Jeb!'s campaign is thrilled with The Donald's scorched earth campaign to torch the entire GOP field,
reports Jonathan Martin.
Privately, Mr. Bush’s top strategists, who have become increasingly fixated on halting Mr. Walker, believe that Mr. Trump is nothing short of a godsend. That is because Mr. Trump is drawing support from voters — blue-collar, less-educated, more conservative — who are unlikely ever to support Mr. Bush but are essential to Mr. Walker’s candidacy.
What complicates matters for Mr. Walker, and any of the other Republicans vying for that restive conservative base, is that they will have difficulty matching the bluster or promises of Mr. Trump because he does not operate within the conventional boundaries of political discourse.
“Trump is much more willing to be provocative,” said David Winston, a Republican pollster. “He’ll say something outrageous, and then where do they go? And that’s the challenge.”
True. Trump has stolen Walker's thunder (and others) in national polling as well places like Iowa and New Hampshire. From Monmouth University's latest
NH poll released Monday:
Donald Trump leads the pack at 26%, with Jeb Bush (12%) and Scott Walker (11%) following behind. The remainder of the “top ten” includes Ted Cruz (6%), Mike Huckabee (6%), Ben Carson (5%), Chris Christie (4%), Rand Paul (4%), Marco Rubio (4%), and John Kasich (3%).
That said, it is exactly the type of voters who are fired up about Trump who will never be able to embrace Jeb! In fact, if Jeb! becomes the nominee, those voters will be more bitter than they ever were, even about Mitt Romney. Or John McCain. Jeb! will struggle mightily to consolidate that wing of the party now that its full fury has been unleashed by Trump. So what may appear to be a blessing in the primary is sure to be a curse in the general election.