{"id":147295,"date":"2016-04-27T21:43:01","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T03:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=147295"},"modified":"2016-10-12T13:10:04","modified_gmt":"2016-10-12T19:10:04","slug":"donald-trump-steamrolling-toward-nomination-despite-negative-ad-blitz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2016\/04\/donald-trump-steamrolling-toward-nomination-despite-negative-ad-blitz\/","title":{"rendered":"Donald Trump steamrolling toward nomination despite negative ad blitz"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_72372\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/gageskidmore\/5440990018\/in\/photolist-9hNuLJ-9hKrun-9hHqDv-9hLwdw-9hNwso-9hHpJr-9hLx6s-9hLwSC-9hKpTt-9hKraP-9hNwi1-9hKp4g-9hNvWh-HkLZL-2oQiC-9KUYs-9hLxAs-9VjNra-9KD2oX-qu7Gu-9rmBGH-9VT6fh-uooUsi-5RhK99-9hNwCN-9hKpmZ-9hNvfQ-9hKrPH-9hNvzC-9hKoVK-9hKrkx-9u7qjZ-9rd77n-xRyc1-9rknN8-5KnqeT-9rphtQ-9wtCb2-9uayT3-9FTZtY-fNcrqH-vPTJzZ-6Rnrkd-5Dd1xc-bXt9R-4r8psj-vGv8u-uT5y6P-vMTbLN-9DncXb\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-72372\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-771x494.jpg\" alt=\"Donald Trump\" width=\"771\" height=\"494\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-771x494.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-336x215.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-768x493.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-1170x750.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald-780x500.jpg 780w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/Trump-Donald.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><\/a><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Gage Skidmore \/ Creative Commons<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our Principles PAC alone has spent more than $16 million opposing Trump \u2014 more than any other group. Its largest donors are Marlene and Joe Ricketts, co-owners of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, who have combined to give $5.5 million. (<a href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/2.0\/\" target=\"_blank\">photo cc info<\/a>)<\/p><\/div>\n<p>About 60,000 TV ads \u2014 roughly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/26\/19593\/how-many-tv-ads-have-attacked-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">one-fifth of all ads<\/a> aired in the Republican presidential primary \u2014 have been critical of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/06\/16\/17488\/9-things-know-about-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump<\/a> in some fashion, according to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a> review of data from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kantarmedia.com\/us\/our-solutions\/advertising-monitoring-and-evaluation\/political\" target=\"_blank\">Kantar Media\/CMAG<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the outpouring of hostility from his opponents, the bombastic billionaire businessman continues to roll toward the GOP presidential nomination, having swept <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2016-election\/live-blog-battle-delegates-intensifies-east-coast-primaries-n562336\">five more states<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This story comes from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/27\/19597\/donald-trump-steamrolling-toward-nomination-despite-negative-ad-blitz\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative media organization in Washington, D.C. It\u2019s\u00a0part of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/politics\/buying-president-2016?utm_campaign=syndication&amp;utm_source=yahoo-news&amp;utm_medium=taxonomy-link\" target=\"_blank\">Buying of the President 2016<\/a>. Tracking the candidates, political committees and nonprofits that are making this presidential election the most expensive in history.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/politics\/buying-president-2016?utm_campaign=syndication&amp;utm_source=yahoo-news&amp;utm_medium=taxonomy-link\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to read more stories in this investigation.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had negative ads all throughout, and I&#8217;ve won races in a landslide,&#8221; Trump said in his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.c-span.org\/video\/?408719-1\/donald-trump-primary-night-speech&amp;start=1938\" target=\"_blank\">victory speech Tuesday night<\/a>. \u201cMost of these people who have been fighting me are gone.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This massive figure includes about 800 TV ads so far aired in Indiana, a state that holds its primary Tuesday and has emerged as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.indystar.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2016\/04\/25\/cruzs-last-stand-his-indiana-strategy-work\/83491336\/\" target=\"_blank\">next major battleground<\/a> between Trump and Sen. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/03\/23\/16947\/ted-cruzs-presidential-cash-hunt-commences\" target=\"_blank\">Ted Cruz<\/a> of Texas, Trump\u2019s chief adversary.<\/p>\n<p>The bulk of these ads aired after Trump already solidified his front-runner status. Now, Trump continues to surge. To date, he\u2019s earned more than <a href=\"https:\/\/interactives.ap.org\/2016\/delegate-tracker\/\" target=\"_blank\">950 delegates<\/a>, according to the Associated Press. That\u2019s less than 300 short of the 1,237 he needs to clinch the GOP nomination \u2014 and avoid a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2016\/03\/09\/us\/politics\/how-trump-could-be-blocked-at-a-contested-republican-convention.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">contested Republican National Convention<\/a> in July.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, many anti-Trump forces won\u2019t relent.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are convinced that Trump can be stopped short of 1,237,\u201d Club for Growth spokesman Doug Sachtleben told the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sachtleben said the conservative organization, which was the first group to start airing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.clubforgrowth.org\/election-news\/club-for-growth-action-launches-tv-ads-exposing-trump-in-iowa\/\" target=\"_blank\">attack ads against Trump<\/a>\u00a0last fall, will be targeting Indiana, where <a href=\"http:\/\/elections.huffingtonpost.com\/pollster\/2016-indiana-presidential-republican-primary\" target=\"_blank\">polls show a close race<\/a>. The group is also eyeing <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/article\/434542\/california-republican-primary-preview\" target=\"_blank\">delegate-rich California<\/a>, which holds its primary on June 7.<\/p>\n<p>California, Sachtleben added, \u201cis ultimately where we believe this race will come down to.\u201d<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>To date, the Club for Growth has spent more than $9.7 million attacking Trump, according to federal campaign finance filings. Both its super PAC and 501(c)(4) \u201csocial welfare\u201d nonprofit arm have participated in the barrage.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the Club for Growth, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/27\/19599\/top-10-sponsors-anti-trump-tv-ads\" target=\"_blank\">host of other conservative groups<\/a> have joined the anti-Trump chorus. Some of these organizations have spent millions of dollars opposing Trump while others have made relatively token expenditures.<\/p>\n<p>Among them are super PACs devoted to other GOP candidates, as well as a solely anti-Trump super PAC. Known as <a href=\"http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2016\/03\/our-principles-pac\/\" target=\"_blank\">Our Principles PAC<\/a>, this anti-Trump group was <a href=\"http:\/\/www.politico.com\/story\/2016\/01\/top-former-romney-aide-launches-anti-trump-super-pac-218071\" target=\"_blank\">founded by<\/a> veteran Republican strategist Katie Packer, who helped run Mitt Romney\u2019s 2012 presidential campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Our Principles PAC alone has spent more than $16 million opposing Trump \u2014 more than any other group. Its largest donors are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/02\/29\/19382\/chicago-cubs-co-owner-takes-brickbat-trumps-immigration-record\" target=\"_blank\">Marlene and Joe Ricketts<\/a>, co-owners of the Chicago Cubs baseball team, who have combined to give $5.5 million. Republican megadonor and hedge fund magnate <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/profile\/paul-singer\/\" target=\"_blank\">Paul Singer<\/a> has also so far given $1.5 million to Our Principles PAC.<\/p>\n<p>For their parts, the three pro-Cruz super PACs \u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/tag\/keep-the-promise-i\/\" target=\"_blank\">Keep the Promise I<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2016\/02\/stand-for-truth\/\" target=\"_blank\">Stand for Truth<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/2016\/03\/04\/ted-cruz-new-super-pac-trusted-leadership\/81306006\/\" target=\"_blank\">Trusted Leadership PAC<\/a> \u2014 have combined to spend about $2.6 million against Trump, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Meanwhile, two super PACs supporting Ohio Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/04\/22\/17209\/9-things-know-about-john-kasich\" target=\"_blank\">John Kasich<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2016\/01\/new-day-for-america\/\" target=\"_blank\">New Day for America<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cleveland.com\/open\/index.ssf\/2015\/07\/a_new_fundraising_group_forms.html\" target=\"_blank\">New Day Independent Media<\/a> \u2014 have combined to spend about $287,000 so far attacking Trump.<\/p>\n<p>Some of these ads, which featured a hippopotamus, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=I2-Qh6mD95o\" target=\"_blank\">alleged<\/a> that Trump is a \u201chippo-crit\u201d who \u201crepeatedly says one thing [and] does another.\u201d Others\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dvUvao4TvmE\" target=\"_blank\">criticized<\/a> Trump\u2019s online education company as a \u201cscam\u201d and argued that Trump will \u201cscam America too.\u201d Still others <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=_yyf-NHfEkg\" target=\"_blank\">called<\/a> Trump \u201ctoo reckless and dangerous\u201d to be president.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Republicans want to win, we have to nominate someone who can actually defeat [Democratic Party presidential front-runner] Hillary [Clinton],\u201d New Day for America spokeswoman Connie Wehrkamp told the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a>. \u201cIf Trump is the GOP nominee, we will lose the White House, the Supreme Court, the U.S. Senate and countless down-ticket races, not to mention Trump is entirely unprepared to hold the highest office in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sustained anti-Trump advertising didn\u2019t begin <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/26\/19593\/how-many-tv-ads-have-attacked-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">until February<\/a>, a month during which roughly one-quarter of the ads in the GOP presidential race were critical of Trump, according to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a> review of Kantar Media\/CMAG data, a firm that monitors advertising on broadcast television and national \u2014 but not local \u2014 cable.<\/p>\n<p>Anti-Trump TV ads represented <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/26\/19593\/how-many-tv-ads-have-attacked-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">nearly half<\/a> the ads in the GOP race during March. The figure currently hovers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/26\/19593\/how-many-tv-ads-have-attacked-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">near 30 percent<\/a> so far in April.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to February, blasting Trump wasn\u2019t many conservatives\u2019 top priority.<\/p>\n<p>As of Jan. 31, the day before the Iowa caucuses, which <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2016\/02\/02\/us\/ted-cruz-wins-republican-caucus.html?_r=0\" target=\"_blank\">Trump narrowly lost to Cruz<\/a>, just <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/26\/19593\/how-many-tv-ads-have-attacked-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">6.5 percent<\/a> of TV ads in the GOP presidential race had criticized Trump. At that juncture, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/10\/16\/18631\/see-how-much-2016-presidential-candidates-have-raised-so-far\" target=\"_blank\">more than a dozen candidates<\/a> were still competing in the Republican field, including well-funded former Florida Gov. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/06\/15\/17142\/12-things-know-about-jeb-bush\" target=\"_blank\">Jeb Bush<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/05\/04\/17280\/9-things-know-about-ben-carson\" target=\"_blank\">Ben Carson<\/a>, a retired neurosurgeon who briefly led Trump in national polls late last year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEarly on, most campaigns were more focused on building up their own candidate in a crowded field than taking down Trump, whose popularity they likely did not fully understand,\u201d said <a href=\"https:\/\/fhssfaculty.byu.edu\/FacultyPage.aspx?id=jmg49\" target=\"_blank\">Jay Goodliffe<\/a>, a professor of political science at Brigham Young University in Utah. \u201cBefore February, there were no elections, so the Republican campaigns and allied groups could hope that Trump\u2019s support would be less strong once his supporters had to go to the polls.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elizabeth Wilner, the Kantar Media executive who oversees the firm\u2019s political ad tracking project, added that the delay in anti-Trump advertising seemed to come from \u201ca combination of denial and fear \u2014 denial that he could become the nominee and fear of messing with the bull.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump often delights in prodding his political opponents, both in word and tweet. That includes big-money bankrollers who dare oppose him.<\/p>\n<p>For example, he tweeted out an <a href=\"http:\/\/www.omaha.com\/news\/politics\/donald-trump-tweet-targets-ricketts-family-after-super-pac-disclosure\/article_de5ce568-d983-11e5-9118-d75f7694e4a1.html\" target=\"_blank\">admonition to the Ricketts family<\/a> that they \u201cbetter be careful\u201d once media outlets reported the Ricketts were funding an anti-Trump super PAC.<\/p>\n<p>Amid the contentious primary, one presidential contender \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2016\/04\/27\/19599\/top-10-sponsors-anti-trump-tv-ads\" target=\"_blank\">more than any other candidate<\/a>, including Republicans \u2014 has attacked Trump in campaign ads: Democrat <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/04\/12\/17107\/12-things-know-about-hillary-clinton\" target=\"_blank\">Hillary Clinton<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To date, Clinton has sponsored nearly 8,000 ads that criticize Trump, including dozens of Spanish-language ads that aired as recently as this week in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, which both conducted primaries on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>Such activity closely aligns with Clinton\u2019s rhetorical pivot Tuesday away from Democratic primary opponent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/2015\/04\/30\/17261\/12-things-know-about-bernie-sanders\" target=\"_blank\">Bernie Sanders<\/a> \u2014 he <a href=\"http:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/election-2016\/delegate-targets\/democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\">almost certainly<\/a> can\u2019t catch Clinton, but <a href=\"http:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/la-na-mid-atlantic-democratic-primaries-20160426-story.html\" target=\"_blank\">isn\u2019t quitting<\/a>\u00a0\u2014 and toward the general election.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s go forward. Let\u2019s win the nomination, and in July, let\u2019s return as a unified party,\u201d <a href=\"http:\/\/www.phillyvoice.com\/transcript-hillary-clintons-post-primary-speech-philadelphia\/\" target=\"_blank\">Clinton said<\/a> during her victory speech Tuesday night in Philadelphia, which will also host the Democratic National Convention this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Clinton campaign spokesman Jesse Ferguson told the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.publicintegrity.org\/\" target=\"_blank\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a> it was important to criticize Trump for his \u201cdivisive rhetoric and dangerous agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ferguson added: \u201cWe will continue to make the case about the damage his agenda would do and how Hillary Clinton is the toughest candidate to take him on and stop him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Dave Levinthal contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>This story was co-published with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/donald-trump-steamrolls-despite-negative-ad-blitz-n563531\" target=\"_blank\">NBC News<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pri.org\/stories\/2016-04-27\/despite-barrage-negative-ads-donald-trump-poised-win-gop-nomination\" target=\"_blank\">PRI<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/4309674\/donald-trump-campaign-ads-attacks-kantar\/\" target=\"_blank\">TIME<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About 60,000 TV ads \u2014 roughly one-fifth of all ads aired in the Republican presidential primary \u2014 have been critical of Donald Trump in some fashion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[708,3307,705,226],"class_list":["post-147295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2016-election","tag-donald-trump","tag-money-in-politics","tag-presidential-race"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}