Soporific surgeon Ben Carson complained that opponents tried to smear him with false rumors that he was dropping out, trying to convince his Iowa backers to throw their support to other candidates: 

For months, my campaign has survived the lies and dirty tricks from my opponents who profess to detest the games of the political class, but in reality are masters of it.

Even tonight, my opponents resorted to political tricks by tweeting, texting and telling precinct captains that I had suspended my campaign – in some cases asking caucus goers to change their votes.

One of the reasons I got into this race was to stop these deceptive and destructive practices, and these reports have only further steeled my resolve to continue and fight for ‘We the People,’ and return control of the government back to them.

The rumors began, according to a Carson spokesman, because he is going to Florida after the caucuses in order to change clothes.

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The main culprits of the shenanigans appear to be the Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio campaigns. A bunch of Rubio surrogates — including Arkansas Republican allies — were filling up my Twitter feed last night claiming that Carson was out and his supporters needed to find a new candidate ASAP. 

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