How the Iowa Caucuses set up the candidates going forward

In attacks posted on his official Twitter account Wednesday, Trump says “either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified”.

The question burned late into the night: Who won the Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders?

Trump and the Carson camp both complained that Cruz campaign workers alerted voters to Carson’s decision to go home for a break after the caucuses, stoking speculation he would drop out. “What he did was unthinkable”.

Cruz spokesman Rick Tyler earlier Wednesday denied the campaign had spread the message Carson was dropping out-potentially freeing his supporters to support Cruz in Iowa instead-and had merely told supporters about Carson’s travel plans. “That’s fair game. What the team then should have done was send around the follow-up statement from the Carson campaign clarifying that he was indeed staying in the race when that came out”.

Clinton won the Iowa caucuses by a razor-thin margin on Monday, but she has a lot of work to do between now and Tuesday if she’s going to beat Sanders in New Hampshire.

In the hours after the Iowa caucus, Donald Trump was courteous and somewhat subdued in his concession speech and tweeted a string of surprisingly reflective explanations for his second-place finish there.

Trump doesn’t like to share the spotlight and the Cruz flap has helped him figure out a way to get back on the front page. “He said the man has just left the race and he said it during the caucus… the problem with politics is that we have all these dishonest politicians”. “There are support groups for Twitter addiction, perhaps he should find his local chapter”.

Cruz has since apologized and Carson has accepted.

Cruz’s sins began as a grab for more evangelical voters, specifically Carson’s evangelical voters.

Mr Cruz’s win and Mr Rubio’s strong showing could dent the momentum for Mr Trump, whose candidacy has alarmed the Republican establishment and been marked by controversies such as his calls for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US.

Cruz’s campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Trump’s accusations.

Tuesday was Trump’s worst media day since he entered the race.