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(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)
BY CHRISTINA HARTMAN
When it comes to the campaign trail, it seems there IS a difference between a good surrogate
and a not-so-good one.
Mitt Romney is set to appear Tuesday at a fundraiser in Las Vegas Tuesday with reality
TV star and real estate mogul Donald Trump... A widely panned decision among the chattering
class.
DAVID GREGGORY, ON MSNBC: “...Governor Romney seeking an endorsement and an ally that I
think a lot of people have never quite understood.”
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, ON CNN: “...really? I mean, Trump keeps bringing up that birther
issue... (FLASH) There are a lot of minuses and maybe only a few pluses.”
But perhaps the most damning reproach came from a fellow conservative — commentator
George Will on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I do not understand the cost benefit here. … The cost of appearing with this bloviating
ignoramus is obvious it seems to me.”
Ouch. The reason for the bad taste on wagging political tongues?
The Donald recently resurrected the “birther” debate over whether President Obama really
was born in the United States.
Trump, of course, flirted with his own run for the White House last year. As for the
birther debate, Romney camp senior advisor Eric Fehrstrom told CNN his candidate believes
the president was born in the U.S., and that he doesn’t view it as an issue in the campaign.
Politico’s Maggie Haberman says...
“That’s not quite a rejection... But it sets up a ‘we can't own our surrogates’
approach that Romney himself will likely use when asked.”
A good prediction, because as it turns out, when asked about it Monday evening, Romney
told reporters he doesn’t agree with everyone who supports him. Still — why risk the political
capital? In an NBC package airing on WNDU, The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza hazards
a guess.
“I think they're trying to take advantage of Donald Trump's celebrity to help raise
them money, to get them more media attention, but you have to be very very careful.”
But while it might be fun to talk about the political repercussions of a candidate getting
in bed with a headline-grabbing fundraiser — National Journal’s Reid Wilson tells
MSNBC, this is mostly an inside-the-beltway story.
REID WILSON: “I don't think Donald Trump is going to move any voters either to Mitt
Romney or away from Mitt Romney. this is one of those side shows that we love to talk about
in Washington, DC, but don't actually resonate with the average voter...”