Indeed, Trump, and his incessant questioning of Cruz’s eligibility to serve as president, loomed across much of the trip. One voter in the northeastern town of Charles City asked Cruz his plan to beat the Manhattan mogul. “We are gonna continue doing exactly what we are doing,” Cruz said. In Decorah, another voter asked Cruz for advice to sway friends torn between him and Trump.

“Well, they’re half right,” Cruz declared.

But Cruz hewed strictly to his no-Trump-criticism policy, with only oblique talk about there being an “Iowa way” of campaigning in small towns with small crowds. “I do not believe you can win the Iowa caucuses, or for that matter, you can win the New Hampshire primary sitting in a TV studio in D.C. or Manhattan,” he told POLITICO…

“You’re seeing candidates throw whatever rocks they can. That’s fine,” Cruz told reporters Saturday night, a bit exasperated after repeated Trump questions throughout the week. “That’s their prerogative. I like Donald Trump. I respect Donald Trump. He’s welcome to toss whatever attacks he wants.”