GOP candidates offer a gentler approach

McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

COLUMBIA, S.C.

Donald Trump, Jeb Bush and John Kasich made final pitches to South Carolina voters in a mostly gentle, issue-filled town-hall meeting.

The CNN-sponsored forum Thursday night at the University of South Carolina Law School had a very different tone from the pointed, even vicious exchanges on the campaign trail. People in the town-hall audience wanted to know where the candidates stood on health care, military strategy and other issues.

There was some intrigue. Trump, the New York-based real-estate magnate, dominated the political dialogue Thursday before the CNN session. His tiff with Pope Francis had dominated media coverage of the South Carolina campaign 48 hours before voters go to the polls. The pontiff had just concluded a visit to Mexico, including a stop at the border with the United States, where he prayed for those who died trying to come north. Trump has been tough on Mexican immigrants, insisting he’ll build a big wall between the two countries.

“A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the gospel,” the pope said.

Trump praised the pope at the town-hall meeting. While he said, “I didn’t think it was a good thing for him to say, frankly,” and that the pope only got the Mexican government’s view of the immigration controversy, Trump said he thought the pope’s statement was “probably a little bit nicer statement than reported by you folks in the media.”

He went on to say he doesn’t like fighting with the pope, and that “he’s doing a very good job.”

Bush has been a sharp critic of Trump, but not this time. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to question Donald Trump’s faith,” Bush said.

“I’m pro-pope,” Kasich said. What’s important to remember about the pontiff, Kasich said, is that “this man has brought more sense of hope and more about the do’s in life than the don’ts.”

He took only a vague swipe at Trump. “The strength of America is not some guy or woman coming in on a white charger here to solve our problems,” Kasich said.

Bush got a jolt this week when Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina, who Bush and his brother, the former president, had courted, decided to back Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

“I’m marking her down as neutral,” Jeb Bush joked at the forum. He insisted his campaign, now fourth in poll averages, isn’t sinking.

“I do have momentum if you look at the polls and you look at the crowd sizes of our town-hall meetings,” Bush said.

Bush spoke at length about his faith and how it informs his views. “We’re now confronted with a real challenge in this country,” he said. “Can we find the ability to respect people who may not agree with us?”

Kasich’s message was that the nation needs to slow down, look around and see how other people are in pain or welcome support. “You’ve got to celebrate other wins, and sometimes you’ve got to sit with them and cry,” he said.