Reading this CNN story on Trump's "unconventional" ground game took me back to watching the behind-the-scenes drama Game Change, about the McCain campaign’s unraveling from within in ‘08 at the hands of one temperamental and utterly ill-prepared Sarah Palin. Donald Trump's campaign staff and RNC officials are trying to put on a brave face, but inside, chaos is clearly eating them alive.
Rather than building out teams of his own hires in swing states -- the model previous nominees like Mitt Romney and John McCain relied on -- Trump is signaling to the Republican National Committee and state parties that he will rely on them to take the lead in organizing key toss up states.
"I'll say that as far as building the infrastructure of a campaign, the RNC has been doing it for many years," Trump said at a news conference late last month in North Dakota.
Absolutely, rely on the RNC, especially after Reince Priebus' flawless execution of the GOP rebranding after the post-2012 "autopsy." Oh wait, here's a little bump in the road ...
Meanwhile, RNC officials still aren't even sure where the campaign has already deployed staffers. Trump's field organization is a patchwork of aides, some paid, some retained on a volunteer basis and many left over from the Republican primaries. While he has campaign chiefs in Florida -- and solidly blue states like Washington and New York -- in crucial battlegrounds including Ohio and Colorado, Trump doesn't have so much as a state director.
That's because Trump fired the guy who was supposed to be hiring and organizing the campaign's field work—Rick Wiley—after just six weeks. But hey, who needs Ohio, right? Definitely concentrate on states like New York, and why not throw in Massachusetts and California while you're at it?
Pennsylvania's GOP chair Rob Gleason welcomed the campaign's light touch, but even he was begging the candidate to do something he's refusing to do.
"It would be cavalier to say we don't need a lot of support," Gleason said. "What Donald can do that I can't do is raise a billion dollars."
And what's happening in places like Michigan, one of some 15 states The Donald has promised to flip? Here's the scoop from Michigan Republican Party communications director, Sarah Anderson.
"I think we will hear from them, but this campaign is just different than what's been typical," Anderson said. "I don't think we're surprised to not hear from them at this point. I think they're just not there yet."
Surely, that phone call's coming any day now.