DES MOINES, IOWA— Republican Presidential Candidate Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign is hitting back at Sen. Marco Rubio’s criticism of their voter-turnout mailer, saying that his criticism is “bizarre” and that Rubio sent a similar mailer to Iowa voters.
“I think it’s bizarre that Marco Rubio criticizes Ted’s voter-turnout mailer,” Cruz’s campaign’s Iowa State chairman Matt Schultz told Breitbart News. “This is just another example of Marco wanting to take both sides of every issue,” he added.
The Cruz campaign has been facing criticism since it was reported that they sent a flyer out to Iowa voters, that resembled a government document, which read “VOTING VIOLATION.” The flier also included names and percentage scores for each voter.
On Sunday it was revealed that Sen. Marco Rubio’s campaign sent a similar flyer to Iowa voters pressuring voters to attend the Iowa caucus. The Rubio mailer is stamped “Iowa Caucus Report Card.” The letter states, “Improve your score by caucusing on Monday, February 1st.”
The tone of the flier, however, is tamer than the one sent by the Cruz campaign. The Rubio flier also doesn’t include information about the recipients’ neighbors.
On Saturday, Rubio was quick to hit Cruz for sending out the mailer, telling reporters in Iowa that voters had approached him about it.
“They were upset about it, obviously. They had people’s names and they gave them an ‘F’ rating for how they voted. I think a lot of voters are disturbed by it,” he said. He added that it’s “an unusual way to end your campaign in the state.”
“You’ll have to ask him, you know, how he’s feeling about his campaign but it doesn’t sound like he’s feeling too good,” Rubio said. “It sounds like he’s under a lot of pressure and maybe not reacting very well to it. Which is problematic because presidents are under pressure every day.”