Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump says he could have used a better ground game in Iowa, and that skipping the final GOP debate before the caucuses might have hurt him a little bit.
“I think we could have used a better ground game, a term I wasn’t even familiar with,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “You know, when you hear ground game, you say what the hell is that? Now I’m familiar with it.”
“I think in retrospect, we should have had a better ground game. I would have funded a better ground game, but, you know, people told me our ground game was fine,” he said. “And I think by most standards, it was.”
Mr. Trump pointed out that he got the most votes in the history in the state for the GOP caucuses, other than one person — that person being Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who won on Monday.
“I got a tremendous amount of votes. Nobody came close in history, other than the one person,” he said.
Amid a dispute he had been having with Fox News, Mr. Trump opted not to participate in the GOP debate held on the Thursday before the caucuses.
“I’m happy I didn’t, because I raised $6 million for the vets,” he said. “Frankly, I don’t think I would have given up a first versus second and not give the vets $6 million. Finishing second and getting them $6 million was OK for me. But I might have been hurt a little bit by the debates, by not being at the debates.”
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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