We don't know who pulled the trigger on the message, nor whether Cruz even knew about it before it went out. The CNN screenshot would have made me wonder about the 'announcement', and do further investigation, not necessarily think Carson was dropping out if I was a Carson supporter.
I think (tinfoil time) that the person who gained was not Cruz or Trump, but Rubio, the 'surprise' candidate who 'suddenly' blew up past Carson to take third.
I can see a GOPe operative in Cruz camp displacing one 'outsider' and letting another take the blame for dirty tricks to advance a GOPe candidate. Cruz would be stuck apologizing, because like any captain of any vessel, he is responsible for the actions of his campaign. That does not necessarily mean he, personally, approved or was aware of the message when it went out.
If that is the case, the GOPe is infiltrating the staff of the 'outsiders' and will do all possible to eliminate them, and Rubio is the anointed GOPe standard bearer, at least for now.
Yes, unfortunately we don’t know what the true voting would have been if this false information was not shared around the caucuses.
everyone just goes on saying, oh well, and a lame apology, no real righting of the wrong.
That’s a plausible scenario. If so, Cruz needs to find rhe culprit(s) and publicly expose the fraud.