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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Senator Ted Cruz’s Republican primary road map has long hinged on success in the South — a strong showing here and a series of victories on March 1.

There is now a Trump-size wall obstructing that path.

Moments after Mr. Cruz addressed supporters amid Saturday evening’s disappointing performance, his campaign manager, Jeff Roe, held forth on his theory of the race now:

On whether plans have changed since Mr. Cruz’s announcement: “We said, ‘We’re going to do well in February. We need to do well in the first four states.’ I consider what we’ve done so far as doing well. And then we’re going to have a big night on March 1, in an electoral map that favors us.”

On whether it is a two-man race, as Mr. Cruz has previously said: “It’s clear, the top tier, there’s three people. We call it three-wide going into Talladega.”

On whether it was worrisome to lose the evangelical vote: “People are renting each other’s voters for a little while. This will all shake out.”

On whether Donald J. Trump appears unstoppable: “I don’t think anybody in the 30s is unstoppable.”

On how the campaign’s approach will change after the early states: “We knew there were 79,000 people choosing between us and Trump in the last four days. We were calling them. We know their names. You don’t do that on Super Tuesday. Super Tuesday becomes much more of a narrative-based campaign, much more of a national campaign.”

On whether he is surprised Mr. Cruz’s attacks on Mr. Trump did not seem to hurt the latter’s numbers: “You should have seen where he started.”

On how voters consume the race differently after the early states: “They won’t have the benefit, or maybe the luxury, of having millions of dollars of advertising ran at them for months. They’re going to get a week. Maybe a week.”

On whether Jeb Bush’s departure from the race benefits Marco Rubio most: “We get some of Jeb’s votes. We get some of Jeb’s money. The Bushes are from Texas, as I understand it.”