If nothing else, Trumps interest in winning New York is more than a simple applause line for local supporters. He has directed his campaign to come up with a game plan, and his campaign has, in turn, reached out to supporters like King to talk about implementing it. King said he got calls in early September from officials at Trumps Manhattan headquarters who spoke about opening offices and asked him for recommendations on staffers to hire.
Paid employees theyre talking about, King told me. Fred Dicker, the prominent (and now-former) columnist for the New York Post, reported that the Trump campaign was soon to announce that it would open 10 operation centers in the state to conduct phone banking, direct mail, and other get-out-the-vote efforts. But three weeks later, that news has yet to come.
Other senior Trump backers in New York offered similar assurances: Plans have been approved, they said, and Trumps commitment to competing in the state is real. But exactly what those plans are remains a mystery, an electoral version of Trumps infamous secret strategy to defeat the Islamic State. I will confirm that Donald Trump has instructed me as his state chairman to win New York state. And I will confirm that we have a pathway to do that, said Carl Paladino, who ran a Trump-like campaign as the GOP nominee for governor in 2010, which he lost to Cuomo by 30 points. What I cant tell you is what our plan is, because that would be telling Hillary Clinton what our plan is.
