marion, ind. <u+2014> what started as a handful of donald trump supporters heckling ted cruz from across the street outside a campaign stop here monday afternoon turned into a contentious debate between the republican presidential hopeful and at least one of them on the eve of the indiana primary.









the trump backers yelled jeers like "lyin' ted!" and "hey cruz, do the math!" <u+2014> a reference to cruz's delegate deficit in the gop race.









some cruz supporters tried to drown out the men out with pro-cruz chants and counter-insults. then, when it looked like cruz was about to leave and things would simmer down, the senator strolled over to engage the men, who were smoking and holding up trump signs.









in a back-and-forth with one of the men, who afterward repeatedly refused to provide his name to reporters and said he was from ohio, cruz said of trump: "this man is lying to you and he's taking advantage of you."









he added:<u+00a0>"if i were donald trump i wouldn't have come over and talked to you. ... i would have told the folks over there go over and punch those guys in the face."









the man accused cruz of lying on that point. cruz said it was beyond dispute.









"you'll find out tomorrow. indiana don't want you," the man told him at one point. he also repeatedly interrupted cruz and tried to mock him.









"sir, america is a better country <u+2014> " said cruz.









"without you," the man quipped.









"a question everyone here should ask <u+2014> " the senator later said.









"are you canadian?" another man said. "are you canadian?" the man cruz was speaking to repeated.









the question cruz was actually trying to raise: "do you want your kids repeating the words of donald trump?"









the man also took aim at cruz over his remark that he would "carpet bomb" islamic state militants.









"those are your words. carpet bomb. i added the women and children because that's what you're going to be doing when you carpet bomb somewhere."









cruz shot back: "it's interesting that you added women and children because your candidate, donald trump, came out and said he would order our military to kill the women and children, the wives and children, of terrorists, which is a war crime."









polls show trump is leading cruz in indiana. a loss would be a devastating blow to cruz's already struggling campaign. trump is also campaigning in the state monday.
cruz confronts pro-trump protesters in indiana: <u+2018>he<u+2019>s taking advantage of you<u+2019>
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