CONCORD — Sometimes politics is about chemistry; sometimes it is about mathematics. This presidential campaign is about a little of each.
You know the chemistry: A huge slice of the Republican Party is attached to Donald Trump in the way an atom of carbon attaches to two atoms of oxygen to produce carbon dioxide. A separate large slice of the Republican electorate resembles the noble gases that resist attachment to other elements. Think of them as the helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon and radon of the electorate, thus far resisting attaching themselves to any candidate.
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