Posted on 12/05/2014 9:33:35 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
If there's one think you can say about the 2016 Republican presidential field, it is this: It is going to be HUGE.
There are currently 23 names on the long, long list of potential candidates. That's twice (!) as many people as have ever run for the GOP nomination in the past. Now, not all of those "candidates" will actually run -- Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and Rep. Marsha Blackburn don't make much sense as presidential candidates, to name just two -- but that's a huge field of prospective candidates.
And while all two dozen names being mentioned won't make the race, the fact that so many credible candidates are actively looking at running speaks to the key dynamic of the coming Republican race: There is no true frontrunner....
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Sure. I won't even consider someone who doesn't have governor on their résumé. The office of the presidency is no place for amateurs, as we have painfully learned.
I like Gov Pence
Probably 3/4 of those would have trouble challenging the number of Electoral votes Bob Dole got in 1996.
COME ON!!!
The WHOLE IDEA is to split the Conservative vote, keep it split, and make all the Conservatives running blow all the $$$$$$$$$$$$$ they raise fighting each other.
Please no emotional responses!
Unless conservatives use good strategy in 2016, we will end up with another mushy moderate like Jeb Bush or Chris Christy or even repeat Mitt Romney.
The only meaningful weapon conservatives have is to show unity behind a single candidate and let the moderate voters divide their votes, exactly opposite of what took place in 2012.
The stark reality on the ground is there are not enough conservative voters to anoint 2 conservative candidates over a single moderate. Using the brain is more powerful than going by the heart.
I am never supporting Christie even against Hillary. I will never pull that lever.
Christie is a liberal. And he has screwed us. NEVER NEVER will I vote for that man. Don’t listen to what he says. Watch what he does. He is a lib. He is a lair. He is interested in his own career.
I am NOT asking to vote for him. I will not vote for either him or Jeb or Mitt in the primaries. But I may send him a few dollars of campaign cash. I want as many RINO’s in the primaries as possible. I have learned the lesson from 2012 well.
Oh I get it. Three Libs will split the media. We have to learn not to care what happens in New Hampshire. If the state is not red, we should not care about the primary.
So you’d pick Mike Huckabee and Jeb Bush over Ted Cruz? Seriously?
Scott Walker is too squishy in amnesty IMO. It’s Cruz for me but it’s going to be hard. Huckster will get in to help the RINO’s take Cruz down by splitting the conservative vote. I don’t know why so many “evangelicals” fall for Huckster.
What can pass for "conservative" in New Jersey still runs to the left of the rabid liberals here.
If you are serious about fielding a candidate who can win, you'd better find a way to meaningfully define issue positions by a fixed standard. Anyone with an anti-gun track record--or, for that matter, takes a stance against any fundamental and enumerated Right has lost their claim to conservatism.
One thing the Republican Party has tried, repeatedly, is running moderates.
As I have said here before, you can't out-Democrat a Democrat. You will not take their votes, but you can surely lose your own base.
America knows what isn't working. Providing a clear alternative to that sure looks like a winner, but fielding a candidate, again, who has 'moderate' (not quite as liberal as the real socialists) enough credentials to run to the left of JFK is not a clear alternative.
Obviously McCain (amnesty) and Romney (Romneycare) were not clear enough alternatives. Those key issues alone were enough to hurt them with Conservatives and couldn't attract the leftists who could get that and more with the left.
So consider Christie (left on Guns) or Bush (another one?) are going to similarly inspire voters and get similar results. IOW, they will lose.
It isn't about emotion, it is about hitting the same button with the electorate and expecting a different result. There's a word for that.
Joe, you are so missing my main point.
We need many RINO’s running in 2016 to divide the votes.
If it is Jeb versus Cruz+Walker+Jindal+Perry+....
then Jeb will win going away.
Ideally we want Jeb+CHristy+Mitt versus any one of the above more conservative candidates in the primaries.
Actually, I’d like to see the moderates eliminated before it gets that far, but I do get your point. Split the RINO vote for a change against one conservative candidate. If that’s the case, though, we have work to do figuring out exactly who that is, and vetting them thoroughly.
For that matter, any State with an open primary (dems can vote in the ‘pubbie primary) should not figure in. Nothing like letting the other team pick your starting lineup.
My formula would be whichever of the conservative candidate is leading in delegate count after the Iowa, NH & SC primaries are over should remain and all other conservatives drop out.
Even one on one against any one of the 3 leading RINO’s he will win the nomination.
That’s a fine idea, but I think we need to define “conservative”. It obviously means different things in different parts of the country, and clarity might be key to selecting a candidate we can all back.
I would vote for Ted.
I don’t think any of the others would get much interest from me.
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