“Or haven’t you seen the analysis that showed that based on the 2nd-choice preferences of Carson voters,”
Let’s dig into the “analysis.”
All the major, respected analysis showed that Trump had a decent lead in Iowa.
Trump didn’t put out sleazy mailers and call them normal.
Trump’s camp didn’t put out tweets and phone messages saying Carson was out the day of the primary.
These are just the things we have heard about.
If Cruz did nothing wrong, why was he so quick to apologize?
All the major, respected analysis also showed that Trump had a lousy ground game and that a significant portion of his base (up to 25% by some accounts) did not show up. In other words, he got outworked.
Trump didn't put out sleazy mailers and call them normal.
I get a half dozen mailer like that every election. Get over yourself.
Trump's camp didn't put out tweets and phone messages saying Carson was out the day of the primary.
Neither did the Cruz camp, as has been proven numerous times. No one has yet been able to provide any evidence that they said Carson had quit. They said he was "taking a break from the campaign" and "suspending campaigning", which was an accurate representation of the information provided by CNN.
If Cruz did nothing wrong, why was he so quick to apologize?
Because he is an honorable man, and he thought there might have been something his campaign could have done to correct the false impression left by the CNN information they forwarded.