Sen. Ted Cruz told Indiana voters on Monday that the state’s election is “pivotal.”
At an afternoon rally in Fort Wayne Cruz emphasized, “we are neck and neck, this race is tied in Indiana” and that “it is 100 percent about turnout.”
“At this point, the entire country is looking to the state of Indiana. Indiana has a national platform, has a national megaphone. And it is a choice, a very basic choice. Do we get behind a campaign that is based on yelling and screaming and cursing and insults and anger and hatred, or do we continue to unify behind a positive, optimistic, forward looking, conservative campaign?”
He hit on bringing “manufacturing jobs back to Indiana.”
Cruz referenced an interview with Chuck Todd that aired on Sunday to say that he was asked no less than nine times if he would back Trump if the real estate mogul were to become the nominee. Cruz responded instead by insisting he would win the nomination.
He urged voters to find 10, 15, 20 people to get to the polls.
“We don’t want to look our kids in the eye and say we sat idly while the greatest country in the history of the world slipped from our grasp. As Reagan powerfully told us, freedom it’s not passed down in the bloodstream from one generation to the next. Every generation must stand and fight to preserve it or one day we will be forced to answer to our children and our children’s children, What was it like when America was free?”
Cruz estimated 2,000 people at the rally and urged each to bring at least 10 people to the polls, “that is enough to control the outcome of the primary here in Indiana.” Cruz further urged, “28 hours to find 10 more votes tomorrow.”
At one point Cruz suggested great danger in Donald Trump having power in the potential use of nuclear weapons, “You also want a leader with good judgement…you don’t want someone who is rash, who is hot-headed, who is liable to go off at the latest Twitter storm. In talking about somebody who would have his finger on the button, you want someone who is measured, who has judgement, who has common sense.”
Cruz was also a guest Monday on the Mike Gallagher Show during which he called the next 24 hours “absolutely pivotal” ahead of the Indiana primary election.
Gallagher and Cruz discussed extensive media coverage of a poll that puts GOP frontrunner Trump suddenly far ahead of Cruz in Indiana over a poll that puts Cruz suddenly far ahead of Trump.
“This election, the next 24 hours, are absolutely pivotal,” said Cruz. “This election is pivotal.”
Indiana Gov. Mike Pence recently stated that he would vote for Cruz. During the For Wayne rally Cruz said, “Mike and I have spent the day barnstorming the state of Indiana traveling across the state campaigning together.”
Cruz said of stated running mate Carly Fiorina that she most impressed him in the debates with how she “stands up to bullies.”
“Every one of us has experienced in life going back to grade school that a bully isn’t strong, a bully is weak, a bully is scared, a bully needs affirmation for their own insecurities and so they find someone they think is weaker than they are and they pick on them because it makes them feel tough. And the only the only response that ever works with a bully is to pop ‘em in the nose.”
“And Carly is someone who stands up to bullies whether they’re named Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton or Vladimir Putin.”
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana