Democrats are getting nervous a general election battle with Donald Trump at the top of the GOP ticket won't be so easy –
worried that his populist appeal could chip away support from the party's stalwart base of working-class voters.
"For us to take him lightly would be the worst mistake in the world," Connecticut Rep. John Larson, a former head of the House Democratic Caucus, tells The Hill.
"
I've been saying for months that we should never take Trump lightly and that I do think he has appeal, to independents and blue-collar Democrats especially… He comes along and says, 'I'm a deal maker, I'm about getting the deal done.' And they're so fed up of seeing nothing getting done and want to see him [act] on the issues that strike to the core of their feelings."
It's a far different perspective than has was voiced just weeks ago by Democrats including Vice President Joe Biden, who said in January either Trump or Texas Sen. Ted Cruz on the November ballot would be "a gift from the Lord."
"Be careful what you ask for," Mississippi Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus tells The Hill.
"A few months ago, nobody gave Donald Trump a chance of being a serious contender. Now he's the leader. So it's incumbent upon Democrats to do what, historically, we've been good at, and that's communicating with our voters, letting them know what we stand for, and putting those apparatuses in place to move our voters to the polls."
New Mexico Democratic Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham calls a possible Trump presidential nominee "a serious threat."
"There's no dearth of issues that you can attach to Trump as a candidate that are problematic. But if what folks are just saying is, 'We don't care,' then that changes your strategy," she tells The Hill. "
Voters are so disenfranchised and so angry that they're willing to vote for anything that's so different and drastic. And my own sense is they sort-of want to send Trump to us" as a punishment for gridlock.
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Democrats-Trump-Populist-appeal/2016/03/07/id/717824/
