Isaac Arnsdorf, The Washington Post
Published Dec 19, 2023

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The Trump campaign anticipates winning enough bound delegates to secure the Republican nomination by March, setting up an early pivot to a general-election rematch against President Biden.
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The campaign’s analysis of its own internal polling mixed with public surveys puts former president Donald Trump on track to potentially win 973 delegates by Super Tuesday on March 5, and 1,478 by March 19, a senior campaign official told reporters here on Monday. It takes 1,215 delegates to claim the Republican nomination.

The anticipated delegate tally reflects rule changes that the campaign pushed through state party committees earlier this year, such as awarding all of California’s delegates to any candidate winning more than 50 percent.

The campaign has also put together a team of experienced operatives to guide the process at the Republican National Convention in July, focusing on the party committees dealing with the platform, rules and primary contests, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal data and strategy. Two of the campaign’s top advisers, Brian Jack and Chris LaCivita, helped Trump stave off a revolt from Republicans opposed to his candidacy at the convention in 2016.

From an early conclusion to the primary, the Trump campaign is evaluating current polling against Biden indicating a potentially wider battleground map for the general election. In addition to the core swing states that decided the 2016 and 2020 elections, the campaign official said more Democratic-leaning states such as Minnesota, New Hampshire and Virginia could also be in play.

The campaign would not be running a “prevent defense,” the former president said during an unexpected drop-in to a morning briefing with reporters at his golf club here on Monday. “Still have to run it out,” Trump said.

Current polling would produce a victory for Trump of 292 electoral votes to Biden’s 246, the campaign official said. The official also noted that ads running in New Hampshire from a super PAC supporting Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) warning that Trump could beat Biden are helping to undermine the case that some of Trump’s Republican rivals have tried to stake against his electability.
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Winning the nomination in March would overlap with the scheduled start of Trump’s trial in Washington on charges of trying to interfere with the 2020 election results. That case, brought by special counsel Jack Smith, is on hold pending an appeal to the Supreme Court to consider Trump’s argument that he is immune from prosecution for actions taken as president.

In Iowa, home to the first nominating contest, the campaign said it has conducted 300 trainings for 1,800 caucus captains and modeled 375,000 likely Trump supporters – far more than the roughly 220,000 Republicans expected to turn out on Jan. 15. The campaign is working to recruit first-time caucus-goers by giving captains lists of neighbors and charging them with bringing at least 10 to vote.
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The vaunted Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll released Dec. 11 showed Trump leading with 51 percent, up from 43 percent in October. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis ranked second, with 19 percent, followed by former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley at 16 percent. The largest margin of victory in the history of the state’s Republican caucus was Bob Dole’s 12-point win in 1988.

In New Hampshire, which holds its primary on Jan. 23, the campaign said it has 220,000 known Trump supporters, 1,600 volunteers, 10 county chairs and 150 local captains. A CBS News/YouGov poll conducted Dec. 8-15 found Trump with 44 percent support in New Hampshire, followed by Haley at 29 percent and DeSantis at 11 percent.

Trump entered the briefing from the golf course, where he said he had just shot a 71. The former president said the score was evidence of his “cognitive function.”

https://torontosun.com/news/world/trump-team-data-suggests-clinching-gop-nomination-by-march

you know, I don't think the Americans are ready for, Trump The Emperor of America Part 2

many still have not gotten over their TDS

wild times behind us

wild time ahead for us