From Hadas Gold, Katie Glueck, and Kenneth P. Vogel writing at Politico:

From reader polls and the conservative website’s near cheerleading coverage of the Texas Senator, to donor connections behind the scenes, Cruz likely has the Republican presidential field’s deepest relationship with the Breitbart machine — a relationship he’s seeking to parlay into more energized grassroots support.

Breitbart.com, which boasts of having 18.7 million unique users per month — almost all of them conservative firebrands — is funded in part by New York hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, whose family is bankrolling a pro-Cruz super PAC as well as a political data company called Cambridge Analytica that is working with Cruz’s presidential campaign.

Breitbart.com insists it’s independent, though proudly conservative, and attributes its often-favorable assessments of Cruz to the fact that his independent brand of conservatism is appealing to its readers.

But no one disputes the site’s enthusiasm for Cruz.

The night before his campaign announcement, Cruz invited a Breitbart reporter to spend one-on-one time with him and his family — an item deemed an “exclusive” with photos of the “potential first family” as they got ready for bed.

A recent story about an AP photo that appeared to position a gun at the senator’s head stated that while a Democrat would be incredibly offended by the image, Cruz’s “feelings won’t get hurt. He’s a big boy.”

And another blasted former President George W. Bush’s senior aide Karl Rove for what the site characterized as “lying” over an exchange Cruz and Rove had during Cruz’s run for Texas Attorney General.

“Karl Rove should probably read what he wrote in his own emails before he attacks the integrity of a U.S. Senator and presidential candidate again,” the story’s lead sentence reads.