All righty, one more comment before Iowans head to their caucus locations.
U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, one of 11 candidates seeking the Republican presidential nomination, has been slapped down by the Iowa secretary of state over a mailer that went out prior to the start of the caucus.
Cruz, the Texas Republican, sent the mailer out warning of a “violation” if Iowans didn’t take part in the caucus.
The mailer has the appearance of a government document. It looks official.
Except that it isn’t.
Read the Texas Tribune account here.
Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate called Cruz’s campaign down for the mailer, saying it isn’t in keeping with state policy. He called it deceitful. Here’s what Pate said, according to the Texas Tribune: “Today I was shown a piece of literature from the Cruz for President campaign that misrepresents the role of my office, and worse, misrepresents Iowa election law,” Pate said. “Accusing citizens of Iowa of a ‘voting violation’ based on Iowa Caucus participation, or lack thereof, is false representation of an official act.”
Oh, yes. One more thing. Pate isn’t a Democrat. He’s a Republican who took office just this past year.
If Pate was a Democrat, one might be able to suggest that he would be driven by partisan interests in condemning the Cruz mailer.
Then again, given the yuuuuuge chasm within the Republican Party, one might wonder if Pate is supporting one of the other GOP candidates.
Whatever. Sen. Cruz’s campaign has been duly chastised.
Not that it matters to the Cruz Missile. He stands by the document.
There. I’m done with the Iowa caucus . . . until it’s over.
