Republican power brokers are launching a last ditch effort to derail Donald Trump as he marches toward a slew of Super Tuesday victories.
Conservative groups are spending millions on attack ads blasting Trump’s business record and questioning his character before voters in 13 states head to the polls on March 1.
One television ad funded by the American Future Fund, a super PAC which supported Mitt Romney’s presidential bid, is producing ads excoriating Trump’s educational venture, Trump University.
The ads feature former students of the on-line real estate tutorials who say they are victims of “fraud.”
Another committee, Our Principals PAC, is funding ads drawing attention to the real estate mogul’s hiring of undocumented immigrants during the building of the Trump Tower and his Washington, D.C. hotel.
“There’s a lot of people recognizing that Donald Trump is a fraud and there’s lots of interest in shining a spotlight on it,” Our Principals PAC founder Katie Packer told The Hill.
And Conservative Solutions PAC, a pro-Rubio group, launched a $6.4 million ad campaign in primary states highlighting Trump’s bankruptcies, eminent-domain positions, and lack of foreign policy experience.
But those television commercials were tame compared to the trash talking on the campaign trail Saturday.
Rubio spent much of a rally in Kennesaw, Georgia mocking Trump’s character and appearance.
And he ridiculed Trump for having the “worst spray tan in America” after Trump said Rubio applied make-up with a “trowel” before a debate.
“Donald Trump likes to sue people,” Rubio said. “He should sue whoever did that to his face.”
The Florida senator urged Republican voters to prevent Trump from taking over the party and the presidency.
“We cannot allow a con artist to get access to the nuclear codes of the United States of America,” he said.
Trump trotted out his latest endorser, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, to deliver a devastating one-two Rubio smackdown at a rally in Bentonville, Ark.
Christie slammed Rubio’s shoddy Senate attendance record and warned the presidency is not a “no show job” at the rally.
Trump defended himself from Rubio’s attacks saying he has “built a great business” in contrast to “lightweight” Rubio.
“He couldn’t get elected dog catcher in the state of Florida,” Trump said. “Rubio is going nowhere. I’m tired of guys like little Rubio.”
He called Rubio and his other rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, “world class liars.”
Polls show Trump is leading in at least nine of the 13 Super Tuesday states.
Trump is the first choice of 37 percent of Republicans in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia, in an aggregate poll released Thursday by Bloomberg Politics/Purple Strategies.
Rubio and Cruz are battling for second place with 20 percent each, the poll shows.
There are 595 GOP delegates up for grabs Tuesday and Trump leads with between 30 and 45 percent of the vote in most states, polling averages show.
Cruz’s best hopes are in Arkansas, where he leads Trump 27 to 23 percent, and in his home state of Texas, where he outpaces Trump 34 to 27 percent, according to polling averages.