Race for South Carolina
Republican Primary Pits Cruz's Ground Operation Against Trump's Celebrity
The billionaire front-runner is turning out huge crowds, while his closest rival continues to build an impressive organization.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a town hall meeting on Dec. 12, 2015, in Aiken, South Carolina.
Photographer: Sean Rayford/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
A few days before thousands lined up for a Donald Trump rally at a college arena in Rock Hill, South Carolina, a solitary piece of Ted Cruz campaign literature hung from the door knob of a home on a lonely dirt road 90 miles away.
The home owner, Republican consultant Walter Whetsell, was stunned Cruz’s campaign found his wooded neighborhood in Gilbert, population 600. It was a signal that despite Trump’s celebrity, which has dominated the Republican presidential race so far, Cruz’s team was building the type of on-the-ground campaign that traditionally wins the American South’s premier presidential primary.