Huge war room campaign unfolds to boost Gorsuch court nomination

Taking a page from the presidential campaign and successful confirmation fights from the past, the effort is already eyeing a win that seemed distant just last week when Gorsuch was named — meetings between the federal appeals court judge and key Democratic senators, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

That’s a long way from sewing up Democratic support, but it is a sign that the Democratic leadership wall initially put up against Gorsuch has gaps in it.

Democrats facing reelection are focus of social media campaign by GOP.

The campaign began organizing even before Gorsuch was named and key organizations and officials were tagged to help, including the Republican National Committee, Senate GOP leaders, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee, state parties and the Judicial Crisis Network.

“The RNC has been working closely with the White House, NRSC and third party organizations to support President Trump’s mainstream conservative choice of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court,” said RNC Spokesman Rick Gorka.

Soon after Trump announced his pick in the East Room last week, Vice President Mike Pence made a debut escort of Gorsuch to the Senate, and others have joined in and the sales campaign has expanded.

Some 14 senators plan to have audiences with Gorsuch this week, including five key Democrats. “We look forward to more meetings this week between Supreme Court Justice Nominee Gorsuch and senators on both sides of the aisle,” said longtime GOP communicator Ron Bonjean, a veteran of the House, Senate, and Bush administration, who is heading the P.R. effort.

The pick and effort has won over even some Trump critics in the Republican Party. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse tweeted, for example, “Judge Gorsuch is a rockstar. People across the political spectrum should be excited about him. He’s not trying to be a super-legislator.”

It is also helping with the public’s view of Trump’s pick. Polls are showing overwhelming support for the 49-year-old judge who was a friend and protege of the late conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.

A Rasmussen Reports survey out Monday morning showed that 86 percent of voters expect a confirmation and 51 percent want him confirmed. And a HuffPost/YouGov poll found that 58 percent believe Gorsuch will be a good Supreme Court justice.

Behind the scenes, a huge “war room” effort is underway to gin up support with the RNC leading the way, in simple moves like devoting its GOP.com page to the judge, and in other ways such as lining up 150 radio and TV interviews and stories supporting Gorsuch in the first two days of his nomination.

They are also making daily coordinating calls with key players, drafting op-eds for influential Republicans to present to news and blog outlets, and mounting a huge social media campaign.

A petition on DonaldJTrump.com for Gorsuch has also received over 80,000 signatures, and raised $75,000 for the effort. And other efforts like an online RNC “congratulations card” for Gorsuch have gone viral, a tribute to the RNC’s reach and Trump’s own 2016 campaign generated social media network.

The purpose of the focused effort is a simple one: pressure senators, especially Democrats up for reelection in 2018 in states won by Trump, to consider a vote for Gorsuch instead of making a kneejerk reaction of no. The NRSC and RNC are leading that effort, which includes social media ads.

“We have been aggressively coordinating messaging with state party’s across the country to apply grassroots pressure on obstructionist Democrats who are facing the voters in 2018,” said Gorka.

Targets include Bill Nelson of Florida, Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, and Joe Manchin of West Virginia.

They GOP campaign also putting heat on senators in areas where Trump did well, including Sens. Tim Kaine of Virginia, New Hampshire’s Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen, Michigan’s Debbie Stabenow and Michael Bennet of Colorado.

Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]