Posted on 04/07/2015 6:48:15 AM PDT by cotton1706
Politics has become more democratized and that’s a great thing.
Sen. Rand Paul's announcement today that he will seek the Republican Party's nomination for president punctuates a very real paradigm shift in the way the Grand Old Party will select its candidates for higher office.
For most of my adult life, Republican poobahs have decided for the rest of us, typically favoring the dusty candidate that has been standing in queue the longest. Think John McCain or Mitt Romney. Like a nightmare reinterpretation of the Bill Murray movie Groundhog Day, it seems that the GOP keeps nominating Bob Dole again and again, only to wake up the next morning to discover that their guy lost the election.
This trend will likely, finally, be disrupted in 2016. Paul's candidacy declaration was preceded by one from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas on March 23, and will likely be followed by another from Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. These candidates are certainly not all cut from the same cloth, but they have one common characteristic. Just a few years ago, the Republican establishment didn't want them.
In 2009, the National Republican Senatorial Committee famously endorsed establishment favorites Trey Grayson over Paul, and (now Democrat) Charlie Crist over Rubio in the primaries. Cruz was similarly savaged by establishment favorite David Dewhurst in the 2012 Texas GOP primary, but ultimately triumphed despite a four-to-one spending disadvantage.
(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...
All of these conservatives jumping in makes it all the much easier for Jeb.
[All of these conservatives jumping in makes it all the much easier for Jeb.]
The cream will rise to the top.
TED CRUZ - 2012
http://www.tedcruz.org/volunteer/
Not buying it about Jeb. I think his candidacy is imploding. The one I see taking the establishment mantle when he’s out of the race is Rand Paul.
Frankly, I don’t think Jeb will make it through the debates. He’s EXTREMELY boring, wonky. Even Jennifer Rubin says he doesn’t speak well. I don’t think the Establishment shoring-up machine will be able to work so well this time.
The debates may not prove decisive in the 2016 GOP primaries. With soooooooooooooooooooo many candidates up there on the stage, there were will be precious little time to have spirited in depth debates. Jeb will simply have to hold his own. That’s how GOPEs and RINOs usually win. They consolidate their vote behind a single candidate as conservatives are off and running in about a dozen different directions. History seems to bear this out. In my lifetime movement conservatives have won the GOP presidential nomination only twice, in 1964 and 1980. In both years the conservative grassroots were solidly united behind a single candidate.
Politics is all about strategy.
Ted Cruz’s strategy is based on voters responding to traditional conservative values as they did when Reagan ran in 1980. Ron Paul’s strategy assumes that the US is now a very different kind of place and that voters will support a candidate who recognizes this.
Neither man may win the nomination, but the primary will gives a pretty good indication of which is correct.
I just saw an interesting Presidential March Madness Poll on Conservative Review. The final was between Rand Paul and Ted Cruz. Cruz won with 89% of the vote to Paul’s 11%.
In an earlier head to head match up Cruz won 93% to 7% over Walker.
Not necessarily. Just depends on how it plays out. If one or two emerge as strong they can squeeze Jebbie out and team up against him in the debates. If they are all weak and Jebbies has a stalking horse like last time, it helps Jebbie.
Hope you’re right. When I see one major GOPE/RINO running and about a dozen or so conservatives running (or perceived conservatives) that doesn’t inspire confidence right now. Of course things can change. But right now I think the only way to beat Jeb is for conservative grassroots activists and voters to coalesce behind a single candidate. Instead, the conservative vote will be highly diluted.
How can Jeb survive the revelation that he falsely claimed to be Hispanic on his voter registration? That’s a bigger scandal than Teapot Dome, Watergate, Lewinsky, and Plamegate combined. Off with his head!
Republican Poobahs will still have the last word. They dispose of 90% of the available money. They are running only one candidate. The Press will run hard on their side until the nomination is done. Republican Poobahs make the rules for the primaries and iffy states might find they only get half their convention votes. Democrats will know who their nominee is very early and many will vote in Republican primaries. The Republican Poobahs will encourage that.
Politicians do this crap all the time. Remember HRC claiming to part Jewish? Or that phony black accent she used? Or how about Sen. Chief Spreading Bull D-MA claiming to be part Indian?
My family is praying for a Cruz...
We the people (as represented by Ted Cruz) are going to give the Republican “poobahs” an a** whopping they will never forget. And you can take that to the bank. The GOPe are on the wrong side of history, at the wrong place at the wrong time. A time with a far left, lawless communist in the White House and a nasty, racist lawless Eric Holder at the DOJ, is not the time to be pushing “moderate” agendas/candidates. They have stayed so long in DC, they have lost all sense of the real pulse of the country.
good call ...
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