Top Republicans may skip GOP convention

CNN ^ | April 12, 2016 | Manu Raju and Deirdre Walsh

[maggief]

Washington (CNN) A number of high-profile Republicans, fearful of a potential melee in Cleveland this summer, are considering skipping the Republican National Convention and campaigning back home instead.

With the presidential campaign hitting a fever pitch and Donald Trump warning about riots if he's denied the nomination, some House and Senate Republicans tell CNN that it makes more sense to spend time with voters back home rather than be associated with the drama engulfing their party.

But even some leading party stalwarts are planning to skip the convention.

Asked Tuesday if he'd attend the convention, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told CNN: "No."

"Unlikely," GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte said when asked if she'd be in Cleveland in the midst of her tough bid for a second term. "I've got a lot of work to do in New Hampshire, I have my own re-election and I'm going to be focusing on my voters in New Hampshire."

[dynoman]

Cause and effect. Trump is clearly winning the public perception war with ammunition the other candidates give him. Stupid of them, normal for Trump

Colorado GOP Lied About #NeverTrump Tweet – The Account Was Not Hacked
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3420112/posts

[Don Corleone]

House and Senate Republicans tell CNN that it makes more sense to spend time with voters back home rather than be associated with the drama engulfing their party.

If they had spent time with their constituents 'back home' instead of falling under the influence of the 'K' Street money people they might not have the problems they are anticipating in Cleveland and across the country.

[DoughtyOne]

Well in a sense...

They were hacked they got caught!

[SaveFerris]

[Jeb Bush said “No”]

There’s some really cool stuff he could be doing. Importing illegal labor, partying with narcotics, selling $1 store guacamole bowls to fools for $75, .........

[Robert DeLong]

So true.

[The Iceman Cometh]

Who was the idiot that picked Cleveland in the first place?

[lodi90]

House and Senate Republicans tell CNN that it makes more sense to spend time with voters back home rather than be associated with the drama engulfing their party.

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Almost all these beltway pigs at the trough live full time in DC.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Can’t blame them. Who wants to be stranded inside Quicken Loans Arena for several days with riots going on outside?

[cornfedcowboy]

Typically parties will pick a battleground state in which to hold their convention. This is to give the party just a bit of a bump to win the state. This time around........not so much.

[txrefugee]

Who would want to buy a ticket to that circus? It is a national embarrassment to be a Republican this year.

[The Citizen Soldier]

Jeb Bush always acts the coward (just consider how he conducted his campaign). No surprise to me that he would avoid having to be accountable for his actions directly with the people. Typical royalty thinking. Hide you coward, hide!

[Publius]

It's 1964 all over again. Once it became obvious that the Stop Goldwater movement backing Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton was going to fail, the key party people avoided San Francisco in the hope that they could survive the coming Johnson landslide.

It's cowardly, but in politics, the term "courageous" means that you've taken a position that will cost you an election.

[TTFlyer]

Whaddya know. GOPe: COWARDS!

[Pollster1]

It’s more likely that someone with access to the account tweeted #NeverTrump, but that the person who sent it did not have permission to send something like that. “Hacked” is not quite the right word, but neither is “authorized”.

I’m going to vote Trump in a couple of weeks, but I’m not going to cry over a little thing that can be explained by incompetence (too many people with access to a public account) rather than by malice.

Cruz and Trump agree far more than 80% of the time (see my tagline from Ronald Reagan). They should be friends and allies, and we should treat both of them as such.

[dynoman]

Trump is a deductive thinker - he begins with the goal and works back from there - no wasted motion - only what contributes to the result.— Bill Mitchell (REAL) (@mitchellvii) March 21, 2016

Guys like Cruz are inductive thinkers. They are so obsessed with the ideological front end, the actual result is an afterthought.— Bill Mitchell (REAL) (@mitchellvii) March 21, 2016

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When this is done, Trump will have won all 13 of the original 13 Colonies. You don't get more America than that. pic.twitter.com/oxwKFJMmuh— Bill Mitchell (REAL) (@mitchellvii) April 8, 2016

[hsmomx3]

Oh, so now they will chicken out? Guess their attempts have backfired to oust Trump.

[The Citizen Soldier]

It is a national embarrassment to be a Republican this year.

Exposure will do that. Trump, if nothing else, has exposed all the back-room dealing, delegate selection that disenfranchises voters, and the weak leadership of the GOP. He has done the party a great service, but they may be too dumb to realize it.

If it's an embarassment to identified as a Republican then you should leave the party or do something to change it. This election will not be for the timid; sitting on the sidelines wishing for a another time in history.

[proust]

Jeb doesn’t even have to show up get the nomination.