Well, well, well. Noted jerk Ted Cruz is truly running a campaign worthy of his personal reputation. We’ve known for a few days that the Cruz campaign took stories about Ben Carson going home to Florida from Iowa rather than heading straight to New Hampshire or South Carolina to campaign and ran with them, telling some Iowa caucus-goers that Carson had dropped out. Turns out, the Cruz campaign really went to town on that effort:
Cruz precinct captain Nancy Bliesman told CNN she received two messages Monday night saying that Carson was leaving the campaign trail.
"Dr. Ben Carson will be (inaudible) suspending campaigning following tonight's caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucusgoers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted instead," someone who identified themselves as being from the Cruz campaign said in one message.
In another voicemail, someone who also identified herself as being with the Cruz campaign said, "It has just been announced that Ben Carson is taking a leave of absence from the campaign trail, so it is very important that you tell any Ben Carson voters that for tonight, uh, that they not waste a vote on Ben Carson, and vote for Ted Cruz."
To be fair, there was a brief window when the reports did make it sound like Carson was quitting, officially or unofficially. That window was not two voicemails wide open, though. This doesn’t seem like a tactic that would surprise anyone who knows Cruz personally, but it should serve as a valuable data point for any voters who want to say that honesty and truth-telling matter in their vote choice.
Then again, Carson has been in no hurry to resume campaigning, so he can really stop whining, too.