While Donald Trump and Ben Carson continue to dominate the polls and a gaggle of Establishment candidates battle one another, the favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination just might be Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, journalist Mark Halperin said Tuesday.

On the day of the fourth Republican debate Tuesday, Halperin said on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that Cruz might be best situated to, as Ingraham put it, “marry the passion to the substance.”

Halperin, co-managing editor of Bloomberg Politics, said Cruz is set up nicely for the Iowa caucuses and would have favorable terrain in the early voting Southern states. In addition, he said, the Cruz campaign has a highly sophisticated effort to master the rules and intricacies of capturing delegates.

“If you total up the assets and problems and look at the calendar, you look at the fundraising, you look at message, I could make a case today that Cruz might be the most likely nominee,” Halperin said. “And people are underestimating him and continue to underestimate him. I think the Establishment might be less happy with Ted Cruz as the nominee than even Trump.”

The crowded, unpredictable Republican presidential nomination fight continues to be wide open, with a number of candidates having a plausible path to victory, Halperin said. His take on the leading contenders:

• Trump and Carson: Halperin said the GOP Establishment is recalibrating its earlier view that the two outsider candidates could not be the nominee. For both, Halperin said, the challenge is the same: “Can they convert interest in them in what has been going from summer into fall, into votes on caucus night or Election Day?”

• Jeb Bush: Halperin said the former Florida governor desperately needs some “good news cycles.” He said Bush should not be counted out, but added he is battling stiff headwinds, including that there simply appears to be no grassroots support. “A real problem for him, amidst all of the other problems he has, is it’s difficult to find enthusiasm for him.”

• Sen. Marco Rubio: As Bush has faltered, Rubio, also of Florida, has looked more and more like the Establishment’s fallback option. His problem, Halperin said, is that it is inconceivable he could lose the first four states and still capture the nomination.

Though Rubio is behind in the polls in all four states, Halperin said he could do well, or even win the Iowa caucuses, if Trump, Cruz and Carson split the anti-Establishment vote. “He could then use that to go on to New Hampshire and do well,” he said.

If that happens, Halperin said, “He could be the de facto nominee by Feb. 9.”

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• Chris Christie: The New Jersey governor has performed so poorly that he has been relegated to the undercard in Tuesday night’s debate. But Halperin said Christie’s political skill gives him a shot.

“You’ve got a 15-person roller derby — imagine Chris Christie out there on skates — he is the best political brawler in our politics, and this is a brawl,” Halperin said.