FiveThirtyEight’s New Hampshire Diary

MANCHESTER — We attended a Ted Cruz town hall earlier today in Barrington. Two things struck me. The first was who introduced Cruz: former New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith. Smith was a very conservative senator who had a falling out with the state party and was defeated in a 2002 primary by John Sununu. Smith speaks to Cruz’s own conservative record and troubles with his Republican colleagues. The second is that Cruz was quite funny in person. While his jokes sometimes fall flat in debates, they pretty much all hit today. Up close, you can get an appreciation for why he did well in Iowa, and will probably be in this race for the foreseeable future. https://www.instagram.com/p/BBiiPLhyDOS/