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Potential presidential candidate Trump to stump at Boca Tea Party event Saturday
The Palm Beach Post ^ | April 14, 2011 | George Bennett

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."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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.


TOPICS: Florida; Issues; Parties; State and Local
KEYWORDS: 2012; birthcertificate; certifigate; florida; obama; obamacare; teaparty; trump
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To: Bigg Red

is jackass = is a jackass


21 posted on 04/14/2011 4:01:58 PM PDT by Bigg Red (Palin in 2012)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

SCOTUS needs to define “Natural born citizen”. Some think just being born in US makes you a natural born citizen. So then all the anchor babies are natural born?

IMHO both your parents must be US citizens and you must be born on US territory or during official government duty abroad such a military mother, or a US diplomat etc.


22 posted on 04/14/2011 4:02:22 PM PDT by Bridge_toofar (Trump/Bachmann 2012 will finish off the Kenyan socialist for good.)
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To: Bigg Red

Trump doesn’t shake hands (really - its some weird peeve of his)

Yeah, he’s a jackass but he’s a jackass who is awesome.

West is too though.

A Trump/West ticket, in fact, would be awesome.


23 posted on 04/14/2011 8:05:52 PM PDT by RockinRight (I didn't see Swedish people knocking down the World Trade Center - The Donald)
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To: Bigg Red

West is awesome, NOT a jackass. To clarify my last post.


24 posted on 04/14/2011 8:06:12 PM PDT by RockinRight (I didn't see Swedish people knocking down the World Trade Center - The Donald)
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