Hear about Ted Cruz's shady mail piece? Iowa, we need a President who will show up for the job. pic.twitter.com/H7fEAqqLPT
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 1, 2016
On the day before the Iowa Caucus, Ted Cruz sent “voting violation” report cards to potential Iowa Caucus-ers to disastrous results. Now two of his rivals, Marco Rubio and Rand Paul, have capitalized on that faux pas with their own mailers.
Since Rubio isn’t the most hated man in politics, his mailers were designed with more tact in mind. As Time reports, his cards are entitled with the more neutral “Iowa Caucus Report Card” label. They also share general information on whether the recipient’s neighbors voted in previous caucuses or not. Cruz’s flyers included the disclaimer “official public record at the top” and named actual neighbors, drawing privacy concerns.
Paul’s mailers include a voting report card for both Cruz and Rubio, referencing how many senate votes they participated in in 2015. Cruz gets a C- and Rubio gets a D-, while Paul gets an A, naturally. One little thing: Cruz’s voting record in 76.4 percent and Rubio’s is 64.6 percent. Technically, they rate a C and a D. This is splitting hairs, but since Paul converted his score (94.1 percent) accurately, it makes me wonder if we should even believe his flyers.
Oh well, this is still a case of going for the candidate who’s doing way better in the race for the nomination. I’m sure Cruz is relieved that Paul didn’t go after him for that epically awkward hug with his own daughter, but we’ll see how that goes as the race gets more grizzly.