Ted Cruz didn't mention Marco Rubio by name, but he took swipes at both his fellow senator and at Donald Trump. | AP Photo Cruz claims New Hampshire as a win

HOLLIS, N.H. — Ted Cruz didn't win the New Hampshire primary, but at his watch party here Tuesday night, he attempted to claim victory anyway.

"I want to congratulate Donald Trump on an impressive win tonight," Cruz told a small but enthusiastic crowd here, eliciting boos, as poll results showed the Texas senator teetering between third and fourth place. "And John Kasich had a good night tonight. But the real winner, the real winner is the conservative grassroots, who propelled us to outright victory in Iowa and to a far stronger result and outcome in New Hampshire than anyone had predicted."


Cruz last week won the Iowa caucuses and for a time was polling a distant second in New Hampshire, behind Trump. But he was never expected to win here, in the second-most secular state in the country, where his vocal social conservatism makes him an unlikely fit. In his speech here, he said his close top-four finish validated his strategy of seeking to unite evangelicals and libertarians, among other factions of the conservative grassroots.

"The talking heads, the Washington insiders, were confident our wave of support would break against the rock of the Granite State. A conservative, we were told, could not do well in the state of New Hampshire," Cruz said. "Tonight, the men and women here and all across this great state proved them wrong."

Left unsaid, but more important for the Cruz campaign, was that the results blunted the momentum of Marco Rubio, the Florida senator seen as a possibly formidable rival, should he eventually emerge as the establishment standard-bearer.

Rubio’s finish Tuesday night, which at the time of Cruz's speech looked to be behind Trump, Kasich, Cruz and Jeb Bush, further complicates the establishment’s efforts to rally around one candidate and prolongs that process.

Cruz last week mocked Rubio for touting a third-place finish in Iowa as a victory, but when Cruz appeared to notch the same performance Tuesday night in New Hampshire, he too projected confidence.

He didn't mention Rubio by name, but he took swipes at both his fellow senator and at Trump, his biggest rival headed into South Carolina, in his brief speech.

"We cannot win by nominating a candidate with the same policy on amnesty as Hillary Clinton," said Cruz, who routinely jabs Rubio over his work on comprehensive immigration reform in the Senate.

He also often accuses Trump of embracing socialized medicine, and continued on Tuesday, "We cannot win by nominating a candidate with the same policy on Obamacare as Bernie Sanders."

"And for Pete's sake, we don't need more deals," Cruz said, another oblique tweak of Trump, who still touts his book "The Art of the Deal." "We don't need more capitulation and surrender to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama. "

Cruz has long viewed the slew of predominantly Southern states that vote on March 1 as a firewall, and the rowdy crowd assembled here seemed to have a grasp on his strategy, applauding loudly as he mentioned friendlier, more conservative states on the calendar down the road.

"Now we go on to South Carolina, the Palmetto State, and you know, Washington liberals may find South Carolina far less hospitable environs," he said. As the audience whooped, he continued, "And on to Nevada and Super Tuesday, the so-called SEC primary."

In a preview of the contrast-drawing to come in South Carolina between Cruz and Trump, the senator continued: "And the voters will have a choice: Do we want a campaign conservative, someone who talks a good game but hasn't walked the walk, or do we want a consistent conservative with a proven record?"