Sen. Ted Cruz used a series of long-scheduled appearances in Iowa over the weekend to cast himself as the natural leader of a burgeoning conservative movement that nearly derailed the new health care law.

"Two weeks ago it was impossible, this week President Obama and the Democrats are saying 'Holy cow, this thing really isn't working,' " Cruz, a Republican, told a supportive crowd there a few hours after bagging two pheasants in a hunt with Republican Rep. Steve King. ("There were about a dozen Dick Cheney jokes," Cruz said.)

No politician spends a weekend in Iowa in the chilly fall of an odd-numbered year unintentionally — and fewer political visitors bring along their spouse. But with his wife, Heidi, watching just beyond the television cameras, Cruz told reporters at a state Republican Party fundraiser Friday night in Des Moines, Iowa, that he's focused on staying and fighting in the Senate and increasing participation in the conservative movement.