I don't think Daniels would run, if he wanted to run, this year was perfect, anyway that is my opinion.
They should bring in more Hispanics and whites. Obama got 70% of the Hispanic vote and 40% of the white vote. The Republicans should start fear mongering to make the white vote look like the dems black vote. The hispanics can be the new soccer moms :grin:
It could be trouble for the GOP. After 30 years of the GOP corporate controllers feeding them false reasons for why their life is getting harder, many of the ordinary GOP'ers and especiailly non-college white males sincerely believe their suffering is caused by immigrants, blacks, lack of Bible reading, highly educated liberals etc. They will be demanding the Romney and other corporate Repubs who will be nominated disavow evolution, climate change, the Civil Rights Act, immigrant rights, abortion for rape victims, gay marriage etc.
I don't think this is true. When you look at the candidates that did run, none of the golden boys ran. Ryan, Christie, Daniels, Pence, Bush, Huckabee. That is a list of names that were really hot going into decision time. You had guys all over Fox News practically begging Paul Ryan and Mitch Daniels to run. There was a draft Huckabee movement. Pence was pushed hard to run. Chris Christie might never be more popular. So why didn't they? Because this was a VERY hard election to win and they all knew it. Look at the names that DID run. A bunch of last chance or no chance people. Gingrich, Pawlenty, Bachmann, Romney, Santorum, Perry. That is the list of the candidates who got serious run at some point in the process after declaring. You can break that into two camps: Last Chance: Gingrich, Pawlenty, Romney. This group needed to run now because of one reason or another. Tim Pawlenty is a low status national figure who will only be LESS known next time around. Gingrich's time is almost up as a political figure, Romney already went through it once. No Chance unless they run: Bachmann, Santorum. These two are candidates who are not going to get more run nationally than what they already have had. They needed to run now if they were ever going to get any play to build a national profile. Santorum did surprisingly well. Perry is the only outlier. He was a golden boy for a lot of people nationally. He only got in the race late in the process because none of the other golden boys got in and the primary electorate was very dissatisfied with their options.
Good point. I knew I was forgetting someone. He can go into the no chance unless he runs category. His profile wasn't going to build without a run. The other guys like Daniels can step right into the race and be the frontrunner. This was not the election for a golden boy to risk his political future on. You lose the national election and it's over. They aren't going to give you another swing.
Amnesty won't help the GOP because Latinos are going to vote for the party which is best for working class people. It's about economics. The GOP has no chance of regaining the WH until they change their economic policies.
I've been saying this for the last 4 years. As a conservative, seeing so many of their ilk start winning primaries and elections has been very disconcerting. This grand strategery (intended or not) of dumbing down the party and moving it away from intellectual thinking has got to stop. The tea party is the worst thing to happen to the GOP since Dan Quayle.
Lol good one,.... to me what needs to be done is to be more like the Democrats in certain areas, but to retain certain ideological differences...Stop catering to the rich. In fact tax the rich more than the Democrats to show them we are serious... Acquiesce to Public healthcare, the Green movement, clean energies For jumpstarting business...Add to tax credits and increase allowable amounts that no longer happen such as home improvements involving energy star or high efficiency HVACs which help people spend less on energy costs. Double tax on alcohol, & tobacco ...who needs that But draw a line on differences by being against public job unions, (private unions is okay), better on religion, better on gun rights...(and pro all the bill of rights for that matter...)
I don't see the GOP changing their ways until it is too late for them to ever recover. They are a stubborn lot. They'll just keep doubling down and moving further to the right. Right off that cliff. The GOP's days are numbered. They are doomed. Unless the Dems do something really stupid. (I also see 3rd parties finally start to get at least a little more attention, thanks to social media, young people, etc.) Within the next 4-12 years, I see states like Arizona flipping to blue, Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Colorado no longer being swing states in favor of being solidly blue...and Texas, Louisiana, Missouri and Georgia becoming battleground states. If they really want to change - rejecting the extremist social conservative, religious nutjob, Tea Party block would be a great start. Kick the Todd Akin, Michele Bachmann, etc. types to the damn curb. Oh, and rejecting Fox News, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh would help too. Likewise with being more accepting with Hispanics and other minorities. Problem is, many people have long memories - and thus will be skeptical and slow to accept a reformed GOP.
You make a valid point. Daniels wanted to run this time but the divorce/re-marriage question with his wife scared him off. That "roadblock" may always loom large. 20 years ago, Daniels and his wife divorced. She went to California while he kept their 4 daughters in Indiana. A year later they reconciled. Is this a big deal? Maybe, maybe not.
I have to disagree on why these guys didn't run. Ryan didn't run because he was a polarizing lightening rod and wasn't ready yet. Christie knows within himself he isn't cut out to be a GOP nominee. He has an innate realness and integrity that don't fit the alternate universe. Daniels divorce/remarriage along with some "moderate" rhetoric that came out of his mouth last year (could have been used against him in the primaries) gave him pause. Pence was pushed very hard, but to his credit, he wanted executive experience before taking the plunge. He's a cinch to run in 4 years. IMO, he is the #1 guy to watch. Jeb Bush knew good and well the voting public wasn't ready for another Bush because the smell of his brother hasn't quite gone away. Polls show that a large chunk of voters still pin our current economic woes on W. The odor will dissipate by 2016. Huckabee is done. He was done when some right-wingers in the party started calling him a "Christian socialist" in 2008. He also speaks his mind too often and steps "out-of-bounds" on a regular basis.
I don't know much about Pence, but hear his name a lot. But looking at this election, what happened? Romney won Indiana by 10%, but Pence only won the governorship by 4%. Was the Dem there fairly popular? Anything that made people concerned about Pence?
I'm puzzled by this also and glad you pointed it out last night. It's been years since this Indy boy has followed Indiana politics closely (lived in Houston over 25 years) and I don't know of any other Hoosiers that post in D&D. I do know one of the things Dems used against Pence was the governorship was just a stepping stone and he didn't offer a convincing denial.
And that'd be fine. Maybe better, cleaner. This is going to be a 2-party system regardless. If the Republicans make a strategic shift, fine. If they implode, it's still fine, because some other party will rise up and do what the Republican party should have done, and they'll grab the Republican votes.
I do think that the Republican party will split into a moderate and more extreme faction, and the moderate faction will pull a lot of conservative Dems into it and we will have a 3rd party in the middle that will likely control the political system since they will be the "swing voter" in congressional votes. It's good for the country. I am not completely enthralled with liberals but right now they are the more moderate party and therefore I align with them for the time being. But I would easily switch to a middle of the road party if one came to exist.
