I'm kind of hoping Rand accepts the Libertarian nomination this year and finds a way to get the support needed to be in the national debates. He won't have a chance in the main election because Republicans support total morons, but his voice would be a nice addition to a debate between Republican and Democrat where there are few enough people involved to let everyone have a say.
The other thing I found very ironic in the early debate was all the Iran talk and how untrustworthy Iran is and how the Iranians are all screaming "DEATH TO AMERICA!" Then the candidates basically said "DEATH TO IRAN!" I don't know how the irony was lost on everyone on stage with that...
Cruz is a total fraud because he realizes he has no chance of actually winning. He's all about self-promotion. I also don't believe Trump's supporters will rush to Cruz because they don't appeal to voters the same way. But you never know. If Bush wins, he will be forced to choose a VP the hard right adores. That rules out Kasich or Fiorina. It would be tough for him to choose Rubio since they are both from Florida.
Interesting idea about Kasich, I hadn't considered it. Do you think the party establishment will choose between either Kasich for Ohio or Rubio for Florida when it comes to VP? I guess it'd be Kasich by default if Bush is the nominee.
Yup - the hard right will come out in droves to vote against Clinton. The GOP nominee will have lots of flexibility to pick someone in the middle to appeal to independents. As for Cruz, people should keep in mind he was left for dead in the GOP Primary in Texas several years back and pulled off the stunning upset. So, in his mind, I doubt he thinks he's out of it at this point. And besides, 4 years ago, Michelle Bachmann was doing really well at this point. None of the polls should matter to anyone at this point. I was stunned Rick Perry dropped out already - I don't think anyone should be dropping out until Trump/Carson come back to earth. That's a LOT of votes be redistributed, and it's basically a crapshoot as to where they go.
Well since I believe the favorite outcome for the nomination is going to be one of the Florida guys, I think it rules out the other as VP. The party likes Kasich and his ability to goose the polls without any real power brokers pushing him has impressed pundits. He's very popular in Ohio and he experience and credibility that he brings to a ticket. He doesn't hurt the ticket in any way like the past two choices but he can potentially help big time with a swing state that you have to win.
Perry was struggling to raise money and I think he got a real dose of truth from his advisers who told him he was busting on the campaign trail and in the first debate. He just didn't have it. He missed his moment when he butchered the last race. As for the others, I think some of them should get out to save years of their life. Walker should get a dose of reality that it's over for him. The tea party has turned against him and the establishment was skeptical of him to begin with. I get why the rest won't get out.
In 2012, I debated someone here about Romney's VP choice. Same circumstances. Same comment about the how the right "hated Obama so much", blah blah blah. He chose Paul Ryan. The last time the GOP nominee chose a running mate who wasn't clearly to his right was 1984. If Bush is the nominee, he won't have flexibility because the right-wing must be appeased.
I think at this time in the 2012 campaign you could have said the same about Romney. Or McCain this early in the 2008 race. I'm not saying he's a front runner....but if he can hang around I wouldn't count him out. We're still in the silly season. My gut says Christie or Kasich. Trying hard to ignore Bush. The rest are just noise.
OK, good point. Exclude Cheney. But even though GWB was already loved by the right and covering his flank was the last thing that mattered, he went further right choosing Cheney. LOL.
Americans in large part are centrists and tend to lean slightly to the left. It used to be opposite but times are changing. Kasich seems to be a centrist who doesn't revel in lying about the other side, rather he talks about working with them. Most of the candidates on that stage did nothing but distort the truth or lie without any challenge by the moderator. That will not happen in a general election when they have fact checkers in real time. It will be hard for any republican to win the presidency. Republicans have won one popular vote in 23 years and that was because we were in the middle of a war that he started.
The exchange between Carly and Donald was just cringe worthy. What was CNN thinking? What were they thinking of having so many candidates on stage in the first place? Carson, Fiorina, Huckabee and Paul really have no place on stage. I think Huckabee is there just so they can throw out a "something, something, something, gay marriage...something, something, something, abortion".
Carson is second behind Trump in the polls and is gaining ground in key states. He had to be there I agree that the others shouldn't be there though.
Certainly true - but you never know how the race is going to play out. Looking at 2012, there's a decent chance Pawlenty gets his chance at the anti-Romney mantle if he doesn't drop out early, given that the GOP base went through Cain, Gingrich, and even Rick Santorum. It's certainly unlikely that Perry would have gone anywhere, but it's not like he's doing anything else - he really has nothing to lose by just hanging out for a few more months. It doesn't take much money to plop down in Iowa and drive around meeting voters, if nothing else. Certainly - but if you are Ted Cruz and you pulled off that kind of upset once, you're not going to think you're out of it at this point, when there's about 50% of the vote in two idiot candidates that are likely to get redistributed at some point. Paul Ryan is certainly to the right, but he's not the rah-rah angry right-wing politician that excites the far right (ala Sarah Palin). He was picked more as a policy wonk than to excite the base.
