Trump accuses Cruz of rigging Iowa poll

Republican presidential candidate Senator Ted Cruz (left) stands with his wife Heidi as he addresses supporters after winning at the caucus night gathering at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on February 1, 2016 in Des Moines, Iowa. Donald Trump launched a full-blown attack on arch-rival Ted Cruz accusing him of stealing victory in Iowa. PHOTO | CHRISTOPHER FURLONG |

What you need to know:

  • Fighting back from second place in the Iowa caucus this week, Mr Trump lashed out on Twitter, telling his six million followers that the evangelical conservative had only won the first vote of the 2016 election by fraud.
  • “Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” Mr Trump wrote.
  • Cruz fired back a salvo several hours later. “Yet another #Trumpertantrum @realDonaldTrump very angry with the people of Iowa.

NEW YORK, Thursday

Donald Trump launched a full-blown attack on Republican arch-rival Ted Cruz on Thursday, accusing him of stealing victory in Iowa as the Texas senator bit back, rubbishing the mogul’s presidential credentials and questioning his sanity.

Fighting back from second place in the Iowa caucus this week, Mr Trump lashed out on Twitter, telling his six million followers that the evangelical conservative had only won the first vote of the 2016 election by fraud.

“Ted Cruz didn’t win Iowa, he stole it. That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!” Mr Trump wrote.

Cruz fired back a salvo several hours later. “Yet another #Trumpertantrum @realDonaldTrump very angry with the people of Iowa.

They actually looked at his record,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Mr Trump slammed Mr Cruz for putting out a statement from Iowa saying that a fellow candidate, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, was quitting the race, and “lying” to thousands of voters about Trump’s policies.

“Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa Caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified,” Mr Trump wrote.

CRUZ REPLY

On the campaign trail in New Hampshire, Cruz looked to capitalise on his momentum against the New York billionaire, who leads Republican polls in the Granite State.

“I wake up every day and laugh at the latest thing Donald has tweeted. Because he’s losing it,” said Mr Cruz. “We need a commander in chief, not a 'twitterer' in chief.

“We need someone with judgment and the temperament to keep this country safe. I don’t know anyone who would be comfortable with someone who behaves this way having his finger on the button.”

WINNING STRATEGY?

Mr Trump has run a media blitzkrieg campaign, dishing out insults against his political rivals, Mexicans, women and Muslims, sucking the television air time away from every other candidate in the race.

But his Iowa tally - in second place at just above 24 per cent, marginally ahead of Senator Marco Rubio - in the first vote raises serious questions about whether showmanship has a winning strategy.

A second hiccup, at the New Hampshire primary next Tuesday, would spell political disaster for the reality television star.

Mr Cruz won 27.7 per cent of the vote in the Republican caucus in Iowa.