COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson believes his opponents pulled “dirty tricks” to hurt his performance in Iowa. Carson doesn’t name the tricksters, but he appears to be implicating Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign.
Carson released a statement following his fourth-place finish in the caucus that thanked Iowans, but spotlighted what he characterizes as his opponents’ misbehavior.
“For months, my campaign has survived the lies and dirty tricks from opponents who profess to detest the games of the political class, but in reality are masters at it,” Carson said in a statement. “Even tonight, my opponents resorted to political tricks by tweeting, texting and telling precinct captains to announce that I had suspended my campaign — in some cases asking caucus-goers to change their votes. One of the reasons I got into this race was to stop these deceptive and destructive practices, and these reports have only further steeled my resolve to continue and fight for ‘We The People,’ and return control of the government back to them.”
While votes were being tallied in Council Bluffs’ second precinct, a Cruz representative told the Washington Examiner she had received word that Carson was quitting.
“Did you hear that Carson is suspending his campaign after Iowa?” asked Robin Hammit, a Cruz representative sporting a “Cruz precinct captain” button in Council Bluffs. “I get the emails from the Ted Cruz camp and I got one just as it was getting started and that’s what it said. I don’t think he put that out there falsely, so.”
Earlier in the night, after the caucuses began, Carson’s campaign attempted to head off the inaccurate reports claiming he would exit the 2016 presidential race. The campaign released a statement from communications director Larry Ross that said in part, “Contrary to false media reports, Dr. Ben Carson is not suspending his presidential campaign, which is stronger than ever.”
The senator and retired neurosurgeon were competing for evangelical voters and Christian conservatives before the first-in-the-nation caucus. Cruz has momentum as the projected winner of the Iowa caucus, while Carson finished a distant fourth.
On Tuesday morning, Cruz campaign spokeswoman Catherine Frazier provided the following response to request for comment on emails suggesting Carson quit: “Our email repeated what other outlets were reporting. That he [Carson] was leaving [sic] the campaign trail for a few days.”
