Cruz stumbles with evangelical voters [View all]

[brooklynite]

Politico:

COLUMBIA, S.C. --South Carolina was supposed to be Ted Cruz’s slingshot, catapulting him through the gauntlet of southern states that vote on Super Tuesday.

Instead, he got skunked.

A disappointing showing in Saturday's primary complicates Cruz’s gameplan for March 1, a day that he has built up as the cornerstone of his primary strategy. It also calls into question his long-held claim that he is the evangelical standard-bearer: Exit polls showed Trump beating him out for evangelical support.

“I don’t think it will end his campaign but it will definitely hurt him,” said Hogan Gidley, a former executive director of the South Carolina Republican Party and past senior adviser to Mike Huckabee. “He’s got money and he’s got a message to go to the South. The problem is he won’t have any momentum. And you can’t underestimate the importance of having momentum because people want to be with a winner.”