They were working on changing the NBC clause, see above.
I covered that. There was zero reason to disqualify the supposed Manchurian candidate years before they even commenced efforts to change the Constitutional requirements. Not even idiots would approach the situation that way.
Idiot One: I know! Let’s publicly list our Manchurian candidate as born in Kenya! It’ll disqualify him from the WH, but we’ll worry about that later.
Idiot Two: but he wasn’t born in Kenya...and what if you can’t change the Constitution?
Idiot One: doesn’t matter! The American people have always wanted a Kenyan president! We can’t lose!
Idiot Two: sounds great# We’ll have his own literary agents publish the info; no one will doubt the facts, coming from a source so close to our guy.