{"id":9358,"date":"2016-04-07T08:01:30","date_gmt":"2016-04-07T15:01:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/trump-eyes-shift-to-policy-meat-as-convention-fight-looms\/"},"modified":"2016-04-07T08:01:30","modified_gmt":"2016-04-07T15:01:30","slug":"trump-eyes-shift-to-policy-meat-as-convention-fight-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/trump-eyes-shift-to-policy-meat-as-convention-fight-looms\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump eyes shift to policy ‘meat’ as convention fight looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON<\/strong> \u2014 Republican Donald Trump signaled a shift toward \u201cmore meat on the bone\u201d in his policy speeches Wednesday amid new signs of campaign discord, a day after his stinging Wisconsin defeat emboldened his critics and pushed the GOP closer to its first contested national convention in four decades.<\/p>\n

Democrat Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, embraced a tougher approach with liberal rival Bernie Sanders, who beat her in Wisconsin. Still, Sanders\u2019 string of recent primary victories has done little to erode the former secretary of state\u2019s overwhelming delegate lead as the 2016 primary season lurches toward a high-stakes contest in two weeks in New York.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe core issue in his whole campaign doesn\u2019t seem to be rooted in an understanding of either the law or the practical ways you get something done,\u201d an aggressive Clinton declared in an interview on MSNBC. She suggested Sanders \u201chadn\u2019t done his homework\u201d on specific prescriptions needed to address economic inequality.<\/p>\n

As the Democratic front-runner tried to undercut Sanders\u2019 recent momentum, Trump\u2019s grasp on his party\u2019s presidential nomination appeared far more tenuous. Senior Trump adviser Barry Bennett shrugged off the Wisconsin loss to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, but he also said the billionaire businessman would soon begin to deliver a series of \u201cpresidential, substantive\u201d speeches on his policy priorities. That list likely includes immigration, trade, defense and taxes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s coming,\u201d Bennett said of the shift. \u201cThere will be more and more meat on the bone as we go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Trump\u2019s team quietly worked to resolve problems with its young delegate outreach operation, a critical tool as the primary campaign speeds toward the possibility of a contest convention. The tension centers on campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, whose management style has alienated some would-be allies on the ground in key states.<\/p>\n

For example, the campaign over the weekend fired the person running its Colorado operation ahead of the state\u2019s convention on Saturday. The move was confirmed by a person with direct knowledge of the staffing situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.<\/p>\n

The issues come as leading Democrats and Republicans acknowledge a growing likelihood that Cruz could wrestle the presidential nomination away at the GOP national convention in July.<\/p>\n

While Trump maintains a big delegate lead, Cruz took a big step forward with his win in Wisconsin. The senator has no realistic path to claim the nomination by the end of the primaries on June 7, but he might force a contested convention by blocking Trump from getting a majority of delegates in the state-by-state voting.<\/p>\n

Trump must win 57 percent of the remaining delegates to clinch the nomination before the convention. So far, he\u2019s winning 46 percent.<\/p>\n

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who hopes the year will play out in Cruz\u2019s favor, said the Republican race was \u201cvery likely\u201d headed to an open convention.<\/p>\n

\u201cTed Cruz will win on the second ballot if not on the way in, and he will unite the party,\u201d Walker said on WTMJ radio in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, asked if she\u2019s coming around to the idea of Cruz as the nominee, said, \u201cI\u2019m coming around to more like, \u2018It looks like it will be a very interesting convention.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, Clinton allies were broadening their attacks against Trump to include Cruz, a first-term senator who has often alienated Democrats and Republican alike in Washington.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the scariest parts of Donald Trump\u2019s insulting, demeaning and dangerous attack on women is that Ted Cruz might actually be even worse for women,\u201d said Anne Caprara, who leads the pro-Clinton group, Priorities USA. That group worked with the campaign arm of Planned Parenthood to unveil an anti-Trump internet ad on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, attention in both parties shifted toward New York\u2019s April 19 primary elections, where Clinton and Trump hold big leads in early polls. Trump was to address voters Wednesday night in a homecoming of sorts for the New York City native.<\/p>\n

Former gubernatorial candidate Carl Paladino, one of Trump\u2019s state co-chairs, said the campaign received 18,000 requests for Wednesday\u2019s event, although the venue holds just 3,000 people.<\/p>\n

Said Paladino, a Buffalo-based businessman: \u201cWe\u2019ve seen people just coming up saying, \u2018Where has he been?\u2019 Thank God he\u2019s here.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for possible friction in the campaign, Paladino said he\u2019s had no problems with Trump\u2019s campaign manager.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey do have a small staff \u2014 probably smaller than they should have \u2014 but these guys work 24\/7,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t know how they keep their senses about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cruz, campaigning Wednesday in New York as well, lashed out at \u201cNew York values,\u201d which he called \u201cthe values of the liberal, Democratic politicians.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Jersey City, New Jersey, Hope Yen, Stephen Ohlemacher, Andrew Taylor, Erica Werner in Washington, Jonathan Lemire and Michael Balsamo in New York, and Scott Bauer in Madison, Wisconsin, contributed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 Republican Donald Trump signaled a shift toward \u201cmore meat on the bone\u201d in his policy speeches Wednesday amid new signs of campaign discord, a day after his stinging Wisconsin defeat emboldened his critics and pushed the GOP closer to its first contested national convention in four decades. Democrat Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, embraced a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-9358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9358\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9358"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=9358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}