COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senator Ted Cruz’s Republican primary road map has long hinged on success in the South — a strong showing here and a series of victories on March 1.
There is now a Trump-size wall obstructing that path.
Moments after Mr. Cruz addressed supporters amid Saturday evening’s disappointing performance, his campaign manager, Jeff Roe, held forth on his theory of the race now:
On whether plans have changed since Mr. Cruz’s announcement: “We said, ‘We’re going to do well in February. We need to do well in the first four states.’ I consider what we’ve done so far as doing well. And then we’re going to have a big night on March 1, in an electoral map that favors us.”
On whether it is a two-man race, as Mr. Cruz has previously said: “It’s clear, the top tier, there’s three people. We call it three-wide going into Talladega.”
On whether it was worrisome to lose the evangelical vote: “People are renting each other’s voters for a little while. This will all shake out.”
On whether Donald J. Trump appears unstoppable: “I don’t think anybody in the 30s is unstoppable.”
On how the campaign’s approach will change after the early states: “We knew there were 79,000 people choosing between us and Trump in the last four days. We were calling them. We know their names. You don’t do that on Super Tuesday. Super Tuesday becomes much more of a narrative-based campaign, much more of a national campaign.”
On whether he is surprised Mr. Cruz’s attacks on Mr. Trump did not seem to hurt the latter’s numbers: “You should have seen where he started.”
On how voters consume the race differently after the early states: “They won’t have the benefit, or maybe the luxury, of having millions of dollars of advertising ran at them for months. They’re going to get a week. Maybe a week.”
On whether Jeb Bush’s departure from the race benefits Marco Rubio most: “We get some of Jeb’s votes. We get some of Jeb’s money. The Bushes are from Texas, as I understand it.”
Ted Cruz Tells Supporters in South Carolina He Is Only Candidate Who Can Beat Donald Trump
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Seeking to recast a disappointing result here, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas moved quickly to a preview of his likely argument going forward.
“Only one strong conservative is in position to win this race,” he told supporters at a conference hall here Saturday night. “We are the only campaign that has beaten — and can beat — Donald Trump.”
As vote tallies showed him essentially tied for second with Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, Mr. Cruz said he had continued “defying expectations” in the early states, even though he seemed to underperform some recent polls.
“Tonight, despite millions and millions of dollars of false and nasty attacks, despite the entirety of the political establishment coming together against us, South Carolina has given us another remarkable result,” he said.
Though he congratulated Mr. Trump, Mr. Cruz spoke of the need for a “strong contrast” with Democrats in the fall — suggesting, as he has all week, that Mr. Trump’s left-leaning past leaves him ill-suited to the task.
Mr. Cruz began his remarks with a word of praise for Jeb Bush, who had just announced his departure from the race. He called the former Florida governor “a man who ran a campaign based on ideas, based on policy, based on substance.”
He also asked for a moment of silence for Justice Antonin Scalia, who died a week ago, before reminding voters of the election’s stakes.
“It is not just one but two branches of government that are at stake,” he said. “This election will be a referendum on the Supreme Court.”
And in a common refrain at a Cruz event, he offered an echo of Ronald Reagan as he alluded to Mr. Trump’s reputation for cutting deals.
“You can go with Washington dealmakers,” Mr. Cruz said, “or we can stand together with a proven, consistent, constitutional conservative and bring back morning in America.”
WAKEFIELD, Mass. — Gov. John Kasich of Ohio may have finished near the bottom of the pack in South Carolina, but his campaign celebrated a feat of political endurance on Saturday: He is the last current or former governor standing.
“It started as a 16-person race,” Mr. Kasich told supporters at a hotel here near Boston.
In a speech considerably more celebratory than would be typical for someone who currently stands in fifth place in the South Carolina vote, Mr. Kasich recounted all of the doubts about the viability of his presidential campaign, even after his second-place showing in New Hampshire.
“We came roaring out of New Hampshire, and they said that in a week or so, he can’t do very well in South Carolina, he’s just going to call it in,” Mr. Kasich said. “And tonight, one more time, we have defied and overcome expectations in the state of South Carolina in about six or seven days.”
Mr. Kasich held his primary night party here, not in South Carolina, after spending Saturday campaigning in Vermont and Massachusetts, whose primaries are on March 1.
Speaking immediately after former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida suspended his campaign, Mr. Kasich also paid tribute to Mr. Bush, complimenting him and the Bush family “for the many years of great work and service to our country”
“Jeb is a great guy,” he said. “His brother, his family, his mother, his father — they’re the best.”
Highlights From S.C. and Nevada
Post a Comment