GOP to Trump: You’re fired

Leading Republicans are mounting an attack on real estate tycoon Donald Trump, worried that his flirtation with a 2012 presidential run hurts their chances to field a serious challenge to Barack Obama.

Many Republican officials doubt the billionaire and celebrity TV star actually wants the pain and suffering that comes with a presidential campaign. They see him as a self-promoting publicity hound and his talk of a White House bid as a stunt drawing more attention to himself.

But polls show Trump getting a bounce from his highly public consideration of a campaign and his foray into “birther” politics, the idea some conservatives cling to that Obama was born in Kenya instead of Hawaii, and so he can not legally hold the presidency.

Concerns voiced by party elites suggest they are worried that the fascination with Trump is crowding out some of the attention normally bestowed on the most serious of the Republican candidates.