“This is a guy who has literally been in elective office his entire adult life,” said a strategist for one rival campaign. “He has made his living off the government sector, the taxpayer. He has never really, to my knowledge, had any kind of serious existence outside of the public sector.”…

“I think he tries to present himself as this steadfast conservative, but I am not sure the record will match that.  He had to get elected in a left-leaning county and then in a centrist state,” added another rival. “And now he is running for the Republican nomination. I think you can easily a line where this guy looks like the kind of person who will say anything to get elected.”…

“He gave a good speech in Iowa. I grant him that,” said an aide to a rival campaign. “And so what happens next is that conservative voters just assign to him everything they want from a conservative candidate. They assume he shares all the values that they do, and we will have to see if it holds up under scrutiny.”