Inside the candidates' push to the New Hampshire Primary

BARRINGTON, NH (KTRK) -- Republican Texas Sen. Ted Cruz calls this campaign a sprint the length of a marathon. If that's the case, this New Hampshire leg of the race is nearing the finish line.

Most polls open across the state at 6am Tuesday.

With less than 24 hours until voting begins, candidates on both sides of the aisle are spending every waking moment pushing for votes.

Cruz was in Barrington, New Hampshire, this morning, and told Eyewitness News his strategy here is the same as it was in Iowa, which he won a week ago today. That strategy, he says, is a broad and deep ground game with volunteers and grassroots support.

Cruz is polling third behind Donald Trump and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. He was polling in second place the day before the Iowa caucuses.

"It's really very much the same," Cruz told Eyewitness News of his team's efforts in Iowa and New Hampshire. "Our approach to campaigning is a grass roots approach. Very much the same as when I ran for Senate in Texas. We ran a grassroots campaign. We traveled the state, meeting with the men and women of the state and looking them in the eyes, answering their questions, trying to earn their votes one at a time."

As for his prospects on Tuesday, Cruz is optimistic. " I hope we'll have a good night tomorrow night in New Hampshire," he said. "And I am confident going forward that we will have very strong support on the 20th in South Carolina and especially on Super Tuesday, March 1st, the so-called SEC primary: Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas. We've got an amazing team and the strength of the campaign is the grassroots."

The cruise team won't characterize what would be an acceptable finish in the nation's first primary. But the campaign expects to do well.

Trump told Eyewitness News after this weekend's debate that he to seize a strong finish here.

He is leading is large, but not as wide margin as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders holds over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on the Democratic side.

Clinton did not campaign in New Hampshire on Sunday herself. She was in Flint, Michigan, at a community meeting regarding that city's water problems. Instead, her husband, former President Bill Clinton, and her daughter, Chelsea, campaigned on her behalf.

All candidates have several events across the state's 10 counties today, and tonight, ahead of voting on Tuesday.