Tag Archives: Iowa Caucus

Election, Featured, Politics

Voicemails Sent Before Iowa Caucus Claimed Carson was ‘Suspending Campaigning’

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Following Ted Cruz’s win in the Iowa Caucus and accusations that he stole votes from rival candidate Ben Carson, voicemails have been released which reportedly reveal that individuals, identifying themselves as members of Cruz’s campaign, were telling local precinct captains that Carson was “suspending campaigning” and “taking a leave of absence.”

After an email was sent out from the Cruz campaign asking supporters to inform voters that Carson “is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week,” Cruz pointed to CNN’s reporting and suggested that the media was encouraging conflict between himself and Carson.

Cruz claimed he apologized to Carson for “not passing on their subsequent clarification,” but he also stood by his campaign’s decision to send the email.

“The news story that our team passed on was true and accurate,” Cruz said according to RealClearPolitics. “In fact, Ben did go to Florida instead of New Hampshire or South Carolina.”

“Passing on a true an accurate news story, it is in fact something the voters found relevant,” Cruz continued. “There is a reason why the media is chattering about this. Because the media wants to stir up a fight between Ben Carson and me.”

[RELATED: Cruz Campaign Accused of Spreading Carson Drop-Out Rumors Before Iowa Vote]

While CNN Reporter Chris Moody tweeted that Carson “won’t go to NH/SC, but will instead head home to Florida for some R&R,” he immediately followed it up with another tweet that said Carson’s campaign told him that “he plans to stay in the race beyond Iowa no matter what the results are tonight.” Both tweets were posted at 4:43 p.m. CST Monday.

However, after Carson’s campaign had already confirmed that it was staying in the race, members of Cruz’s campaign reportedly called local precinct captains in Iowa and told them to encourage voters that they should “not waste a vote on Ben Carson,” because Carson was planning on “suspending campaigning.”

[RELATED: Iowa Sec. of State Chides Ted Cruz for Sending ‘Voting Violation’ Mailers to Voters]

Audio was released by Breitbart Thursday from two voicemails left on the phone of Nancy Bliesman, a precinct caption for Cruz in Crawford County, Iowa.

The first voicemail, which was reportedly left at 7:07 p.m. CST, was from a woman claiming she was “calling to get to a precinct captain.”

[pull_quote_center]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. He is taking a leave of absence from his campaign.[/pull_quote_center]

The second voicemail, left at 7:29 p.m. CST, was from a man who claimed that he was “the Cruz campaign,” and that he was calling with breaking news about Carson “suspending campaigning” following the Iowa Caucus. 

[pull_quote_center]Hello, this is the Cruz campaign with breaking news: Dr. Ben Carson will be [garbled] suspending campaigning following tonight’s caucuses. Please inform any Carson caucus goers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted instead. Thank you. Good night.[/pull_quote_center]

Investigative journalist Ben Swann discussed additional accusations against the Cruz campaign during a Reality Check segment Thursday. He questioned why the Cruz campaign failed to pass along the information that Carson was still in the race even after it was widely reported, and he noted that this is only one instance of the Cruz campaign being accused of “dirty tricks” in Iowa:

Reality Check: Did Ted Cruz Use Lies and Dirty Tricks To Win …

Accusations that Ted Cruz's campaign used dirty tricks to win Iowa Caucus. Ben Swann explains what happened in Reality Check.

Posted by Ben Swann on Thursday, February 4, 2016

 

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Election, Politics

In Tight Race with Sanders, Clinton Reportedly Wins 6 Precincts By Coin Toss

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The Democratic primary race appeared to be incredibly close during the Iowa caucus Monday night, where candidate Hillary Clinton reportedly won at least six precincts by way of a coin toss.

While the caucus numbers led former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley to drop out of the race, it left Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie in several precincts.

Some precincts solved the tie by flipping a coin and various reports show that in at least six different cases, Clinton was declared the winner of the precinct based off of the coin toss.

One of these coin tosses occurred at a precinct in Ames. David Schweingruber, an associate professor of sociology at Iowa State University and a Sanders supporter, told the Des Moines Register that after 484 eligible caucus attendees were recorded, only 424 participants were counted when they were split up by candidate, “leaving 60 apparently missing.”

“When those numbers were plugged into the formula that determines delegate allocations, Clinton received four delegates and Sanders received three — leaving one delegate unassigned,” Schweingruber said.

Because of the missing numbers, Schweingruber said the Sanders campaign challenged the results, and the Democratic Party officials they reached out to on a hotline recommended they settle the dispute with a coin toss.

Fernando Peinado, a political reporter at Univision, reported on Twitter that a precinct in Des Moines was also given to Clinton after being determined by a coin toss.

A similar result came from another precinct in Des Moines, according to Twitter user Sage Rosenfels:

In a Newton precinct, New York Times reporter Trip Gabriel said he was told that Clinton was given an extra delegate via coin toss after she and Sanders were in a tie, 34-34.

Twitter user Julia LaBua claimed that the “same situation, same result” occurred at a precinct in West Branch.

Clinton also received an extra delegate in a precinct in Davenport, as shown by a video posted by Twitter user Andrew Tadlock.

https://twitter.com/andytadlock/status/694340486908088320

While Monday night’s results showed Clinton with 699.57 delegates and Sanders with 695.49, Sanders said he looked at the difference as a technicality. “We started our campaign 40, 50 points behind,” he said. “Whether we lose by a fraction of a point or we win or whatever, we’re very proud of the campaign that we won.”

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Election, Featured, Politics

Flier Circulates Offering Voters ‘Fast Cash’ to Fill Seats at Jeb Bush Rally

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Fliers were reportedly circulating in Iowa Monday offering voters “fast cash,” or up to $50 for two hours of their time, to attend a Jeb Bush rally in Des Moines.

The flier called for “seat fillers” to report to Bush’s rally at 12 p.m. at an Embassy Suites hotel.

Jeff Sadosky, a spokesman for the pro-Marco Rubio Conservative Solutions Pac, shared a picture of the flier on Twitter Monday morning. He wrote, “In Des Moines and need some quick money… apparently Jeb Bush will pay you to listen to him.”

The flier instructed interested individuals to report to a “Dale Herbert” at the rally. When the Daily Beast contacted the email listed, a response simply stated, “No we are not officially part of the Bush Campaign. Hopefully we’ll see you there. First come first served.”

The Conservatarian posted a picture of the same flier, which was reportedly given to a student in Iowa who was campaigning for Rand Paul.

According to Vice News, during the Bush rally, a heckler was removed after he stood up and shouted, “We’ve been here for two and a half hours and haven’t gotten paid yet! Where’s that $50?”

Bush’s campaign denied any affiliation with the flier. When questioned, Sadosky reportedly told the Daily Beast that he has no reason to believe it wasn’t a hoax, and that because of the campaign’s “fundraising troubles,” he would have been surprised that they could afford to pay supporters attend the rally.

“The Jeb folks are saying it is a hoax, don’t have any reason to not believe them, I just saw it on Twitter,” Sadosky said. “Given their fundraising troubles of late, probably makes sense that they couldn’t afford this.”

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