Sen. [crscore]Marco Rubio[/crscore]’s communications director Alex Conant suggested that Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore]’s campaign is using “dirty tricks” prior to the Hawaii caucuses like it did in Iowa.
Appearing on MSNBC with Steve Kornacki on Tuesday, Conant said, “We have seen no evidence of Ted Cruz campaigning in Florida. He has no plans to go to Florida, at least he hasn’t announced any plans to go to Florida other than for the debate. And in Hawaii we are seeing some dirty tricks by the Ted Cruz campaign.”
“That CNN report that you just referenced that we know is false, the Ted Cruz campaign sent that report to some of our supporters in Hawaii yesterday, to some of our supporters in Hawaii yesterday suggesting that Marco Rubio is getting out of the race,” Conant suggested. “It’s the same thing that he did to Ben Carson in Iowa.” (VIDEO: Rubio Campaign Rebuts CNN Report That He Is Dropping Out)
“There is no place for that in Republican politics. It’s evidence that Ted Cruz is willing to do or say anything. He is not being honest about what he is doing in Florida, he is not being honest to Republican primary voters or caucusgoers in Hawaii today,” Conant said. “It’s an unfortunate state of the campaign.”
UPDATE: In a statement to The Daily Caller, Cruz’s Communications Director Alice Stewart said, “The at-issue email and social media posting was not sanctioned by the Cruz for President campaign. The campaign became aware of the email this morning by press accounts and upon investigation learned that some volunteers in Hawaii were involved in the posting.”
“The individual(s) who sent this had no authority from the campaign to do so,” Stewart said. “The campaign’s counsel has contacted those responsible, who were in no way authorized by the campaign, and demanded that the material be removed and further use of official campaign logos for any purpose be terminated.”
The email referenced by the Cruz and Rubio campaigns was titled “WASTED VOTE” and then said, “According to multiple news sources, Marco Rubio’s advisers are telling him to drop out of the presidential race before losing his home state of Florida in a few days time.”
The Rubio campaign denies those claims.
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