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ByJuliePace The Associated Press MIDLOTHIAN, VA. Sheila Covert is worried about Donald Trump. A loyal Republican voter from swing state Virginia, Covert calls the business- man "bombastic" and says there's "just no substance" in his boastful campaign rhetoric. But if Trump does be- come the GOP presidential nominee? "Well, I'd definitely vote for him," said Covert, an 81-year-old from the Rich- mond suburb of Powhatan. After a pause, she added, "But I hope and pray it doesn't come to that." Covert is part of a legion of skeptical Republican vot- ers across the United States coming to grips with the prospect that Trump, a can- didate whose appeal they simply can't understand, may end up being their par- ty's best chance for retaking the White House. The real estate mogul has scored three commanding pri- mary victories in a row, in- cluding Tuesday in Nevada, and enters next week's del- egate-rich Super Tuesday elections in strong position. Interviews with about two dozen frequent Repub- lican voters in Virginia — an important general elec- tion battleground and one of several states with a pri- mary next week — reveal the complex mix of emo- tions Trump evokes within in his own party. Among those who don't plan to vote for Trump in the primary, there's shock, confusion and anxiety over his candidacy. But there's also a grudging acceptance of the billionaire's political staying power and a feeling that despite his many flaws, he'd be better than another four years with a Democrat in the White House — par- ticularly if that Democrat is Hillary Clinton. "He says things you can- not imagine a president say- ing," said Michael Glunt, a 42-year-old landscaper from Midlothian. But if Trump faces off against Clinton in November, Glunt will cast his ballot for the GOP nominee. "In this particular case, I would vote for him," Glunt said."HillaryClinton,Idon't trust her. There's no trust." Thevotersinterviewedby The Associated Press repre- sent a tiny sliver of the elec- torate. But their views illu- minate the debate within both parties about how a Trump nomination would play out in November, par- ticularly as that prospect becomes more real with each voting contest. Democratic officials are betting that Trump's over- the-toprhetoric,particularly about women and immi- grants, would turn off inde- pendents and some Republi- cans in battleground states like Virginia. Some anxious GOP leaders share that con- cern,contributingtothesud- den rush of lawmakers and other party officials rallying around Florida Sen. Marco Rubio as an alternative. Bill Ginther, a 69-year- old retiree from Midlothian, is among the Republicans so turned off by Trump they can hardly envision voting for him if he's the nominee. Ginther, who plans to vote for Rubio in Tuesday's pri- mary, says he's "honestly shocked" that Trump has come as far as he has. "I don't know if I could vote for him," Ginther said. "It would make it very dif- ficult." While some voters joke about moving to Canada if Trump becomes president, Nancy Bradner is looking at that possibility with some seriousness. A supporter of past GOP nominees in- cluding Mitt Romney and George W. Bush, she's now researching Canadian pol- itics, as well as the coun- try's health care system and housing market. Bradner doesn't know if she'd really go through with a move north — "I can't leave my grandbabies," she said — but makes clear that "it would be an option." "I just don't think I could be in the midst of it," Brad- ner said. "This is the first time in my 68 years that I have truly been scared of what is going to happen in this election." A recent AP-GfK poll, however, suggests Ginther and Bradner may be in the minority. The survey showed far more Repub- licans than not say they'd vote for Trump in the gen- eral election, and 86 per- cent of Republican voters think he can win in No- vember — giving him a 15 percentage point advantage over anyone else. ELECTION 2016 JOHNLOCHER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS People react while meeting Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a campaign rally Monday in Las Vegas. Grudging acceptance of Trump among GOP The Associated Press WASHINGTON Marco Ru- bio stood before Miami- Dade County officials in May 2002 and pushed them to permit a multimil- lion-dollar industrial devel- opment to be built on re- stricted land near the Flor- ida Everglades. Two months earlier, Ru- bio — a rising Republican star in the state Legislature — backed a law that made it harder for people to chal- lenge the kinds of develop- ments he advocated for as a private attorney. Around the same period, Rubio also requested state money to be earmarked to benefit a flood-prone area around the development project. Those efforts by Rubio, now a U.S. senator and the leading establishment alter- native to GOP presidential rivals Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, provide a glimpse into how he handled the in- tersection of his public role as a young lawmaker and his private representation of a company that stood to benefit from his political connections. There's no evidence Ru- bio violated Florida ethics rules. But his seat in Talla- hassee, the state capital, put him in the position of advo- cating before a county com- mission that relied on law- makers like him to fight for state money. "I always had a prob- lem when legislators would lobby at the county commis- sion, because you always felt like if you didn't vote their way, does this mean we'll lose funds in Talla- hassee?" said Katy Soren- son, a former county com- missioner and Democrat. The commission ap- proved the application for the plan near the Ever- glades, though Sorenson voted against it because it would have required mov- ing the so-called urban de- velopment boundary, an im- portant safeguard that pro- tected agriculture and the local water supply. That boundary was established in the 1970s, and the county considers periodic requests to move it. Todd Harris, a senior ad- viser for Rubio's presiden- tial campaign, told The As- sociated Press on Wednes- day that Rubio never lobbied in the traditional sense be- cause that was illegal under statelaw.ButHarrissaidthe part-time nature of Florida's Legislature meant that "vir- tually every legislator makes their living from outside em- ployment." "Marco did not gain per- sonally from this, or any other, vote because his compensation was not tied to any other specific proj- ect," Harris wrote, noting the law firm Rubio worked for was paid a standard re- tainer for its work. Rubio's 2002 request to the county involved Pan American, a Miami com- pany owned by well-known real estate developer Car- los C. Lopez-Cantera. He wanted to build a project — then known as Shoppy- land — west of the city, but environmental critics said it was too close to an impor- tant water source. Lopez-Cantera did not respond to detailed phone messages left with his staff at Pan American's offices on Monday and Tuesday. His son, Carlos, is Florida's lieutenant governor, among Rubio's closest political al- lies and running for Rubio's seat in the U.S. Senate. Ru- bio's campaign told the AP the younger Lopez-Cantera worked for his father's com- pany and recommended hiring Rubio to do the legal work "because of his experi- enceinlanduseandzoning." At the time, Rubio was a young lawyer earning $96,000 a year at the po- litically connected firm Becker & Poliakoff. He asked county commission- ers on May 30, 2002, to con- sider the Shoppyland pro- posal while mentioning his legislative responsibilities — which had required the commission to reschedule the hearing. POLITICS Rubio pushed for land deal as he backed law limiting critics | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2016 4 B