Keith Uhlig

USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin

ROTHSCHILD - Wearing blue jeans and an open-collar shirt, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz declared to a crowd of partisans that his rival Donald Trump would not represent the conservative values they cherish.

The Republican senator from Texas, who trails Trump overall in the race for the GOP nomination, challenged the New York businessman for a debate in the Badger state. The two candidates are neck-and-neck in Wisconsin, which will hold its primary vote April 5. "Donald, why don't you show up and debate like a man?" Cruz said. "What becomes evident when he is in a debate, is that Donald has no solutions to the problems of this country."

Cruz told the audience of 400 or more people who packed into the auditorium of Central Wisconsin Convention & Expo Center that the answers to the problems facing the United States are in bedrock, uncompromising conservatism. Cruz promised to "overturn every word of Obamacare," saying the act hamstrings small businesses and squashes economic growth. He said he would install a flat tax allowing American taxpayers to file their returns "on a postcard." He said he would abolish the IRS, "and I will reign in the EPA (federal Environmental Protection Agency) and the federal regulators."

He promised to stop any amnesty program and any welfare benefits for illegal immigrants. The result of this conservative path, Cruz promised, would be a return of manufacturing jobs to America, increased wages and more tax money ending up in government coffers because of the economic growth.

That conservative red meat dish was appreciated by the crowd. People such as Orin Torgerson, 70, of Wausau yearn for the fiscal conservatism touted by Cruz. Torgerson said his biggest concern for America is what he said was crushing debt. "The budget is just ridiculous," Torgerson, a retired Wisconsin State Patrol dispatcher, said.

Torgerson said he was still undecided between voting for Trump or Cruz, but he was leaning toward backing the Texan. The race, which has been punctuated lately over Cruz and Trump trading insults and sparring over their respective wives, was "repulsive," Torgerson said. "It is what it is. I wish it were different."

The Cruz rally, if compared with some of the Trump spectacles, was a low-key, friendly affair. As the crowd waited for the candidate to speak, a hum of conversation filled the room underneath speakers blaring music, mostly country-pop tunes. It had the sound of an early happy hour of a large bar in a chain restaurant.

Charlene "Chuckie" O'Leary, 68, of Merrill was there to support Cruz. Trump and some of his wilder antics scare her, she said, and she wondered if he would be a loose cannon as a president.

She was still thinking of voting for Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, the third Republican candidate in the race. But she appreciated Cruz's hard-line conservatism, especially when it comes to national security and Second Amendment rights to bear arms.

The rally was opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and prayer, underscoring the reasons why Cruz became a Tea Party favorite.

"I will not compromise away your religious liberty," Cruz said. "I will not compromise away your Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. ... (I will) stand and fight for Judeo-Christian values that made this great nation."

Cruz was introduced by Carly Fiorina, the former Hewlett-Packard executive who ended her own bid for president in February. Fiorina said she heartily endorsed Cruz because "we need a Constitutional conservatism in the White House."

Fiorina painted Trump together with President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton. After the terrorists attacked Belgium, "Donald Trump spent last week attacking Heidi Cruz," she said. "And Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are two sides of the same coin. ... As president, Trump will do his best to preserve the system."

Nicholas Zabloudil wore a new Ted Cruz for President T-shirt he bought outside the rally. The 24-year-old from Necedah said he simply didn't trust Trump to be a conservative, and while not completely decided, leans heavily toward Cruz. The Walmart worker and history student at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse wants a president who will be hard on national security and heavily protective of his right to bear arms.

"Trump, the more I hear from him, the less I like him," Zabloudil said.

Cruz worked hard to deepen that doubt about Trump. "Donald Trump has been supporting Democratic politicians for 40 years," he said. "I have no experience in that."

Keith Uhlig: 715-845-0651 or keith.uhlig@gannettwisconsin.com; on Twitter @UhligK.