Posted on 09/15/2013 7:01:45 AM PDT by 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.
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Below are our rankings of the 10 candidates with the best chance of winding up as the Republican presidential nominee.
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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
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Your 1 and 2 are spot on. My main objective is to break the hold of the oligarchy of crony capitalists and unionists ruining our country. I trust Paul to at least make the attempt. Cruz talks a good game and I like him but with only 8 months in office I am not yet ready to invest the trust I have in Paul to Cruz. I am certain Paul is for real so he gets my support. I am hoping Cruz is the real deal too. Mike Lee also seems like the real deal but then so did Rubio and looks what he did to us via illegals. At this point trust is my number one criteria.
He has no support up north.
The man needs a Manzierre or a Bro LOL
Yeah, sporting a much-needed Bro would be about the only support he can muster in these parts. I thought he had lapband surgery...or maybe that was a rumour...or I’m thinking of somebody else. If he did he needs have his surgeon winch that thing a damn sight tighter.
Senators (and Representatives) typically do not make good presidential candidates or presidents. They think speechifying is the same as making executive decisions.
Ryan — not much different than Rubio. Both pushed amnesty and see their numbers drop. Yet, they are still clueless — except that Ryan probably envies the $3 million Rubio got from major donors after he helped the gang of 8 pass amnesty in the Senate.
The trouble is, none of the governors on that list are that inspiring either.
Kasich was one of the first GOP governors to rush to get his Obamacare handout.
Christie — hugging Obama did him more damage in fly-over country than he realizes.
JBush — the Bush name is still toxic.
Jindal — about as exciting as drying paint.
Then, we will see several retreads from 2012 retrying.
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Paul may be perceived as his Daddy was — that guy who runs and runs and runs and never gets more than a few percentage points.
Cruz — talks the talk, but his executive experience is weak.
He’s actually in 10th place but because he’s so fat it looks like he’s in 2nd.
Don't forget Cruz was Solicitor General for the state of TX before running for the Senate. He has a wealth of experience and Constitutional know-how that those Senators running for Prez do not have and will never have.
Where Ted Cruz is concerned, if Poll’s meant anything he would not be in Congress at all.
As far as less than a year in politics, I see that as a good thing, I want to see a conservative as executive, not a seasoned politician...Cruz is a seasoned conservative going all the way back to his youth.
I seen Cruz on a news program go head to head with Chuck Shumer, he made Shumer look like an amateur, and the interviewer as well, Cruz had only been in congress a few months at the time, and all Cruz had to do was defend the constitution, something politicians forgot how to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcmCFZZL7tM
And it is a good conservative record.
I Really Like Ted Cruz, I am just saying that he could use his relative anonymity to his advantage in a general election.
Ted has a talent for being provocative and principled without making enemy’s with personal attacks.
I think he has the right stuff for a general national election.
Ted has that very Reaganesque quality of hitting you between the eyes without being offensive
wit
“The trouble with our Liberal friends is not that they’re ignorant; it’s just that they know so much that isn’t so.”
Jellybean?
Let’s see if we can start dividing and conquering our possible choices before a name hits a ticket.
The suggestion that Cruz lacks substance is absurd
Name recognition is a lot of what these super-early polls are about.
This description of his antics at the end of the article pretty finished it off for me:
Watch McC endorse the establishment shoice, leaving his new-found friend Rand far behind.
Could they be any more ignorant of conservatism?
His ranking is in line with the latest polls. It’s on point.
Didn't we hear that last time about Ryan from Wisconsin?
No, Palin is not in the top ten. I like her, but she’s not winning a national office, nor do I think she even wants to run.
She’s a good spokesperson for the right, and in the position she’s in now she can say what the right is thinking and not give a damn about what anyone thinks. That is a good role for her, but it would be awfully tough to convince most people that she could handle the pressure of being president when she quit as Governor of Alaska because the strain was too great on her family....and that’s not a criticism, I understand, and even admire her for putting her family first. But it would be increased 100 times as President, or even a presidential candidate.
IF she were to run again for something, a better role would probably be as Senator. That would be something she would have a realistic shot at, and she’d be one of 100 and the pressure would be less. But I think the article is accurate that she is not a top 10 candidate for president in 2016.
Why even speculate? Its going to be Jabba and Jeb or Jeb and Jabba.
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