Posted on 04/14/2011 3:04:41 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
BOCA RATON — Politicians often claim they don't pay much attention to polls, especially ones taken several months before the first voters head to caucuses and primaries.
Then there's Donald Trump.
Less than two hours after CNN released a poll Tuesday showing Trump tied for the lead among potential 2012 Republican presidential candidates, the billionaire developer and reality TV star wanted to make sure a reporter interviewing him had seen it.
Trump also directed an employee to e-mail the reporter fresh ratings numbers showing that the latest episode of his Celebrity Apprentice show on NBC had clobbered CSI: NY on Sunday night.
And Trump reminded his interviewer that a recent Wall Street Journal poll showed him as the top presidential pick among tea party voters.
"I wasn't that surprised," Trump said of the tea party poll. "Because my values are very similar. They're hard-working people. They're people that don't like to be taken advantage of by other countries."
Part-time Palm Beacher Trump will make his tea party debut Saturday in Boca Raton when he speaks at an outdoor rally organized by the South Florida Tea Party.
It's the latest indication that Trump is serious about exploring a presidential run.
He's been dipping his toe in Republican waters, but told The Wall Street Journal this week he'd "probably" run as an independent if he didn't get the GOP nomination.
Trump also considered a run in 2000 as a Reform Party candidate who favored abortion rights, universal health care and a one-time 14.25 percent tax on individuals and trusts with a net worth greater than $10 million.
As recently as 2009, he was giving campaign contributions to Democratic senators and Republican archenemies Harry Reid and Charles Schumer.
But as he looks to 2012, Trump has been courting the GOP's base of socially and economically conservative primary voters.
"I'm pro-life," Trump told a Christian Broadcasting Network interviewer last week, explaining he'd changed his views on abortion years ago.
At February's Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Trump declared: "I will fight to end Obamacare and replace it, replace it with something that makes sense for people in business and not bankrupt the country.
"If I decide to run I will not be raising taxes. We'll be taking in hundreds of billions of dollars from other countries that are screwing us."
Trump spent much of his CPAC speech pledging to stand up to China and OPEC and other nations he says no longer respect the U.S.
Since then, Trump has made bigger waves by questioning whether President Obama was born in the U.S. and meets the constitutional requirement that the president be a "natural born citizen."
Obama has produced an official certificate from the Hawaii Department of Health attesting that he was born in Honolulu on Aug. 4, 1961. The week after he was born, two newspapers in Honolulu included Obama in birth notices using information from state health department records.
The Hawaii document is accepted by courts and the U.S. State Department -- and by the conservative National Review and many Obama critics -- as conclusive evidence that Obama is U.S. citizen.
But Trump has joined those in the "birther" movement who want Obama to produce the original 1961 document, something they call the "long-form" birth certificate. Hawaii's Department of Health director verified in 2008 and again in 2009 that Obama's original birth certificate is in Hawaii state files and he was born in Honolulu.
Roger Stone, the legendary Republican political consultant who is a friend of Trump but not an adviser to his latest presidential exploration, says Trump's questions about Obama's birth certificate "served him extremely well It has helped him galvanize a base. I don't think you could run on that issue alone."
Stone points to surveys by Democrat-oriented Public Policy Polling that show Trump was viewed favorably by 31 percent of Republicans and unfavorably by 53 percent of GOP voters in mid-February. At the end of March, after weeks of fanning the birther claim, a poll showed Trump with a 40/33 favorable/unfavorable score among Republicans -- a gain of 29 points in Trump's net approval rating.
Asked about the birth certificate issue in Tuesday's brief interview, Trump said, "I think there are a lot of people that have questions and I certainly do."
But Trump said he believes voters are responding more to "my stance on China, my stance on OPEC, my stance on foreign countries" who Trump says have been "taking advantage of us."
Trump said he accepted the invitation to Saturday's tea party event in Boca Raton because "Florida is very close to my heart."
Organizers are expecting a large crowd.
So is the poll- and ratings-conscious Trump, who says, "I hear it's going to be like a monster."
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IF YOU GO....
What: South Florida Tea Party third annual tax day rally.
Who: Speakers include potential presidential candidate Donald Trump, potential U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner, U.S. Rep. Allen West.
When: 1-3 p.m., Saturday
Where: Sanborn Square, 72 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
Well after today’s vote and Boehner’s “welcome to a divided Government” we already got two parties in the GOP, might as well add a 3rd division to the ranks. I’m about ready to vote for Bugs Bunny.
Don’t forget that Governor Sarah Palin, who cleaned up the corrupt nest of RINOs and “good ol’ boys” in Alaska is still in the wings.
This might be fun. I can’t afford to go to Florida this year. It’s a shame, because my boat is primo, and ready for the Gulf.
Trump will entertain, but he needs to be watched closely. A spoiler game may be afloat.
I never got the impression he was really going to run Independent, unless he could win that way.
Am I concerned about that? Maybe a little, but it wouldn’t fit his personality. He’s not the kind of guy who runs for office just to help someone else win.
Allen West also will be there . Trump / West 2012 ?
Boca has a tea party group? My step-mother-in-law, a 95-year-old conservative Jew, lives there. As a conservative, she is vastly outnumbered. But Allen West got elected in a district that includes west Boca, so maybe there is hope.
People in FL should be pinged. Allen West will be there.
IF YOU GO....
What: South Florida Tea Party third annual tax day rally.
Who: Speakers include potential presidential candidate Donald Trump, potential U.S. Senate candidate Adam Hasner, U.S. Rep. Allen West.
When: 1-3 p.m., Saturday
Where: Sanborn Square, 72 N. Federal Highway, Boca Raton.
“He’s not the kind of guy who runs for office just to help someone else win.”
I hope you are right. I thought the same thing about Perot until it was obvious he was running interference for Clinton.
If Trump goes independent, it will be as a spoiler. He may be very sincere about his birther convictions, or he may be using the birther issue to pull voters from whichever candidate gets the Republican nod. I’m sure Perot got his payoffs, and no doubt Trump could have a few in mind. It’s just a suspicion that needs a little observation at this point. I don’t even know what I believe.
I’ll be there. Cant miss this one.
On the birther issue, if Obamao refuses to release the real BC showing his father & mother’s names, hospital & attending physician etc, that is no big deal. May be his real father is someone else.
The real big deal is why Trump can’t find any records of his birth in any of the Hawaiian Hospitals?
Hopefully other people in the Florida area know about it. I wish I was one. It would be great to see West and Trump.
Are there FR people in FL that can be pinged?
Will you provide us a detailed account of your observations upon your return?
Actually, if his father is Barack Hussein Muhammed Obama, Senior, as he claims in his books, then he is not a natural born citizen, no matter where he was born.
Ross Perot and President George H.W. Bush had some wild feud going on. I don’t see Mr. Trump having a problem with any potential GOP candidate. Or do you know something I don’t?
Perot started off, and always was, an independent however.
“Or do you know something I don’t?”
I doubt it. Least wise not anything that I know I know. I’m not sure a feud is a necessary factor. A guy who goes from being a big Hillary supporter to being a conservative planning to run in the Republican Party while talking about running as an independent bears watching.
Ok - I’ll bring camera and take notes.
I love Allen West. So sad he has to sully his hand by shaking that of Trump at this event. West is a class act; Trump is jackass.
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