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   First, the most senior Republican in Iowa, Gov. Terry Branstad, told voters there to choose literally any candidate but the Texas senator.

Then, a few hours later, Sarah Palin -- the woman who embodied the anti-establishment ethos before the rise of the tea party -- endorsed Cruz's rival, Donald Trump. 

Together, the slights were the biggest potential momentum-stoppers since Cruz began rising in the Iowa polls last October. For the first time after he began boasting that the conservative movement was coalescing around him and not his rivals, Cruz received the freshest reminder yet that unity is still not completely within reach.