February 8, 2016 4:06 PM

Hours before the vote, Sen. Cruz barnstorms New Hampshire

As he trails in the polls, radio airwaves are filled with pro-Cruz commercials about a return to the gold standard; voters pepper him with questions about war, immigration, and faith

MANCHESTER, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Trailing Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and even John Kasich in the polls one day ahead of this state’s first in the nation primary election, Sen. Ted Cruz on Monday rushed from event to event and electrified crowds of his diehard supporters.

Many of those supporters, by the way, rushed in from other states to help him. But Cruz’s organization here is nowhere close to the size and scope it was in Iowa leading up to his victory in the caucuses.

Pro-Cruz advertisements touting a return to the gold standard saturated commercial breaks during conservative talk radio shows – which have less influence here than in the South – and there were reports of a new, controversial mail piece from Cruz promising a “check enclosed.”

When an organizer at a Cruz rally asked how many of those in attendance were actually from New Hampshire, very few hands were raised. That organizer railed against the “establishment,” saying "they don't like him because they can't control him…he's not about the art of the deal. He's the real deal.”

“This is a room of patriots,” Cruz said to about 200 people who braved the beginnings of a winter storm to gather at an American Legion Post in Manchester. “The people of Iowa showed up …and they chose the constitution above the corruption of Washington,” Cruz said. Naturally that won big applause from the conservative crowd as did his anger about Obamacare and the “Washington Cartel.”

But there was an extra sense of urgency in Cruz’s tone on Monday.

By Scott Braddock