The sweet-tea primary: The campaign takes an early Southern swing - Gainesville Sun
"Mississippi is going to play a critical role in the so-called SEC primary," Cruz said from the bed of the 1964 Ford F-250, as the crowd in the stifling Southern heat tried to cool themselves with fans emblazoned with his campaign logo. With a packed Republican presidential field and condensed primary season voting schedule, the Southern states are in a position to play a more prominent campaign-year role than ever before when it comes to helping choose a Republican presidential... Nothing against them — I know they take the race very seriously," said Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp, who persuaded other Southern states to hold their primaries on March 1 — a regional early voting blitz that's been nicknamed the "SEC... Eight Southern states will vote that day, with more weighing in over the following two weeks. And so Cruz has spent the past week on a 20-stop, seven-day road trip that stretched nearly 2,000 miles, a winding route that took him from South Carolina to Oklahoma. The candidate has dubbed his road trip the "Cruz Country" tour, traveling in a campaign bus festooned with a warning that it "makes right turns only. Since his campaign began, Cruz's team has poured resources into the South. There will be candidates who feel like they can't win the state, but they can win some delegates. Source: www.gainesville.com
