Most of the time D.C. is full of intrigue, vicious backbiting and petty disagreements, but there are the bad days, too. Right now both parties are dealing with nasty family feuds. Fixing the fractures before the general election is essential to victory, and that leads my three things to watch this week in politics. TRUMP STUMPERS – Twice now the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, has thrown himself across the tracks to derail the Donald Trump train. So far, nada. The mainstreamers are getting ever more panicked over the idea Trump could be their nominee. So you’ll hear even more talk this week about a “unity ticket.” The idea is to unite all the Repubs who are against Trump behind a single challenger and force a contested convention. But either Kasich or Cruz has to abandon the race to make it work, and neither seems inclined to do so. Stay tuned…and uh, stay off the tracks. CLINTONIAN CAUTION – The rift between Dems does not seem nearly as deep, but it is worrisome anyway. Hillary Clinton’s camp is virtually certain they have the nomination wrapped up, but they’d like a strong showing in the western state primaries on Tuesday to seal the deal. After all, the sooner she can officially send Bernie Sanders home, the sooner she can start making nice with his followers. And she’ll need them this November, especially if the GOP hits her as hard as expected. MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE WHITE HOUSE – President Obama and his surrogates will continue pressing the case for a Senate hearing on his Supreme Court nominee, and they’ll keep accusing the Republicans of playing politics. But the Dems are playing politics too. They already knew the GOPers were not going to give the nominee a nod, so they are milking it for all the headlines they can get. This is all about each side trying to make the other look unreasonable, but I think this week cooler heads will prevail and a deal is likely…nah, just kidding. Nobody will budge. (CNN’s Tom Foreman is the author of My Year of Running Dangerously)
The Foreman Forecast: Unite or die
Reuters
