• by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, May 3, 2016

Considering recent polls, last week’s primary results and the lack of any coherent or united opposition to the GOP front-runner, it seems as though Trump will roll through Indiana on a straight path to the Republican nomination.

Donald Trump’s campaign is aware of the significance of winning Indiana, even if only to push Texas Sen. Ted Cruz into a tighter corner. Last week, top campaign strategist Paul Manafort told Republican officials that Trump was expanding his on-staff operations in the state.

Trump sounded certain that a win today would secure him the nomination and effectively eliminate his rivals: “Honestly, if we win Indiana, it’s over. They’re finished. They’re done.”

Succeeding with a campaign that has yet to spend the big dollars associated with presidential campaigns, Donald Trump has started to open the cash valves. Indiana has seen $900,000 of Trump ads reach voters on TV and radio, including in-person lobbying of Gov. Mike Pence.

Indiana holds an important intersection on the road to either a smooth Trump nomination or a contested convention in Cleveland. With 57 delegates up for grabs, if Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich are able to nibble away at Trump’s delegate total, the front-runner’s task would become increasingly difficult.

He would likely have to rout his rivals in California, which votes on June 7, in order to clinch before the convention.

Ted Cruz and his campaign are also aware of the state’s significance: “Indiana is clearly key. It’s a swing state in this process,” explained Cruz delegate advisor, Saul Anuzis. The now moot alliance between Kasich and Cruz had ceded Indiana to Cruz in an attempt to consolidate anti-Trump support.

While Ted Cruz has surely spent more time in the state than Kasich, he is facing an unlikely chance of winning and even had to spar with Trump protesters at a campaign stop in the town of Marion.

Nevertheless, National Review editor and respected Republican pundit Rich Lowry believes Cruz has a shot: “Cruz is still in this game, he’s still in the hunt in Indiana. If he wins there, it will reset the narrative at least temporarily and open up the possibility of holding Trump say 50 delegates short of 1,237.”

Whatever the Texas Senator’s chances are today, one thing is clear: “Cruz is on a ledge holding on by his fingertips.”