Posted on 02/01/2016 9:17:57 AM PST by BlackFemaleArmyColonel
Iowa sometimes makes campaigns -- and sometimes it breaks them.
There are five GOP presidential contenders that could be put on political death watch as result of what happens in the Iowa caucuses Monday night. Here's a rundown of which campaigns could end, ranked from most to least likely.
1.) Rick Santorum -- Unless something miraculous occurs, the 2012 winner of the Iowa caucuses will be ending his campaign shortly after Monday night's results come in.
2.) Mike Huckabee -- Like Santorum, the former Arkansas governor is a past winner of the Iowa caucuses, and like Santorum, he is polling at 2 percent in the Des Moines Register poll.
3.) Carly Fiorina -- The former CEO of Hewlett Packard is barely registering in the polls in Iowa, despite spending more days in the state than any candidate currently in the race other than Huckabee and Santorum. So it's not like she hasn't tried to do well in Iowa.
4.) Rand Paul -- The Kentucky senator has every reason to reconsider his continued presence in the race if he fails to show a real sign of life in Iowa since he has a Senate re-election campaign to run. If Paul doesn't make the top five in Iowa, that would be a bad blow for him.
5.) Ben Carson -- The famed neurosurgeon says the only way he won't compete in the New Hampshire primary is "if I die," so the odds are Carson won't be dropping out after Iowa. And he isn't polling terribly in the state with 10 percent in the recent Des Moines Register poll, placing him in fourth place.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
I thought Rand Paul added something of value, and I liked Fiorina as a counterpoint private businessperson to Trump. And I respected the fact that she clearly worked incredibly hard to become knowledgeable on foreign policy issues.
I hope Huck and Santorum keep up their bond with Trump. They were class acts at the Veterans event.
Huck for Press Secretary?
Santorum for VP?
I could see that.
It should end the Jeb Bush campaign. But it will probably take a trouncing on super Tuesday to do that.
I think Carson stays in.
But Huckabee, Santorum, and Carly should definitely drop out.
Christie and Paul are right on that line too as far as I am concerned.
“Winning” Iowa doesn’t mean much for the GOP (the last two winners never made it much beyond Iowa) but I do hope at least some of them will drop out. That’s a pretty good list.
But I think Fiorina should stay, because she’s very confident of her brand, very conservative, and is an excellent speaker. She is actually the only one being supported mainly by grass roots contributions. However, she gets no coverage, and I think the media dumped her mostly because of Trump’s ridicule of her appearance and the fact that she obviously didn’t want to get into a gory media-assisted insult fest over their relative appearance factors.
...and nothing of value will be lost. :-)
On the other hand Huckabee will stay in to hurt Cruz just as he did in 2008 to help McCain over Romney. The Huckster, is jealous of Cruz because Cruz took the evangelicals. Same with Santorum, will stay in to screw Cruz.
Paul is pissed at Cruz because he took the libertarian vote.
Does anyone seriously think that Huckabee and Satorum are in this to win the caucus or a primary? They are in this because its the only time they can get their faces on TV and gin up publicity for their next “moral crisis in America” book.
Santorum, Huckabee, and Fiorina are likely to be out by this time tomorrow. Maybe Paul, too.
Christie and Kasich are doing too well in New Hampshire to pull the plug yet. Carson will limp through South Carolina, but will be a non-factor.
There are only six names I can see staying in until South Carolina: Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Bush, Carson and probably Christie.
After South Carolina, it will be down to Trump, Cruz and maybe Rubio.
I give her a lot of credit as well. Here in NH she would walk straight into a store, restaurant or business on her own and talk to anyone. She would answer any and every question posed to her without a script. I liked that about her.
Can we get rid of all but three?
Please?
I hate that Rubio is still in there, but none of the others are.
Rand Paul may not even win his Senate seat. I can see him being primaried.
“Huck” <> “class”
Huckabee will be endorsing Trump this week. I can see no other reason for Trump to hold an event in Little Rock, AR right before NH.
I didn't know much about her before this, but she seemed absolutely sharp as hell on that stage. You could see how she got to the position she did. And one area in which she really impressed me was how "crony capitalism" evolves naturally from the regulatory state. She actually understands that compliance costs include not only actual compliance, but hiring the lawyers and other folks to keep you up to speed. That is death for small and medium businesses that need to keep overhead low.
Her business experience and overall sharpness makes her my ideal VP for Cruz, or even Rubio.
Definitely a sharp lady. I hope we haven’t seen the last of her. If she doesn’t get the VP slot, she’d be a great Secretary of Commerce.
Three of them, I won’t miss.
I thought Rand Paul added something of value, and I liked Fiorina as a counterpoint private businessperson to Trump. And I respected the fact that she clearly worked incredibly hard to become knowledgeable on foreign policy issues.
Fiorina... boo. Just want her gone. The sooner the better.
I don’t think anyone drops out until Super Tuesday is done in the South.
Yeah it’s only another month and that should pretty much wrap it up I’d think.
Maybe he wants to tour the Clinton Presidential Center?
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