Here's a short story:

Washington (CNN)Ted Cruz is back in his favorite place: the spotlight. 

As the first candidate to quit the charade of "exploring" a presidential run and actually jumping in, the Texas Republican senator presented an image Monday of decisiveness and vision -- all before an auditorium of mostly supportive young evangelicals. 

Now comes the hard part. 

Cruz must make inroads with wide swaths of the GOP if he hopes to break through as a top-tier candidate. He doesn't have many friends in the party establishment thanks to his hard-line tactics on issues like Obamacare. And he's facing steep competition for the conservative vote from the likes of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Even evangelicals, Cruz's target audience during his launch speech at Liberty University, aren't firmly in his column. 

The firebrand's decision to jump-start the 2016 election season now is an implicit admission of the daunting challenges he will face in a crowded GOP field where multiple Republicans will vie for the same social and evangelical support base. 

"Ted is clearly a player," said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, a Christian public policy ministry. "But the competition this cycle is very steep." 

By choosing Liberty University in Virginia, which was founded by fundamentalist preacher Jerry Falwell, to roll out his long shot campaign, Cruz made clear he won't cede the Christian right to another candidate. 

"From the dawn of this country, at every stage, America has enjoyed God's providential blessing," said Cruz, roaming the stage with a microphone like a megachurch preacher on a Sunday morning. "Over and over again, when we faced impossible odds, the American people rose to the challenge. You know, compared to that, repealing Obamacare and abolishing the IRS ain't all that tough."  (End of story)

Provide your best guess for the following question. Give ONLY the guess, no other words or explanation.

For example:

Guess: <most likely guess, as short as possible; not a complete sentence, just the guess!>

Question: who said "ted is a player"?

president of the Family Research Council,