Rand Paul, 2016 Republican Front-Runner

washingtonpost.com ^ | September 13, 2013 | Chris Cillizza

[BarnacleCenturion]

The first eight-plus months of 2013 have convinced us of one thing: Rand Paul acts and the rest of the potential 2016 Republican presidential field reacts.

On drones, Paul led a 13-hour-long filibuster that drew Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (among others) to the floor in support.

On Syria, Paul was out front in his opposition to a military strike — a position that 30 of his Senate Republican colleagues shared as of this writing. Those 30 include both Rubio,who voted against the use-of-force resolution in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

...

Below are our rankings of the 10 candidates with the best chance of winding up as the Republican presidential nominee.

...

10. Mike Pence: The Indiana governor is flying way under the radar at the moment but, as Matt Lewis argued in a recent piece for the Daily Caller, he has many of the makings of a potential 2016 dark horse: social and fiscal conservatives like him, he’s a charismatic communicator, and, perhaps most importantly, he doesn’t work in Washington, D.C. (Previous ranking: N/A)

9. John Kasich: The Ohio governor’s poll numbers have recovered remarkably well from his first few years in office, and he now looks like a favorite against much-touted Democratic nominee Ed FitzGerald. If Kasich wins in 2014, he has a case to make as a swing-state Midwestern governor who previously served as the chairman of the House Budget Committee and who ran (albeit briefly) for president in 2000. One big question: Does Kasich really want to undertake another national bid? (Previous ranking: 6)

8. Bobby Jindal: We believe that Jindal’s stock was probably a bit too high a year ago and is now a bit too low. His numbers in Louisiana still aren’t great, but they are better than

[mylife]

Chrispy Creme at #2?

GTFO!

[mylife]

Watch Christie’s first ad in his walkover 2013 reelection race. Then imagine that as the start of telling the Christie story to a national Republican audience. Pretty powerful stuff. Yes, Christie has something of a base problem given the (false) idea that he somehow cost Mitt Romney the 2012 election because of his embrace of President Obama during Hurricane Sandy. But, Christie’s regular-guy populism is a nice fit for the times. **PUKE**)

[IbJensen]

No damned way is this fathead Obama-stroker going to join a person of Rand Paul’s character on a national ticket!

Ronald Reagan made a big mistake when he listened to the power brokers and put George H. W. Bush on the ticket.

Bush paved the way for Clinton and George W. ensured that Obama would win and America would lose big time!

[PoloSec]

2,3,4,5, are non-starters, of all the rest Cruz is the best.

[mylife]

Chris Cillizza is a yankee blue blood liberal snot.

[BarnacleCenturion]

The fat boy consistently comes out in the top 3 in every poll. Not sure why. His supporters are probably the same people who voted for McCain and Rudy.

[mylife]

Probably because he works for the New Jersey Mob.

[gusopol3]

Too early to decide, but I certainly want to see what Ben Carson can do.

[Cringing Negativism Network]

Completely bogus list.

Palin not in the top 10?

[campaignPete R-CT]

unfortunately, their rankings look accurate.

And with Rand Paul in the race, it dries up much rural grassroots populist activism that otherwise could go to Cruz.

[Tupelo]

Pence, Walker, Kasich, Jindal, Christie are all sitting Governors and Bush is a former Governor.
IMO Walker is the best here with Kasich next.
Rubio, Ryan, Paul and Cruz are all sitting Congress Critters
Cruz is the best here. (Great VP for Palin, but that ain't gonna happen unless......................)

The GOP will support each and everyone of these candidates EXCEPT Paul & Cruz. Hell they will probably endorse the Democrat candidate over either of these two.
The conservatives will probably be split way too much over the rest, except maybe Scott Walker. At this point he may be the only one that can garner enough support in the Republican party to make a race out of it against the Democrat candidate

[Rodamala]

2,3,4,5, are non-starters, of all the rest Cruz is the best.

Without reading the article... you are insinuating that Cruz was not even in the top 5? Fail.

[Liz]

The 2016 race is Jimmy Carter revisited......a weak president paving the way for a strong Republican president.

The DNC brain trust must be frantic-—trying to think up ways to bury Obama’s Benghazi/Syria debacles——with more Dem dirt to surface on the way to 2016.

That Obama helped a Republican become the next president makes the Dems go ballistic.....

Mmmmmmm....that’s when we’ll have some fun.

[Liz]

Hey Rand---here's a couple issues for ya:

<><> Benghazi do-nothing WRT slaughtered Americans

<><> Hillary's State Dept covers-up sex scandals---obstructs justice---scrubs investigations

<><> Holder's DOJ (labels journo Rosen a criminal--seizes AP dcumnts--snoops USSC/Congress' blackberries)

<><> IRS political targeting

<><> IRS steals 60 million private medical records

<><> HHS' Sibelius strong-arms Obamacare insurance providers for money

<><> secret NSA snooping

<><> IRS sending $45 Million/32,000 EITC refunds to illegals at ONE address.

<><> Snowden globe-trots w/ US secrets

<><> EPA uses phantom email accounts

<><> Holder's Fast and Furious gun-running; savage drug cartels kill two US border patrol agents

<><> 5 million Ohaha henchmen w/ top security clearance---Ntl security undermined

<><> govt wiretaps rose 71% last year alone

<><> O's drones shoot down Americans outside military parameters

<><> monstrous TSA travesties

<><> Solyndra and other green money-laundries

<><> sucking up to gays and other predator/perverts

<><> forces Boy Scouts to admit gays.

<><> Obamacare (and other laws) violated at will

<><> The Data Hub---HHS' database of personal info

<><> PP'hood profiteering---will control Data Hub

<><> forcing primitive populations w/ Third World loyalties on US taxpayers

<><> violating 2nd amendment rights

<><> empowering Planned Parnthood's abortion savagery

<><> PPhood genital-sniffers as O'Care navigator

<><> police state---monitoring license plates 24/7

<><> food foreign aid---EBT card abuse

<><> the Obamas' non-stop luxe tax-pay vacays.

<><>DOJ advises Muslim council edgy social media posts violate civil rights/religious freedom---
<><> Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev's inflammatory postings not mentioned

<><>DOJ asserts "global Christian terror" (?) rivals worldwide Islamic violence threats

<><> Obama orders shutdowns of coal-fired, electricity generating plants

<><> Big Brother surveillance/punishment

<><> radical judges/ Obama commissars hostile to 10th Amendment.

<><> Obama admin investigated by the House, Senate, FBI

[mylife]

I think Kasich could do it.

[FreeReign]

Media pushing Paul right now to stop Cruz.

[Buckeye Battle Cry]

Kasich as VP would be a STRONG addition that makes Ohio a tough nut to crack for the left.

[montag813]

It doesn’t sit well that the leftist Compost is promoting Rand. I am with Cruz, who they and the NYT slam at every turn.

[mylife]

Cruz is a Senator, and while I share your concern that he is a greenhorn, So was Barack Obama.
He could do just like Barry and use his blank slate as an advantage rather than a detriment.

It is hard to paint a man for his past record if he has no past record.
Cruz is very strong in the Present and has no ghosts in the past.