As an appetizer before helping to send the U.S. government into famine mode, Ted Cruz railed against Obamacare on the Senate floor last month in a publicity-seeking speech that lasted more than 21 hours and included a Darth Vader impression and reading Dr. Seuss' "Green Eggs and Ham" as a bedtime story for his daughters, who were watching on TV.

While that grandstanding was largely symbolic, Cruz has been more than just a figurehead for the Republican showdown over Obamacare that has prompted a government shutdown. The first-term senator from Texas has emerged as an unofficial envoy between conservatives in the House of Representatives and Senate, spending hours with tea party supporters such as Congressman Justin Amash to plot what, with hindsight, has been a highly orchestrated plan of attack.

It began over the summer with television ads reminding grass-roots conservatives that it was not too late to block Obama's four-year-old Affordable Care Act by cutting off its funding. With expectations raised, Cruz ruffled feathers among mainstream Republicans by helping to bounce House speaker John Boehner into a confrontational stand-off over the normally routine continuing budget resolution.