This is intriguing, even if NBC News explains it by way of Iowa's disgruntled Ron Paulites:
Cruz addressed a somewhat muted crowd of GOP activists who attended the annual [Ronald Reagan] fundraising dinner.... Previous speakers at the dinner include former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin; her appearance, in 2010, drew nearly three times as many attendees.
The key to 2016's fireworks is Ted Cruz's sustainability. So for him the above, obviously, is ominous. It wasn't that what Cruz had to say drove them away. They just didn't show up. In Iowa.
Whether this mostly reflects the Paulites' jealousy or a simmering pre-knowledge of Cruz's electoral lethality remains a question. But for Cruz, it doesn't look good.