1/25/2016 articles
There’s no denying it, but Donald Trump is trouncing the pack of GOP presidential hopefuls who want the job he covets—the presidency, in most national and state polls. Trump, Cruz, and Rubio are the three presidential hopefuls at the top of the GOP field.
“The most recent poll, released January 20 by Monmouth University, found far more voters now say Mr. Trump has a better chance of defeating Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton than either Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas or Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida.” The Washington Times, Jan. 21, David Sherfinski.
“Republican voters are increasingly seeing Donald Trump as their best shot to win back the White House in this fall’s general election…Trump has defied analysts who predicted his controversies would dent his electability.”
The NBC-Wall Street Journal poll released earlier in the week of Jan. 18, found Trump trailing Mrs. Clinton by 10%, Cruz was trailing by 4%, and Rubio was trailing by 1%. But Republican voters are gravitating toward the idea that Trump will be the one to give the GOP the best shot against the Democrats this fall.
Trump, Palin, and Cruz
Sarah Palin, former running mate of Sen. John McCain in 2008, endorsed Mr. Trump on Jan. 19. Mrs. Palin, a Tea Party leader, endorsed and stumped for Ted Cruz in 2012, helping him to be elected Senator of Texas. Cruz hoped for Palin’s support in his 2016 presidential election bid.
“After months of assiduously following his playbook, with expected rivals for evangelical and Tea Party support exiting the race or languishing in the polls, Mr. Cruz is being forced to confront the election season’s great mystery: How do you solve a problem like Donald Trump? The New York Times, Jan. 21, Matt Flegenheimer and Jonathan Martin.
Standing alongside Mr. Trump on Wednesday, Jan. 20, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mrs. Palin said: “Even today, the G.O.P. machine, they’re attacking their own front- runner, adding: Not every conservative has had the guts to talk about the real issues.”
Trump Forcing Cruz to Rewrite His Playbook
“This was not the campaign Mr. Cruz expected. Since his 2012 run for the U.S. Senate in Texas and through his fights in Washington, Mr. Cruz has portrayed himself as an uncompromising conservative and his opponents as enablers of a corrupt establishment…but that neat white hat/black hat construct has been scrambled by the rise of Mr. Trump, a candidate willing to go even further outside the traditional bounds of political conduct.”
Former Senator Bob Dole supports Trump
“Mr. Dole said in an interview on Wednesday that the GOP party would suffer cataclysmic and wholesale losses if Mr. Cruz were the Republican nominee, and that Donald J. Trump would fare better…I question the allegiance to the party Mr. Dole said of Mr. Cruz…I don’t know how often you’ve heard him say the word ‘Republican’ – not very often. Instead Mr. Cruz uses the word ‘conservative’ before offering up a different word for Mr. Cruz: ‘extremist.’
“I don’t know how Mr. Cruz will deal with Congress… ‘nobody likes him’… Mr. Trump ‘could probably work with Congress because he has the right personality, and he’s kind of a dealmaker’,” The New York Times, Jan. 21, Maggie Haberman.