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Kirk: Trump May Struggle In GOP Primaries

WASHINGTON (CBS/WBBM) -- U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) is suggesting Donald Trump would have a hard time against the rest of the Republican field once the GOP presidential primary race gets underway.

As WBBM Newsradio 780's John Cody reports, Kirk indicates he is not counting Trump out at this point.

LISTEN: Newsradio 780's John Cody reports

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"He could become a candidate. He hasn't even announced for the office yet. I do think in the end, my personal judgment that Republican primary voters, in the end, are pretty savvy customers of politics and speeches and future leadership," Kirk said.

Kirk says when voters consider the president has charge of the nuclear arsenal, the nation's economy and diplomacy, other candidates will fare better then trump in the early primary races in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Trump has not launched an official campaign committee, but at a Tea Party gathering in Boca Raton, Fla., last weekend, he told a crowd, "If I run and win, our country will be respected again."

He also said President Barack Obama is "just not a good leader," and predicted that Obama would most certainly go down as the worst President in the history of the United States," CBS News reported.

Trump has also gained notoriety in recent months for talking about Obama's citizenship and claiming that the president has failed to produce a birth certificate proving he was born in the United States.

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