So far, Maria Cino has won the support of only six members of the Republican National Committee. Given her long history as a political operative, this result is surprising. Why aren’t there more Cino votes?
Her spokesman, Chad Kolton, counsels patience. “It’s reasonable to hope we will have an additional number of announcements,” he says. Kolton notes that Cino has spoken to “better than 90 percent” of the RNC and that many members “have given her very positive feedback about the experience she has.” Indeed, the dozens of members with whom I’ve spoken have praised Cino’s past performance. Still, if there’s so much goodwill, why isn’t she getting more support?
“This is a very political group; there are a lot of personal relationships; and these are good candidates,” Kolton muses. “They may prefer another candidate for a whole host of reasons, especially in the first round, but what happens after that remains to be seen.” Furthermore, Kolton says Cino is approaching the race with a campaign manager’s mindset: “I think she’s peaking at the right time and . . . [she has] a plan to run a race that culminates in the election itself.”