DONALD Trump accused Ted Cruz of fraud in the Iowa caucuses, Rand Paul dropped out of the crowded Republican race and candidates from both major parties focused on New Hampshire before the state’s first-in-the-nation primary next Tuesday.
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Cruz bested Trump with 28 per cent of caucus-goers’ pledges on Monday compared to Trump’s 24 per cent. Florida Senator Marco Rubio came in a close third with 23 per cent.
“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it“, Trump tweeted Wednesday morning in the opening salvo of a series of tweets eviscerating Cruz.
The Public Policy Polling survey could also lend credence to many Rubio supporters’ argument that he could be the Republican establishment’s best option to take down Trump and Cruz, whose potential nominations have unnerved many in the party’s mainstream.
Trump, who finished second behind Cruz, lit up Twitter on Wednesday with a series of posts saying the outcome was tainted because the Cruz campaign had deliberately spread misinformation about Trump’s stand on Obamacare and an erroneous report that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race. Trump accused Cruz of “illegally stealing” the Iowa caucuses and called for “either a new election” or the nullification of the results.
Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are neck in neck on the democratic side, while Ted Cruz pulled ahead of Donald Trump.
Trump’s Twitter rant was a far cry from his concession speech on Monday evening, when he said he loved Iowa even though he landed in second.
Trump, who has faced questions from conservatives about how his position on abortion has changed over the years, also took a position on overturning Roe v. Wade, a question he has previously said he would look at “very, very carefully”. He later went on Boston Herald Radio and said that he would “probably” file a formal complaint over the caucus results. “I think we’ll get a lot of Sanders’ voters”.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has predicted he will win over voters next week in New Hampshire, where he has a substantial lead in polls.
A second hiccup, at the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday, would spell political disaster for the billionaire.
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One bone of contention: Trump said voters aren’t giving him credit for self-funding his campaign and forgoing donations from special interests and so-called super-PACs.
