Prominent Ohio conservative joins anti-Trump chorus

COLUMBUS (AP) — Prominent Ohio conservative Ken Blackwell has joined an effort to discredit Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump ahead of the state’s winner-take-all primary on Tuesday.

Blackwell is a former state elections chief and GOP gubernatorial nominee and a one-time contender to chair the Republican National Committee. He sits on the boards of Club for Growth and the National Rifle Association.

In a statement today to be followed with an op-ed Friday, Blackwell put his political weight behind the Our Principles PAC, which has made a $1 million anti-Trump ad buy in the state over the next five days.

Blackwell lambasted Trump with one of his signature verbal volleys, calling the New York billionaire an unelectable huckster who’s “dragging the nation into the gutter.”