Trump's knack for controversy drowning out his rivals

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) — Even campaigning half as much as his rivals, Donald Trump is drowning them out in an echo chamber of insults and charged pronouncements that have taken over the presidential campaign.

All the while, some Republican officials worry the intense Trump focus is letting Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton escape serious scrutiny as she works to strengthen her case to general election voters in the 2016 contest.

Bush spoke at length during his campaign stops about his strategy to stop the Islamic State, which he said President Barack Obama and Clinton, as secretary of state, had foolishly dismissed.

With Trump's call to ban Muslims from entering the United States, just the latest example of his provocative statements, the billionaire businessman has found a way to dominate the conversation even when he's not in the room.

Even Trump's critics, like New Hampshire Republican national committeeman Steve Duprey, admire the real estate mogul's ability to dominate the conversation with such a modest investment of time and money.

Instead he's focusing on massive rallies and most often on national media interviews — frequently conducted on the phone from Manhattan's Trump Tower.

At a rally Tuesday night in Atlanta, Carson suggested that U.S. citizens should train for terrorist attacks much as schoolchildren once conducted air-raid drills during the Cold War.

[...] Republicans are missing a key opportunity to weaken vulnerable Democrats, GOP operatives say.

"Donald Trump is a massive walking, talking in-kind donation to former Secretary Rodham Clinton," said Liz Mair, a GOP strategist who is trying to raise money to curb a Trump rise.