As Trump draws closer to Republican victory, Cruz boils over

BEDFORD: With Donald Trump emerging as the favorite to win Indiana´s primary on Tuesday and cement his grip on the Republican U.S. presidential nomination, his main rival Ted Cruz lashed out in unusually harsh terms, slamming the billionaire as a "pathological liar" and "amoral.

"Cruz has been counting on a win in Tuesday´s primary to slow the New York businessman´s progress toward the nomination.

But polls in recent days have shown Trump opening up a substantial lead in the Midwestern state over the U.S. senator from Texas.

Campaigning in Evansville, Indiana, Cruz sounded deeply frustrated by the bombastic real estate mogul, who has ripped conservative Cruz at every turn.

"The man cannot tell the truth but he combines it with being a narcissist," Cruz said of Trump, "a narcissist at a level I don´t think this country has ever seen.

"Cruz´s fury was set off by Trump saying in a television appearance that the senator´s father, Cuban emigre Rafael Cruz, was linked to John F.Kennedy´s assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald.

Trump was referring to a report by National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid known for celebrity gossip and alien sightings.

Cruz also termed Trump a "serial philanderer" -- likely as part of his strategy to try to siphon the support of evangelical voters from Trump.

Republican voters in Indiana could give Trump an almost unstoppable advantage in his turbulent journey toward the party´s presidential nomination.

He holds a double-digit polling lead in the state. Trump, who frequently refers to Cruz as "Lyin´ Ted," quickly responded to his rival´s attack.

"Over the last week, I have watched Lyin´ Ted become more and more unhinged as he is unable to react under the pressure and stress of losing, in all cases by landslides, the last six primary elections --- in fact, coming in last place in all but one of them," he said in a statement.

Trump has drawn both passionate support and vitriolic condemnation with his stands on immigration and national security - including a call to build a wall along the Mexican border that he says Mexico would pay for and a bid to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States.

Fresh off a sweep of five Northeastern states last week, a Trump win on Tuesday could put him within reach of the 1,237 delegates required to lock up the Republican nomination before the party´s convention in July.

"If we win Indiana, it´s over," he told a cheering crowd in Terre Haute, Indiana, on the eve of the vote.