LAFAYETTE, Ind. — It almost resembled Iowa, if you squinted.
Sen. Ted Cruz expressed gratitude for the "common-sense good judgment" of Midwesterners.
His stump speech had scarcely changed, from a favorite anecdote about a drawling West Texas farmer to a running countdown of the time remaining before the primary. ("Fifty-one hours," he said sternly.)
He drew a crowd of several hundred at a faith-based community center here, whose cheers at times coaxed the Texas senator to guttural shouts.
One woman held a sign: "Pray'n For Ted."
"The eyes of the entire country," Cruz said, "now rest on Indiana."
Yet two days before what is widely viewed as a must-win primary, Cruz strained to conceal a grim reality: He is in serious trouble.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll released on Sunday showed Donald Trump with a lead of 15 points among likely Republican primary voters, 49 percent to 34 percent.
Fifty-eight percent of voters said they disapproved of the agreement struck by Cruz and Gov. John Kasich, which called for Kasich to abandon campaigning in Indiana in exchange for Cruz's withdrawal from Oregon and New Mexico. Thirty-four percent approved.
"The mainstream media wants this race to be over," Cruz told voters, in one of his feistiest stump speeches in memory, lumping in "New York power brokers" and John Boehner, the former House speaker and frequent Cruz foil, with his usual list of opponents. "They've all made their decision, and they now expect the people of Indiana to fall in line."
Cruz did not take questions from reporters at his rally here.
About 90 miles away, inside a packed theater in Terre Haute, Trump reveled in his electoral edge.
"If we win Indiana, it's over, OK?" he said to the crowd, which broke out in cheers. "Then we can focus on crooked Hillary. Please! Let's focus on Hillary."
In another flourish, Trump called Cruz and Kasich "two guys that are hanging by their fingernails."
"Don't let me fall!" Trump said, mimicking a climber on the edge of a cliff. "Don't let me fall!"
Seeking to break through, Cruz has in recent days pursued several strategies, tying Trump to Clinton, naming Carly Fiorina as a would-be running mate and drawing attention to some of Trump's more controversial supporters.
The senator noted that he and Trump had each received the endorsement of a well-known "Mike." In Cruz's case, it was Gov. Mike Pence of Indiana, who came aboard on Friday.
"Or do we stand instead with the convicted rapist Mike Tyson?" Cruz asked supporters here. "That's a choice. It's a choice we can make."
But Pence, who praised Trump effusively before endorsing Cruz, has not embraced Cruz's central message in the state: that Trump is essentially identical to Clinton on policy.
The tap dance speaks to the dilemma facing many Republicans who view Trump as anathema to conservatism but fear alienating his voters. Even Cruz has been reluctant to make his rejection of Trump complete.
In an interview on Sunday on "Meet the Press," Cruz grew defensive when pressed repeatedly on whether he would support Trump as the Republican nominee.
"You're welcome to lobby for support for Trump as much as possible," Cruz told the host, Chuck Todd, who tried more than a half-dozen times to extract an answer, in vain.
Trump has himself played down the significance of unifying the party at times, suggesting he could win regardless.
On Sunday, he urged Indianans to turn out in two days to supply "a really important mandate."
"It's a mandate for change — but not Obama change, real change," he said. "It's a mandate for genius."
Though Cruz has effectively staked his candidacy on Indiana, he has left himself wiggle room.
On Thursday, Cruz called Indiana "the one thing that stands between us and plunging over the cliff." On Sunday, there was no such pronouncement.
Cruz's own polling has likewise shown him trailing Trump, compelling the campaign to look beyond the state, if at least for a moment. Top surrogates have described the extended primary season as a product of divine will, arguing the entire country deserves a chance to speak.
"God wants every state to be on record," Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas told voters here.
And on Saturday, Cruz surrendered a full day of Indiana politicking to speak at California's state Republican convention, with an eye toward its election on June 7.
"California," he said there, a bit hopefully, "is going to decide this Republican primary."