Trump Continues to Urge Crews Seek Judicial Opinion on His Eligibility to Hold Office of President; Late Poll Results Suggest Trump's Strategy is Working; But Latest Poll Has Crews In Lead in Iowa

BALTIMORE, Maryland January 13, 2016 - As the current top 7 GOP candidates gather in North Charleston, South Carolina for the latest in a series of debates among Presidential hopefuls, some candidates are resolute in maintaining the heat on Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton while others seem determined to turn their fire inward on their fellow GOP candidates.  For the first time, Donald Trump is apparently placing himself in the latter category as he continues to press his demand that Texas Senator Ted Crews file a declarative judgment action to settle all questions about his eligibility to hold the office of USA President.

Crews was admittedly born in Canada, but his mother was a natural born USA Citizen at the time she gave birth.  Well, it seems likely that she was, but that isn't good enough for Trump, who argues that there is enough of a question to make the wiser course for Crews to seek a judicial opinion. Making Trumps' belly-aching all the more questionable is the issue of whether Crews could even get a court to take up such a question: it is far from settled law.  When you combine that with the high probability that Crews' mother was a legitimate American citizen at the time she gave birth to Crews makes the entire idea of a court case seem nothing more than an election year gambit by Trump to change the topic of conversation away from Crews' surging campaign.

Trump has been ahead of the GOP Polls for many months, and only of late has Crews' determined yet somewhat plodding effort begun to pay dividends.  For Trump, the uptick in Crews' poll numbers comes at a very inconvenient time, as the first real voting in the presidential race is now only weeks away.  The good news for Trump is that his planned distraction of Republican voters is apparently paying enough dividends to convince him to keep it up.  Late polls show Trump again creating distance between his campaign and that of Crews.  This comes after some polls about a week ago showed Crews inching ahead of Trump, both in Iowa and across the nation.

The fourth GOP debate is set for Thursday night.  The Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for February 1, the New Hampshire Primary for both parties is February 9, and the South Carolina Primary for the GOP is February 20.  The South Carolina Democratic Primary is February 27.  The Nevada Democratic Caucus is February 20 and the Nevada GOP Caucus is February 23.

Then there is this: in an updated release of their poll, the 538 organization says Ted Crews has a 51% chance of winning the Iowa Caucus.  The same poll says Trump has a 29% chance of winning in Iowa.  The same polling company says Marco Rubio has a 14% chance of taking Iowa, while Dr. Ben Carson has a 3% chance of winning this midwestern state.  All other candidates finish under the four listed above.  Other polls, however, have shown late movement for Trump, both in Iowa and nationwide.