One of the open questions if Donald Trump actually becomes the GOP nominee is whether or not he can really take on Hillary Clinton (or Bernie Sanders) without starting to fundraise like a conventional candidate.
General election are expensive. Will Trump write what could be a $1 billion check?
One reason why Trump is a weak general election candidate is because of his silly self funding pledge. https://t.co/zKz3gishhE
— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) February 27, 2016
Trump has essentially cultivated neither high dollar or low dollar donors in the primary.
— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) February 27, 2016
To fill the gap, Trump would need to write a $500M to $1B check. As we should all know, he doesn't have that kind of cash.
— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) February 27, 2016
Which brings us to this story tonight. According to CNN, Chris Christie hinted on a call today with his supporters and donors that Trump might move away from self-funding once he’s the nominee:
— Allahpundit (@allahpundit) February 27, 2016
From CNN:
Shortly after endorsing Donald Trump, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday told some of his top fundraisers that the billionaire businessman might shift from his decision to self-fund his campaign and instead raise money in a general election.
Ray Washburne, who was Christie’s national finance chairman for his presidential campaign and is now unaligned, led the call. However, he described Christie’s comment as an offhand remark in response to one of his supporters’ questions on the call.
About 100 of the New Jersey governor’s most loyal supporters, including his campaign fundraisers, were on the call. But it was not arranged as a finance call, Washburne said.
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And as far as fundraising goes, remember that Chris Christie was really good at it when chairman of the Republican Governors Association:
Now a Trump supporter, Christie was a big fundraiser while head of the Rep. Governors' Assoc. Think more governors will soon follow suit?
— Laura Nieto (@LauraNietoNews) February 26, 2016
It also looks like Christie is trying to win supporters for Trump among the Republican governors. Chrisite reportedly approached Maryland governor Larry Hogan for an endorsement, but to no avail:
Christie repeatedly called pal Larry Hogan before endorsing Trump. Hogan's support "doesn't translate" to Trump. https://t.co/6J3ddSUenY
— Erin Cox (@ErinatThePost) February 26, 2016
But Maine’s Republican Governor Paul LePage did endorse Trump this afternoon, although without the fanfare of the Christie endorsement:
Maine governor endorses Trump: 'We could do a lot worse' https://t.co/1Bci4j0WfC
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) February 26, 2016
How many more to come?
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