His Senate colleague Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., has called Ted Cruz "an opportunist" who talks "garbage," and the Texas senator and Tea Party favorite seems to have had a hard time making friends in Congress from the very beginning. But Cruz is now actually trying to use his "irascible persona," as the Associated Press put it, to his advantage in the 2016 race for the Republican White House nomination.

"If you want someone to grab a beer with (as president), I may not be that guy," Cruz admitted at a GOP debate last fall when the moderator asked him to describe his biggest weakness. "But if you want someone to drive you home, I will get the job done, and I will get you home."

The fact that Cruz has made few friendships on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, helped the Texas senator underline his "outsider" status and, in turn, his conservative anti-Washington credentials. A group supporting his White House bid went so far as to send out a fundraising email last month that included "Washington hates Ted Cruz" as its subject line, the AP detailed.

Daniel Daehlin, a 51-year-old Cruz backer from Richfield, Minnesota, told the newswire that the presidential hopeful's personality only makes him back the Texan with greater conviction.

"It makes me like him all the more; I've always liked people who were on the outside. Ronald Reagan never got along with the establishment." Daehlin explained in reference to one of Cruz's heros. "They hated him in 1976 and '80. I like 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington' - someone who goes there, speaks his mind and doesn't try to cater to the inside-the-Beltway crowd."

Cruz himself, meanwhile, has "methodically calibrated" his renegade status to impress Republicans fed up with the Washington establishment, the Houston Chronicle reported. But while his rhetoric champions that outsider character, the senator's campaign has shown the discipline of someone who knows his way around the nation's capital.

And many of his closest allies expect him to be first in line if and when current GOP front-runner Donald Trump's campaign crumbles.

"Trump has made me very optimistic about 2016," former Cruz speechwriter Amanda Carpenter told in the Conservative Review. "He's sent the GOP establishment into such conniptions that they've been forced to consider supporting Ted Cruz."