GOP braces for Trump Iowa result

The Hill ^ | January 30,2016 | Alexander Bolton

[Hojczyk]

are anxiously awaiting the Iowa caucuses on Monday to find out if Donald Trump is the real deal or simply a media-hyped mirage.

GOP strategists expect between 150,000 and 185,000 voters will turn out, according to one senator who reviewed campaign projections. A big turnout would bode well for Trump who is expected to perform strongly among first-time voters.

Only a few months ago GOP senators were predicting that Trump would fade away, but with the first contest of the presidential primary only days away, they admit he has a good shot at winning the nomination.

One Republican senator, who requested anonymity to discuss the race, said Trump could outperform the polls because prospective voters have been more likely to announce their intention to vote for him when surveyed by a computer instead of a live pollster.

“You could make an argument that he’s going to way overperform because there’s a huge [polling] spread between if a person calls and a computer calls. People are far more likely to say they’re going to vote for Trump if a computer calls. They support Trump but are embarrassed to admit it,” he said.

The lawmaker noted that Ronald Reagan outperformed the polls in the 1966 California gubernatorial race because people were embarrassed to admit they planned to vote for a candidate who at the time was regarded as a B-list actor.

Trump’s campaign could also be set back by a brewing snowstorm moving in from Colorado expected to drop snow and sleet across Iowa starting Monday night.

[Georgia Girl 2]

Truthfully Iowa is a distraction. The real race starts in NH. I’ll be glad to see Iowa in the rear view mirror.

[LS]

Silly. Neither Santorum or Huckabee led ANYTHING but IA, certainly neither led nationally at any time, nor did they have 30 point leads in state after state.

I don’t see a Trump loss, but if it occurs, and he and Cruz each walk away with about 8 delegates, it’s still meaningless because Trump wins the next 10, takes home about 300 delegates, and unless Cruz is second in every one (and he won’t be second in NH), his delegate count will be miniscule.

[mbrfl]

I did a search on it. It looks like it’s from a story by ‘The Onion’. I’m guessing they found a picture of Jeb with a goofy expression that could pass for crying, and ran with it.