The campaign notoriously has lagged Clinton's in organizational
strength, but faces the unavoidable reality that a ticket to the White House
requires victory in key swing states like Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and North
Carolina.
In a sign they're taking the task seriously, the campaign on
Wednesday announced $80 million in donations for the campaign and the GOP in
July, money that can be used to target their message at these voters. The haul
marks a big fundraising surge for the GOP nominee, and comes close to the
combined $90 million raked in by Clinton and the Democrats last month.
"The campaign is in good shape. We are organized. We are
moving forward," campaign manager Paul Manafort told Fox News'
"Happening Now" on Wednesday, saying they've now hired 50 state
directors.
The fundraising haul comes despite a rocky post-convention period
for Trump that has included dealing with backlash over the candidate’s feud
with Muslim parents whose son was killed in Iraq.
Sources say behind-the-scenes, though, concerns continue to surface
that Trump’s ground game isn’t yet strong enough to compete with the Clinton
machine.
.
“It hasn’t been the smoothest ride,” one source with knowledge of
Trump’s field operations in the South told FoxNews.com.
Another described the operation as “all over the place.”
But Karen Giorno, a senior Trump adviser and Florida chief
strategist, maintains the campaign has a plan in play that includes a
coordinated multi-state Trump-RNC push that will challenge Democrats in key
states.
She vowed a visible acceleration in the battlegrounds but added
it’s “not a one-size-fits-all” plan.
“This is a non-traditional campaign in a non-traditional year,” she
told FoxNews.com. “As you look at Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio – each effort is
different.”
Florida, which has 29 electoral votes up for grabs, has emerged in
the past two decades as one of the most important battleground states in the
country. Giorno said Team Trump has “amassed a large army of volunteers and
supporters” in Florida, boasting it’s “a well-oiled machine” that is growing.
Soon, she’ll put another 10 people on the payroll – mostly in
leadership positions.
Both the Trump and Clinton campaigns are working with their
respective national committees -- where Democrats likewise have a staffing edge
in some places.
In Florida alone, Democrats maintain a paid team more than twice
the size of the Republicans'. The goal of the Clinton camp is to have 100
operational field offices in the Sunshine State.
Last month, it set up shop in Miami.
“Miami — and South Florida in general — are going to be a large
part of our strategy for success,” Simone Ward, Clinton’s Florida director,
told The Miami Herald. “It is a major [get out the vote] universe for any
presidential campaign, and in particular ours.”
In Pennsylvania, Democrats have a field staff of more than 100
while Republicans have 54. In Ohio, Democrats have 70 on staff as of June 11;
Republicans have 53.
“Ninety-plus days before a totally winnable election and I’m
stunned,” Gary Nordlinger, president of a political consulting firm and adjunct
professor at George Washington University’s school of political management,
told FoxNews.com, regarding the on-the-ground organizing. “I’m just shocked
that Republicans did not learn from their mistakes in 2012.”
Despite campaign promises going into the Republican National
Convention in Cleveland to step up their operations this month, staffing on the
ground may still be spotty. FoxNews.com called Trump headquarters in Ohio,
Florida, Pennsylvania and North Carolina -- but only in Florida's office in
Sarasota did a person answer the phone.
Calls on Aug. 1 -- and again 24 hours later -- to the other three
offices either were not answered or not returned when voicemail messages could
be left.
An 11:06 a.m. ET call on Aug. 1 to the Pennsylvania branch led to
this message: “The person you’ve called has a voicemail box that has not been
set up yet.”
To Giorno, the comparisons of staffing numbers are not the best way
to size up the rival teams.
“[Clinton’s] playbook is so last century,” she said. “We’re lean
and mean and we get to adjust … they have this clunky, old school apparatus.”
Despite the data, Nordlinger says the New York businessman isn’t to
blame.
“I’m not laying this at Trump’s feet,” he said. “[The RNC] has had
four years to prepare for this.”
But the RNC, too, pushes back on any suggestion their ground game
is lacking.
“The RNC has built the most efficient and effective ground game in
the party’s history,” RNC spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told FoxNews.com. “We are
focused on the entire ticket, working to get all Republicans on the ballot
elected to office.”
Walters said the RNC has had staff on the ground in key states
since 2011. Currently, there are 489 paid staffers, 4,100 trained organizers
and thousands of volunteers in the field.
“In total, we have over 775 total staff dedicated to beating
Hillary Clinton,” Walters said. “No other campaign, committee, or organization
has been doing this for as long as we have. We are the infrastructure for the
entire GOP ticket. And the Trump campaign has embraced that.”
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