Keller @ Large: How Trump Is Doing It
BOSTON (CBS) - "We are going to win, oh, are we going to win," said GOP front-runner Donald Trump at his South Carolina primary victory party, and make no mistake, there's cause for his confidence.
In the nine states holding Super Tuesday primaries where there's been polling, trump leads in seven of them, trailing only in Ted Cruz's home state of Texas and neighboring Arkansas. And short of an unexpected Cruz surge or a rapid consolidation of anti-Trump sentiment behind Marco Rubio, look for the Trump express to keep on rolling.
Why?
"There's nothing easy about running for president, I can tell you," notes Trump. "It's tough, it's nasty, it's mean, it's vicious."
And no one has played the game better than Trump so far, monopolizing media coverage, keeping his opponents on the defensive and displaying messaging mastery.
"We're gonna do the wall, and by the way, who's gonna pay for the wall?" asks Trump at his rallies. "Mexico!" shouts the crowd on cue.
And while his solutions may be sketchy, Trump's skill at identifying and exploiting the campaign's hottest issues - most notably, immigration - has left his competitors in the dust.
Trump's critics say he's too harsh and negative. But no one paints a prettier picture of life under his leadership.
"You're going to say, please, please, Mr. President, we can't stand it any more. We don't want to keep winning. We can't stand it. And I'm going to say, 'I don't care. We're going to keep winning. We're going to make America great again!'"
Laugh if you want - or cry, as the case may be - but so far that promise is securing a solid plurality that has Trump headed for the nomination, fast.
