Ted Cruz sent out a mailer mashing up Rubio's face with Obama's

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and President Obama look awfully tight on Sen. Ted Cruz's latest South Carolina mailer. Indeed, the face alongside the text "The Rubio-Obama Trade Pact" is a merger of Rubio's and Obama's, in an attempt by Cruz's campaign to show that the two are one and the same in their positions on trade.

Some Rubio allies and black leaders argue that the mailer has a racial subtext. "My first reaction was, 'Oh my God, we've moved beyond the dog whistle, we're just full blown with the race card,'" Democratic Rep. Gilda Cobb-Hunter told The Wall Street Journal. "Forget the text. The image of Rubio morphing into Obama is all that needs to be said in this state and in the Republican primary."

Cruz's campaign denies that there is any racial subtext to the mailer.

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