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Cruz Campaign Kicks Off Iowa Push Before Next Week's Caucuses

From @tedcruz's twitter profile

With a week before the Iowa Caucuses, Texas Senator Ted Cruz will spend that time crisscrossing the state, making a couple dozen stops before the big night. KUT’s Ben Philpott landed in the Hawkeye state Sunday to follow the Senator and has a preview to kick the week off.

The snow and ice that covers much of Iowa isn’t expected to slow down Cruz in this final push to win the state. Cruz jumped to the top of the polls here back in November, as Evangelical voters began dumping one-time darling Ben Carson and flocking to Cruz. But his month at the top made him a target of everyone else on the Republican ticket, including national frontrunner Donald Trump, and under attack, Cruz’s poll numbers have begun to slip. That should bring a feisty candidate out this week. Cruz started his push with a Saturday endorsement by conservative TV and Radio host Glenn Beck.

Beck's endorsement was followed up by former Texas Gov. https://youtu.be/y9YnzfdLfGA" target="_blank">Rick Perry’s endorsement Monday.

Cruz started campaigning this morning in Eastern Iowa and plans to make three stops throughout the day, with another seven scheduled on Tuesday before he makes his way back to Des Moines for a GOP Debate Thursday night. It will be important for Cruz to win in Iowa, as Trump has large leads in the next two primary states: New Hampshire and South Carolina. A Trump win in Iowa could lead to three straight wins – and a much harder climb for Cruz and the rest of the GOP field to catch up.

Ben Philpott is the Managing Editor for KUT. Got a tip? Email him at bphilpott@kut.org. Follow him on Twitter @BenPhilpottKUT.
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