GOP WH Hopefuls Plan, Trump Ponders Run04/18 11:08

   Less than three months after former President Donald Trump left the White 
House, the race to succeed him atop the Republican Party is already beginning.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Less than three months after former President Donald 
Trump left the White House, the race to succeed him atop the Republican Party 
is already beginning.

   Trump's former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has launched an aggressive 
schedule, visiting states that will play a pivotal role in the 2024 primaries, 
and he has signed a contract with Fox News Channel. Mike Pence, Trump's former 
vice president, has started a political advocacy group, finalized a book deal 
and later this month will give his first speech since leaving office in South 
Carolina. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has been courting donors, including in 
Trump's backyard, with a prominent speaking slot before the former president at 
a GOP fundraising retreat dinner this month at Mar-a-Lago, the Florida resort 
where Trump now lives.

   Trump ended his presidency with such a firm grip on Republican voters that 
party leaders fretted he would freeze the field of potential 2024 candidates, 
delaying preparations as he teased another run. Instead, many Republicans with 
national ambitions are openly laying the groundwork for campaigns as Trump 
continues to mull his own plans.

   They're raising money, making hires and working to bolster their name 
recognition. The moves reflect both the fervor in the party to reclaim the 
White House and the reality that mounting a modern presidential campaign is a 
yearslong endeavor.

   "You build the ark before it rains," said Michael Steel, a Republican 
strategist who worked for Jeb Bush's presidential 2016 campaign, among others. 
"They're going to do the things they need to do if he decides not to run."

   Trump, at least for now, is giving them plenty of leeway, convinced they 
pose little threat to his own ambitions.

   "It's a free country. Folks can do what they want," Trump adviser Jason 
Miller said in response to the moves. "But," he added, "if President Trump does 
decide to run in 2024, the nomination will be his if you're paying any 
attention to public polling of Republican voters."

   Polling does indeed show that Trump remains a commanding figure among GOP 
voters, despite his loss in November to Democrat Joe Biden. Republican leaders, 
including those who may hope to someday succeed him, have been careful to tend 
to his ego and make clear they have no plans to challenge his standing.

   Florida Sen. Rick Scott, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial 
Committee, last weekend awarded Trump a new "Champion for Freedom Award," which 
the group publicized -- complete with a photo of a smiling, golf-attired Trump 
holding a small, gleaming cup -- even after the former president went after 
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky in a profanity-laden 
speech.

   A day later, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, considered a top-tier 
2024 candidate, told The Associated Press that she will sit out the race if 
Trump runs again.

   "I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it," 
she said in Orangeburg, South Carolina. "That's something that we'll have a 
conversation about at some point, if that decision is something that has to be 
made."

   The deference is, in part, an acknowledgement of Trump's continued power. 
Even out of office and without his Twitter megaphone, Trump remains deeply 
popular with the GOP base and is bolstered by an $85 million war chest that can 
be shared with endorsed candidates, spent on advertising and used to fund 
travel and pay for polling and consultants.

   Trump is making plans to soon increase his visibility, with aides discussing 
options to hold rallies as soon as late spring or summer. "There's a pretty 
strong demand out there to get President Trump on the road," Miller said.

   Many Republicans acknowledge Trump would leap to the front of the pack if he 
chooses to mount a bid to become the only president other than Grover Cleveland 
to serve two nonconsecutive terms. Still, there is deep skepticism in many 
corners of the party that Trump will run again.

   While people close to him insist he is serious, many see Trump's continued 
flirtations as a means to maintain relevance as he has settled into a 
comfortable post-White House life. At Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, he's courted by 
candidates and met by rounds of applause and standing ovations whenever he 
enters the dining room.

   In the meantime, other could-be-candidates are making moves, even as many of 
their aides insist their focus is squarely on next year's congressional 
elections and helping Republicans win back control of the House and Senate.

   Jeff Kaufmann, the chair of the Iowa Republican party, said the activity in 
his state has begun even earlier this year than in the past two election 
cycles, with every candidate on his potential 2024 list having already visited 
or thinking of visiting the first state on the GOP nominating calendar.

   "I know of no one -- honestly no one -- that is hesitating to come out," he 
said. "Now some are a little more subtle than others, but that may not 
necessarily be tied to Donald Trump. That may be just tied into their campaign 
style and not wanting to get too far ahead of their skis until they see if they 
have any traction whatsoever."

   Pompeo, arguably the most aggressive to date, is among those who have 
already spent time in Iowa, as well as New Hampshire, and this week past he 
addressed Rabbi Shmuley Boteach's World Values Network in New York, where he 
was introduced by video by Republican megadonor Miriam Adelson. And on 
Saturday, he headlined the Palm Beach County Republican Party's annual Lincoln 
Day dinner at Mar-a-Lago along with Scott and DeSantis.

   DeSantis, who is up for reelection next year, recently hired a top 
Republican strategist who served as executive director of the Republican 
Governors Association. DeSantis also has been using the race to build a deep 
fundraising network that could support him if he chooses to run nationally.

   The party, which for a time appeared to be paralyzed by division, has grown 
more united in its opposition to Biden, even as Trump continues to spar with 
McConnell and works to defeat incumbents who voted for his impeachment. 
Republicans in Congress have found common cause railing against Biden's border 
policies, voting against his COVID-19 relief bill and pushing for new 
restrictions on voting, while railing against corporate interference in the 
voting rights debate.

   "I think you would find broad agreement in our party that we need to be 
having the debate about policy," said Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyoming, the No. 3 
House Republican, who continues to face enormous backlash after voting for 
Trump's impeachment. "We need to be talking about policy," she said while 
speaking to Georgetown University's Institute of Politics and Public Service 
last week.

   Regardless of Trump's ultimate decision, his critics and acolytes alike say 
they see the future of the party as dependent on maintaining their appeal to 
Trump voters, while at the same time winning back the suburban voters who 
abandoned them last fall.

   "I think everyone's trying to find that magic combination of 'Trump-plus,' 
of continuing to appeal to the new voters that President Trump brought to the 
Republican coalition while also bringing back some of the college-educated 
suburban folks that were repelled by his antics," said Steel.