GOP field running out of time to stop Donald Trump

MSNBC ^ | 11 Feb 2016 | Benjy Sarlin

[mandaladon]

Time is running out fast for the “anyone but Trump” wing of the Republican Party.

Donald Trump’s march to the nomination is far from inevitable after a resounding New Hampshire victory, but the state’s failure to whittle down the field to a manageable number is threatening to tip the delegate race in his favor before anyone can stop him.

Unless the field can consolidate behind one or two alternatives in the next few weeks, Republicans warn, the odds of a Trump victory or a brokered convention will increase dramatically.

“I think if Trump is the front-runner on March 15 and there are still 2-3 other candidates in the race, it¹s very difficult,” Katie Packer, who runs the anti-Trump Our Principles PAC, told MSNBC.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and his campaign acknowledged on Thursday that the race might go to the convention floor, with no candidate securing the necessary delegates to clinch the nomination.

“We’re planning for anything,” Rubio told reporters. “We’re ready for that. We’re ready for a long primary process. We’re ready for it to end in a more traditional way. No one can predict this year.”

While there’s no polling of South Carolina since Tuesday’s primary, Trump has led by double-digit margins for months with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz consistently placing a strong second.

Rubio is counting on South Carolina to start his comeback after a devastating fifth-place finish in New Hampshire. But so is former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who came in fourth and is touring the state with former President George W. Bush, who won its primary in 2000.

[dragnet2]

Don’t blame you a bit. We got hosed for some years by over priced over overrated tv/cable/sat stuff. Way too expensive. You can get all that and control it with a half way good Internet connection. I remember some years ago watching the network news stooges, thinking, there is way too many people attempting to tell me how to think. And it’s all one sided, they talk, we listen. I don’t like that format.

[TontoKowalski]

How shocking.

The people who run PACs say the only way to save the country is to send them more money.

Likewise, campaign managers for competing campaigns, whose job prospects depend on their candidates winning, are very concerned at the state of the race.

I have GOT to get in on this PAC scam. I wonder how much those guys skim off the top?

[GeaugaRepublican]

The get a cut on each media buy. Can be 20%. Every million dollars in ads, Katie gets 200K. Nice, right?

[TomasUSMC]

I REMEMBER when Hillary and Obama were going at it and the pundits started studying the electoral delegate process and they came to the conclusion that even if Hillary won Texas she would not be able to catch Obama.

Trump may end up with 52 delegate to 15 for Cruz. People see that and mentally that looks like its over....even though its not hardly started.

I saw that debate tonight and I was waiting for Ted Cruz to destroy Trump. It may be that Cruz is accustomed to the order of the Courtroom and not the battleground no holds barred situation of these debates. He better realize these are not college debates, these are a fight to the death over the most important job in the world.

If he wants to win he better go for the kill, negative ads and all.