By Lord Ashcroft
In last week’s Philadelphia focus groups, Donald Trump’s supporters brushed aside the recording of their candidate’s unseemly conversation about women. Since then, a number of women had come forward to claim he had assaulted them – was this beyond the pale? Perhaps surprisingly, none of the Trump supporters we spoke to in Phoenix this week argued the allegations were false – just that there were more important things at stake (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
Mitt Romney is a successful businessman, a former Governor of Massachusetts, a father of five and a grandfather of twenty-four (yes), and one of the few people in the world who can answer the question I most wanted to ask when I sat down with him at his home in San Diego: what is it like to run for President of the United States?
“You know, I think most people would assume it’s a gruelling, awful experience. I would tell you that it is exhausting, but it is invigorating at the same time… I say to friends, if you get the chance to run for President of the United States, do it. It’s a great educational and uplifting experience.”
Romney’s father ran for President in 1968. “I saw him lose. He used to joke that his campaign was like a miniskirt, short and revealing. My campaign was longer, but also revealing (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
Mitt Romney is a successful businessman, a former Governor of Massachusetts, and in 2012 was the Republican nominee for President of the United States.
He is one of the very few people who knows what it’s like to run for the highest office in the land. I sat down with him at his home in San Diego to ask him about the experience – how he decided to run, how he set up his campaign, what it was like to receive the nomination and when he realised he would not win the election. We also talked about the international situation, Brexit, Donald Trump, and why the Republican Party will need a Churchill, Eisenhower or Reagan figure “to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.”
By Lord Ashcroft
The latest edition of the Ashcroft In America podcast is here
In last week’s edition of the Ashcroft In America podcast our co-presenter Elise Jordan coined the phrase “kamikaze Donald Trump” to describe the recklessness that led had led him to tweet derogatory things about a former Miss Universe, at three a.m., five weeks before he hoped to be elected to the White House. As our focus groups confirmed, voters needed to see a more presidential version of Mr Trump if he was to seal the deal with waverers worried about his character and temperament.
So much for that (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
In Episode 5 of the Ashcroft In America podcast the crucial voters of suburban Philadelphia react to the leaked Trump tapes, conservative talk radio host Charlie Sykes talks about conspiracy theories, the media, and “post-truth politics”, John Baer of the Philadelphia Daily News assesses the political state of play in Pennsylvania, and I talk to Democrat strategist Lis Smith about the level of confidence in the Clinton camp.
By Lord Ashcroft
Click here for the latest edition of the Ashcroft In America podcast
Like last week’s destination, North Carolina, Virginia was once a reliable part of the Republican bloc, voting for the GOP candidate in all nine presidential elections from Nixon in 1968 to George W. Bush in 2004. Barack Obama put a stop to that, winning by six points in 2008 and four points last time round – but if the Republicans are to win the White House, they need to put Virginia back in their column.
This won’t be easy. Its Governor is a Democrat, as are both the state’s Senators – one of whom is Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s running mate. But the GOP still have a big presence here – eight of the state’s eleven seats in the House of Representatives are held by Republicans.
Virginia is where North meets South, both historically and politically (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
In this week’s edition of the Ashcroft In America podcast I talk to the University of Virginia’s Dr Larry Sabato, creator of ‘Sabato’s Crystal Ball’; Trump Virginia campaign chairman Corey Stewart talks about his candidate’s prospects in the state; Richmond Times-Dispatch columnist Jeff Shapiro explains why Virginia explains the politics of the state; and local voters discuss Donald Trump’s tax returns, rigged elections and the Miss Universe tweets.
By Lord Ashcroft
Until 2008, North Carolina was as close to a sure thing for the Republicans in a presidential election as you could get. The state backed the GOP candidate for seven elections in a row, from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush, only for Barack Obama to capture it for the Democrats in his first run but lose the state four years later to Mitt Romney, albeit by one of the narrowest margins in the country. (more…)
By Lord Ashcroft
In the latest edition of the Ashcroft In America podcast I interview veteran Democrat campaign operative Joe Trippi; we hear how undecideds reacted to the first presidential debate; African American voters reflect on the election and life under President Obama; RNC strategist Ashley Bell tells us how the party is reaching out to the black community; and local political reporter Jim Morrill sums up the state of play in the crucial swing state of North Carolina.
By Lord Ashcroft
Click here for the new episode of the Ashcroft In America podcast.
On a tour of critical states in a presidential election, it may seem eccentric to begin in a place which has been carried by the same party every time since 1984. The last Republican candidate the people of Wisconsin voted to send to the White House was Ronald Reagan. But there is a good reason to be here: Donald Trump’s campaign believes Wisconsin lies squarely on their path to victory. If he can hold onto all the states Mitt Romney won four years ago – plus the Midwest and Rustbelt states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin – he will reach the magic number of 270 votes in the electoral college, and we will be welcoming President Trump. We thought we had better find out what is going on here.
To do so, the Ashcroft In America team have come to Green Bay (more…)