Donald Trump says Ted Cruz ‘fraud’ in Monday’s Iowa caucuses warrants ‘a new election’ [Image: Joe Raedle/Getty Images].

He reckons Ted Cruz spread a false rumour that a third candidate, Ben Carson, was dropping out of the race – and this skewed the results.

The Guardian reckons this is par for the course: “To beat John McCain in South Carolina in 2000, the George W Bush campaign used a Bible professor to spread a rumor that ‘McCain chose to sire children without marriage’.

“Lee Atwater helped George HW Bush beat Michael Dukakis in 1988 by cutting a racist commercial tying Dukakis to a rape and stabbing by convicted murderer Willie Horton while on furlough.”

Would Trump have acted similarly if he’d had the chance? Will he, in the future?

Donald Trump, who finished second in the Iowa caucuses after leading in the polls for weeks, has taken to Twitter to accuse Ted Cruz, the victor, of stealing the race.

Trump’s reasoning is that the Cruz campaign spread a false rumour that Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon, was dropping out of the race (Carson returned to Florida after the vote instead of proceeding to New Hampshire) in order to snap up a share of Carson’s values voters.

Cruz issued an apology of sorts to the Carson campaign for spreading the rumor on election night that Carson was dropping out of the race, which Cruz characterized as an honest “mistake”.

Source: Trump calls for Iowa do-over after second-place finish – campaign live | US news | The Guardian