You need to know this... Support for Donald Trump's campaign is still growing nationally, and in early primary states, but he's not just gaining support in early primary states. A new poll from Florida shows that Trump is leading Jeb by 6 percentage points - and he's leading Rubio by 16 points.
That's telling, because Jeb Bush served two terms as Florida's governor less than a decade ago, and Marco Rubio is currently Florida's junior senator. Not to mention how critical a swing state Florida has been in recent elections.
But even though he's leading the polls, beating the other 16 Republican candidates - yes there's 17 now - former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore announced this morning - Trump apparently has yet to win over the Republican insiders. According to a new report from Politico, the Koch political machine is refusing to give Trump access to speaking events hosted by Koch shadow-groups like Americans for Prosperity and the Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce.
Trump has requested to speak at Koch events but he has been refused, whereas candidates like Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, and even Carly Fiorina have been invited to speak at the same events.
That might not hurt Trump's momentum though, because the media is happy to give him as much time to bloviate as he wants. But the Koch-backed political tech and polling data firm "i360" has also refused to allow Trump access to their extensive data sets. And in an age of never-ending polling and data driven campaigns, that could seriously hamper Trump's attempts to build a sustainable campaign with the support of the hard-right Republican base.
Many Republicans like Trump for his so-called "straight-talk" - and that could be hurting Christie's "Tell it like it is" campaign. But many Republican insiders seriously question how he plays with the party establishment - especially in light of his comments about former Republican presidential candidate John McCain not being a real war hero.
Nonetheless, it seems like some Republican voters are itching to support a self-owned outside-the-beltway blowhard who doesn't need donations from other billionaires. As the campaign carries into 2016, the real question is: who will end up owning the Republican base - the billionaire Koch network or the billionaire Donald Trump?
-Thom
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