars to show he is ready to go to Washington and fight to take our country back from the establishment.

Now, Ted can give a rousing speech to be sure and knows that it doesn’t do any good to have something important to say if you can’t get people to listen. But what makes Ted a truly remarkable candidate are two things: first, his deeply held and very well articulated belief in America and our need to stand up to defend her against the Obama agenda and the Washington establishment, and second, his extraordinary substantive record exhibited throughout his life, highlighted by his repeated fight for the Constitution and conservative principles as Solicitor General of Texas.

We will explore his record further in the future, as we will the other candidates in the field – good and bad.

For now, check out Ted’s website where you will notice that he does not have the standard-fare political website “issue” section (where any candidate can cut and paste what his political consultant tells him is the “right” answer), but rather has sections explaining his vision and offering his track record of success fighting for conservative principles.

His vision is simple – that a new generation of leaders must rediscover the kind of leadership exhibited by Ronald Reagan and stand up and fight to preserve the promise of America. That simplicity is rooted in his own life experiences – from his family’s immigrant roots to his own hard work and dedication to the law and the Constitution.

Ted’s track record is extensive. He has fought, among other things, to defend the Second Amendment, to protect American sovereignty, to fight for religious freedom, to defend life, to protect traditional marriage, to defend the military, to protect tort reform, to fight for voter ID – and perhaps most of all, to defend Texas from federal intervention into our way of living and doing things.

Without analyzing his merits vis-a-vis other potential candidates for now – it is important to know that Ted is the real deal. He is in this race to win it – and he brings to the race a deep knowledge of and commitment to the Constitution and our founding principles, and a proven record of fidelity to them. And that is why he is running. While he knows the chattering class will question his “readiness” for U.S. Senate without having run for a “lower” office – he also knows that the time is now to take our country back, and he looks out across the current Republican leadership and sees the void that we all see.

Ted understands why freedom matters. He was raised by his parents to appreciate the America to which his immigrant father fled Cuba at the age of 18 to escape torture by the Batista government of the time. Jay Nordlinger explains this well in a 2009 National Review article about Ted.

In short, any conservative who wants a Republican Party made up of conservative leaders who actually “get it,” and who wants to change the Senate, and thus the nation, one seat at a time should give Ted Cruz a long hard look. You will find a lot to like and may well just be inspired again.

It’s a new game in Texas.