A new hurdle has been added to the obstacles that candidates in the Republican presidential field have to get over: the Donald Trump Primary. Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann have made pilgrimages to woo the one voter who counts in that singular event, and Mitt Romney plans to do the same next week.
Even Sarah Palin, who remains presidentially aloof, has made the trek to New York to confer with the real estate mogul,
The Christian Science Monitor’s blog The Vote noted.
“Why are all these Republicans beating a path to the Donald’s penthouse? We won’t call this ‘Celebrity Presidential Apprentice,’ because that’s too obvious, and we’d feel obligated to make a lame reference to Meat Loaf. So we’ll frame it as the Trump primary, or the Trump caucuses, if you prefer,” the blogger observed.
The candidates have a lot to gain by courting Trump:
- First, there is not only Trump’s money but that of his friends
- Second, there are the supporters Trump had when he was toying with running for the presidency himself
- And third, his endorsement.
Perry did gain some traction after his dinner with Trump last week, including Trump's offer to the Texas governor to host a fundraiser at Trump's Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla.
“Of course, Donald Trump is himself a master of the publicity universe, so it’s possible the dynamic here runs the other way,” the Christian Science Monitor blog noted. “Maybe he’s using the GOP contenders to remain in the U.S. 2012 presidential conversation.”
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