|
 "Heaven help us," Representative Peter Roskam said when asked
about it by a reporter. But the Illinois Republican quickly added,
"I'm not going to comment on the presidential candidates at this
point."
That reticence was shared by many lawmakers asked about running on
Trump's coattails during an event in Baltimore where Senate and
House of Representatives Republicans gathered to talk through their
priorities for a coming year whose highlight is the November
election. Some were not reluctant to express concerns.
Trump would not help Republicans if he topped the ticket, despite
his appeal to Americans fed up with politicians, said Representative
Justin Amash, a favorite of the conservative Tea Party movement who
has endorsed Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul for president.
"He does appeal to the anger," Amash said of Trump, the outspoken
real estate mogul who is front-runner to be the party's presidential
nominee.
But he said Trump's "policy prescriptions will take us in the wrong
direction, and it won’t be long before many of those people are
angry at him and angry at Republicans again."
The idea of Trump capturing the Republican nomination seemed highly
unlikely just months ago, but it was sinking in as an actual
possibility this week across the Republican Party.
In addition to voting for a new president, Americans will elect
members of the Senate and the House on Nov. 8. In U.S. politics, a
party's presidential nominee has a big impact on the campaigns of
candidates for both chambers of Congress.
TRYING NOT TO TALK ABOUT TRUMP
At the party gathering, Republican leaders were keen to talk policy,
not presidential politics. "What happens above us on the
presidential ballot, you really don't control," Senator John Thune,
a senior party leader from South Dakota, told reporters.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, said: "We are not sitting
here thinking about who the nominee is going to be. We don't have
time to think about that."
But in the hallways of the retreat, at a hotel on Baltimore's
restored waterfront, Trump was often the hot topic. He is leading
national opinion polls ahead of the Feb. 1 Iowa caucus, the first
step in the nominating process.
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Representative Jason Chaffetz said it was important to have a
presidential nominee who will not "embarrass" the rest of the
party's candidates as they defend the Republican majorities in both
congressional chambers.
Chaffetz, who is from Utah, has endorsed Marco Rubio, a Republican
senator from Florida. Polls show Rubio in third place behind Trump
and Texas Senator Ted Cruz in Iowa.
"Marco Rubio is not going to embarrass us ... He's not as
sensational in his comments as the others, but there's a good
quality to that, and I think that's also something you look for in a
president," Chaffetz said.
Among other proposals, Trump has called for a temporary ban on
Muslims entering the United States and a wall along the U.S. border
with Mexico to stop the flow of illegal immigrants.
Representative Tom Cole said Republicans' fate will be linked
closely to the Republican nominee, whoever it is.
Trump would be a wild card, said Cole, of Oklahoma. "I don't know
what he (Trump) will do. I can see a situation where he could be a
great asset, because I do think he will bring some people out (to
vote) who have not been brought before."
Representative Peter King of New York agreed that Trump is "more of
a gamble" at the top of the ticket.
"The conventional wisdom is that he would hurt more than he would
help," said King, who was unable to attend the retreat but spoke by
telephone. "But on the other hand, he is tapping into something
(among voters) out there."
(Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, Caren Bohan and Frances Kerry)
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