Year: 2016

Trump Campaign Defects Clear After Iowa Loss

Buck Banks

Trump’s second-place finish in Iowa exposed an array of weaknesses in his campaign: His flashiness has started to grate on supporters like Goacher. He’s proved vulnerable to attacks on his ideological purity. And he failed to put together an effective ground operation. … All this raises questions about the novice candidate’s wherewithal to command the kind of sprawling and complex enterprise required to win the presidency. The skills that enabled Trump to build his business empire are not entirely the same as the ones he needs to win the world’s most powerful job.

— Los Angeles Times

Carson Accuses Cruz Campaign of Dirty Tricks

Buck Banks

At many of the precincts, the information was disseminated that I was suspending my campaign, that I had dropped out. And anybody who was planning to vote for me was wasting their vote and therefore they should reconsider.

— Ben Carson, accusing Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign of telling voters at Iowa precincts that Carson had dropped out of the race, TPM reports.

Trump Spent More on Hats than Consultants

Buck Banks

$450,000

Amount Donald Trump spent last quarter on his iconic hats bearing the campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.” “That’s more money than the campaign paid its data vendor L2 (which received $235,000 for “research consulting”) or than it spent on strategy consulting ($281,000). It’s almost as much as the campaign spent on field consulting ($551,000) or payroll ($518,000). Trump’s campaign did spend $793,000 on expenses related to the mega-rallies that have become his campaign’s hallmarks, as well as $459,000 on expenses related to having his name appear on primary election ballots,” according to Ken Vogel in Politico.