http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-presence-in-first-gop-debate-makes-prep-challenging-for-candidates/2015/07/29/2e34766a-3564-11e5-8e66-07b4603ec92a_story.html By Dan Balz and Robert Costa July 29
Next week’s Republican presidential debate in Cleveland marks not only the inaugural formal gathering of the expansive GOP field but also the start of a new and unpredictable chapter in an already raucous 2016 race.
Under the bright studio lights on the shores of Lake Erie on Aug. 6, ambitions will be showcased, positions staked, and Donald Trump, who has consumed the summer’s political headlines, will finally be confronted, face to face, by his rivals.
“There is more downside than upside for most candidates, and the first goal is to try not to self-destruct,” said former House speaker Newt Gingrich, who ran for the GOP nomination in 2012.
“You don’t want to get in a situation where you knock yourself out,” Gingrich said. “The candidates ought to figure out what their message is for the American people rather than worrying too much about the back-and-forth with others.”
But the presence of Trump, who has in recent days attacked former Florida governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and former Texas governor Rick Perry, makes calculations more difficult. Every candidate will have a strategy for making a memorable impression. “Every candidate has to have a Trump strategy” as well, said an experienced GOP operative.
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