Updated March 25, 2016:
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz appearing at the fish fry at the Rite Place at 4 p.m. today.
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UPDATE: National politics sets its sights on Oshkosh tonight.
Tomorrow, Republican presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz, becomes the first candidate to visit Northeast Wisconsin in the race for the white house.
The destination: Lakeside Plastics for a town hall style meeting.
Come first thing tomorrow morning, the inside of the business will be transformed into a stage for Sen. Cruz's campaign stop. And business leaders here say they're ready for the hundreds of people expected to attend.
Inside the walls of Lakeside Plastics is a business that's proud of its 50+ year history in Oshkosh.
"We have 110-120 employees," says Vice President Mike Cuttill, "from Fond du Lac, Ripon, Appleton."
"We're North America's largest traffic cone producer," adds President Jeff Seibold. "A lot of the workers here are doing a lot of good to Wisconsin, to the U.S., and we sell internationally."
Business leaders say they're also happy to host Sen. Cruz, or any candidate this campaign season.
"This really is an honor for us to have one of the candidates here," says Cuttill.
Cuttill says it's a chance for them to explain to candidates what matters to their business, "and how some of the policies that they're looking to enact will affect not only our business, but our employees, and the entire area."
But there hasn't been much time for planning since the call came from Cruz's office Monday.
"Wednesday we had an advanced team look at the facility, and do some advanced planning," says Cuttill.
The stage came as recent as today.
"They're telling us to expect about 400 people," adds Cuttill.
It's apparently one of several stops for Cruz this weekend, including Green Bay and Fond du Lac, according to his website.
"It really is fast," laughs Cuttill.
We also spoke with Oshkosh Police, who say they'll be serving a security role in tomorrow's event, although they say it's limited mainly to traffic control.
The rest, they say, is in Cruz's campaign's hands.
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Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is coming to Oshkosh tomorrow.
A town hall is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Friday at Lakeside Plastics, Inc., 450 W. 33rd Ave.
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PEWAUKEE, Wis. (AP) -- Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is beginning his push to win Wisconsin, saying the entire country is looking to the state and its April 5 primary.
Cruz took questions Wednesday night from a conservative talk radio host. Cruz says Wisconsin has a megaphone because there are no other primaries between now and April 5.
He says, "the entire country is looking to Wisconsin."
Cruz took questions from an influential conservative talk radio show host near Milwaukee on Wednesday night in the Republican stronghold of Waukesha County.
Cruz plans to make stops Thursday outside of Madison and in House Speaker Paul Ryan's hometown of Janesville. He plans to campaign in the Fox Valley on Friday.
Conservative opponents to Trump are looking to Wisconsin to take a stand against him.
