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How Rand Paul and Ted Cruz Are Shaking Up the GOP Presidential Nomination Process
reason.com ^ | 4/7/15 | Matt Kibbe

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 ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Politics/Elections; US: Kentucky; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: 2016election; election2016; elections; kentucky; paultardation; paultardnoisemachine; randpaulnoisemachine; randsconcerntrolls; tedcruz; texas

1 posted on 04/07/2015 6:48:15 AM PDT by cotton1706
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To: cotton1706

All of these conservatives jumping in makes it all the much easier for Jeb.


2 posted on 04/07/2015 6:49:51 AM PDT by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

[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/


3 posted on 04/07/2015 6:52:11 AM PDT by stars & stripes forever (Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.)
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

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.


4 posted on 04/07/2015 6:53:29 AM PDT by dowcaet
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

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.


5 posted on 04/07/2015 6:53:57 AM PDT by cotton1706 (ThisRepublic.net)
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To: cotton1706

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.


6 posted on 04/07/2015 7:06:34 AM PDT by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: cotton1706

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.


7 posted on 04/07/2015 7:07:40 AM PDT by bigbob (The best way to get a bad law repealed is to enforce it strictly. Abraham Lincoln)
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To: stars & stripes forever

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.


8 posted on 04/07/2015 7:08:08 AM PDT by conservativejoy (We Can Elect Ted Cruz! Pray Hard, Work Hard, Trust God!)
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

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.


9 posted on 04/07/2015 7:26:09 AM PDT by wolfman23601
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To: wolfman23601

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.


10 posted on 04/07/2015 7:30:48 AM PDT by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: dowcaet

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!


11 posted on 04/07/2015 7:33:52 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: cotton1706

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.


12 posted on 04/07/2015 7:49:20 AM PDT by arthurus (it's true!)
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To: Verginius Rufus

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?


13 posted on 04/07/2015 7:49:37 AM PDT by Trapped Behind Enemy Lines
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To: Trapped Behind Enemy Lines

My family is praying for a Cruz...


14 posted on 04/07/2015 7:57:12 AM PDT by Stymee (Father of 8)
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To: arthurus

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.


15 posted on 04/07/2015 8:06:02 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: SmokingJoe
hey have lost all sense of the real pulse of the country.Beating the gopes, I think, will be demonstrated as possible if the Conservative field narrows to 2 or 1 before the first primary and if Cruz and perhaps Walker manage to raise at least half of the money that Bush will have. Without those two conditions I really don't think history or right or wrong matter even a tiny bit. Bush will have about thirty per cent and that's all he needs. That 30% is rock solid and includes the Democrats who will vote in the Republican primaries, lots of them. Bush will spend the most of his money smearing the conservatives one by one as they rise in the early primaries. He will then be the only one left of any consequence in the later primaries which he will dominate. Conservatives will win more votes total but that is among half a dozen candidates. And Conservatives are prone to falter at crucial points and will apologize for or "explain" something at some point which will effectively end their progress. Cruz and maybe Walker probably won't do that. One can hope that the others wipe out very early.
16 posted on 04/07/2015 9:15:53 AM PDT by arthurus (it's true!)
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To: dowcaet

good call ...


17 posted on 04/07/2015 1:02:07 PM PDT by Patton@Bastogne
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