Luke Skywalker
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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump(Photo: John Locher, AP)
WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s romp through seven Super Tuesday states gave fresh urgency Wednesday to efforts by the Republican Party’s strategists and donors to halt his race toward the presidential nomination.
The anti-tax group Club for Growth Action launched a new $1.5 million ad in Florida, casting Trump as a lousy businessman who “hides behind bankruptcy laws to duck paying his bills.” The organization’s leaders say they also are likely to withhold endorsements and fundraising help from any GOP congressional candidate who backs the brash real-estate mogul.
Florida’s delegate-rich primary is March 15.
“Time is running out,” said Club for Growth spokesman Doug Sachtleben. “Trump could cost us a good shot at the White House, the Senate majority, and ultimately, the Supreme Court.”
The GOP’s 2012 nominee Mitt Romney, who has become an increasingly loud anti-Trump voice in recent days, also plans to deliver a major address about the presidential contest Thursday, just hours before Trump and three<span style="color: Red;">*</span>other Republican candidates are slated to take the debate stage in Detroit, NBC News and other news organizations reported Wednesday. Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson announced Wednesday that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he will not participate in the debate, as he sees no "path forward" for his campaign.
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A Trump nomination would be “a disaster” for Senate Republican candidates, said Rob Jesmer, a GOP strategist and former executive director of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “People are just waking up to that reality in the last few days.”
“His microphone is bigger than anyone’s in the whole country,” Jesmer said and Senate candidates seeking to win over moderate voters in swing states<span style="color: Red;">*</span>would be forced answer for Trump’s controversial statements and positions on issues such as deporting 11 million unauthorized immigrants from the country.
Fred Malek, finance chairman for the Republican Governors Association and veteran party fundraiser, said a Trump nomination also could imperil his party’s chances of picking up Democratic governors’ seats in Missouri, Montana, West Virginia, Vermont and New Hampshire, where<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the state’s Democratic Gov.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Maggie Hassan is giving up her post to run the U.S. Senate.
Republican donors are “alarmed, disappointed and frustrated” by Trump’s rise, he said.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“This is a race we ought to be able to win.”
Trump campaign officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Trump this week has sought to cast himself<span style="color: Red;">*</span>as a unifying figure who is expanding the party's base.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Some 8.5 million Republicans turned out to vote in the 11 Super Tuesday states this week, a big jump from the roughly 4.7 million who participated in GOP nominating contests in those states four years ago.
The election stakes are particularly high in the Senate, where Republicans are defending seats in seven swing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>states — Wisconsin, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania — carried by<span style="color: Red;">*</span>President Obama<span style="color: Red;">*</span>both in 2008 and 2012.
Trump’s strong showing in nominating contests and GOP Senate leaders’ insistence that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia’s successor should be appointed by the next president – has opened a new line of attack<span style="color: Red;">*</span>from Democrats. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., this week argued Senate Republicans awaited their orders on a high-court pick from “President Trump.”
The Supreme Court vacancy underscores the Senate’s importance, said Scott Reed, the top political strategist<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has more than 3 million members. The trade group<span style="color: Red;">*</span>has seen “an exceptional couple of weeks” in fundraising, Reed added, because businesses owners recognize “the Senate is the backstop on whatever happens in the White House race.”
Despite the growing alarm about Trump's candidacy in<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Republican establishment circles, it wasn’t clear Wednesday that top Republicans had coalesced around a single strategy to slow his momentum.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A day earlier, several dozen GOP business figures<span style="color: Red;">*</span>held a conference call to begin discuss fundraising<span style="color: Red;">*</span>with the leaders of an anti-Trump super PAC, Our Principles PAC, but no firm commitments emerged from the call.
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“I’m surprised there has not been more participation by the donor community to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>stop this,” Jesmer said. “Rome is burning.”
“I think Trump can be stopped,” he added. “But with every passing day, that becomes more difficult.”
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