Presidential Primaries 2016

[SezMe]

hgc, you'll be happy to read about Bridgegategate. Now he's really toast, eh?

 

[hgc]

hgc, you'll be happy to read about Bridgegategate. Now he's really toast, eh?

Dead man walking.

 

[grunion]

Dead man walking.

Rolling.

 

[Puppycow]

Scandals aside, Christie and Walker both seem to have jobs problems in their respective states.

Walker promised to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin.
As of now, that goal looks to be practically impossible to reach.

The big news in the June 2014 monthly jobs report didn't come in the numbers for the month of May.

The key -- at least when it comes to measuring Gov. Scott Walker's top campaign promise -- is how the gap continues to widen, making it virtually impossible for Walker to meet his pledge of adding 250,000 private-sector jobs by the end of his four-year term.

The number of jobs that the state must add each month to meet the promise has steadily grown as the year wears on. With the latest figures, that number is now 21,141 jobs per month.

That's almost twice the monthly total that was needed in January.

In the first five months of this year, the state added an estimated 10,200 jobs; that compares to 28,141 added in all of 2013.
. . .
The latest totals show that since Walker took office, the state added 102,013 jobs. That's about 40 percent of the total in his promise, leaving him 147,987 to go with seven months remaining.

Meanwhile, New Jersey also lags behind the rest of the country in the recovery.

1. How far behind are we? Far. The U.S. in May added 217,000 jobs. If New Jersey had held its own, it would have added closer to 6,000 jobs. Moreover, the nation last month finally regained the nearly 9 million jobs that were lost during the recession. New Jersey, however, has regained only about 40 percent of the 254,600 jobs that it lost.

In New Jersey, "it's been stagnant over the month and stagnant over the year," said Patrick J. O'Keefe, director of economic research for the accounting firm CohnReznick.

So even if they didn't have these scandals, there's not much in the way of economic success they could point to in their home states under their governorships.

 

[Spindrift]

Scandals aside, Christie and Walker both seem to have jobs problems in their respective states.

Walker promised to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin.
As of now, that goal looks to be practically impossible to reach.


Meanwhile, New Jersey also lags behind the rest of the country in the recovery.



So even if they didn't have these scandals, there's not much in the way of economic success they could point to in their home states under their governorships.

It's all Obama's fault.

 

[Puppycow]

The Christian Science Monitor says Christie is making a comeback:

Chris Christie, Iowa bound, recovers some presidential mojo

As New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie heads to Iowa Thursday to glad-hand voters and to continue raising record funds for fellow Republicans, the famously pugnacious pol is gearing up once again to join the presidential fray in earnest.

. . .

“I think he’s back,” says Matt Hale, professor of political science and public affairs at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. “Not all the way, but I think Chris Christie certainly turned the corner on the whole setback with Bridge-gate.”

 

[hgc]

The Christian Science Monitor says Christie is making a comeback:

Chris Christie, Iowa bound, recovers some presidential mojo

You have to willfully ignorant of the goings-on in NJ to think that C. Christie is ever going to be viable. The only reason the special legislative committee is not ripping him to shreds is that the federal prosecutor isn't letting them talk to the key witnesses. When indictments start flowing, the governor is going to be a smoking cinder. How the political press feels about his mojo on the campaign trail is wildly beside the point.

 

[grunion]

Looks like Martin O'Malley is spending time in New Hampshire and Iowa and starting to organize his ground forces. He's making public statements separating himself from Obama and Hillary, especially on the border crisis, and has a kitschily-named PAC.

 

[Ladewig]

So even if they didn't have these scandals, there's not much in the way of economic success they could point to in their home states under their governorships.

That kind of stuff is a problem only if large numbers of the voting public were to use objective statistics to make decisions.

 

[hgc]

Looks like Martin O'Malley is spending time in New Hampshire and Iowa and starting to organize his ground forces. He's making public statements separating himself from Obama and Hillary, especially on the border crisis, and has a kitschily-named PAC.

Yeah, this is where the fun speculation is. We know that tons of Republicans are going to run, and we know who some of them are (R. Paul, R. "T." Cruz, M. Rubio, R. Santorum, S. Walker, etc). But what Dems are going to want to face H. Clinton? That's an interesting question. M. O'Malley is one. B. Schweitzer?

 

[Unabogie]

Yeah, this is where the fun speculation is. We know that tons of Republicans are going to run, and we know who some of them are (R. Paul, R. "T." Cruz, M. Rubio, R. Santorum, S. Walker, etc). But what Dems are going to want to face H. Clinton? That's an interesting question. M. O'Malley is one. B. Schweitzer?

Schweitzer has certainly been trying an odd tack. He's basically bashing Obama for being both too left (on guns, coal, and oil), while being too right on Obamacare.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...-he-can-win-in-2016-by-running-against-obama/

Would Democrats reward a primary campaign based on bashing a popular President (among the Party faithful)? I don't think anyone in the GOP went around bashing Bush in 2008, and Bush was a complete trainwreck of a president.

 

[JoeB]

Looks like Martin O'Malley is spending time in New Hampshire and Iowa and starting to organize his ground forces. He's making public statements separating himself from Obama and Hillary, especially on the border crisis, and has a kitschily-named PAC.

I'm hoping O'Malley does, if only for the Tom Carcetti jokes.

 

[dudalb]

Yeah, the dems are going to need somebody to run against Hilary, if no other reason then appreacnes sake.

One thing: Foreign Policy is going to be a much bigger issue in 2016 then any of expected it to be just a year ago.

 

[SezMe]

Yeah, this is where the fun speculation is. We know that tons of Republicans are going to run, and we know who some of them are (R. Paul, R. "T." Cruz, M. Rubio, R. Santorum, S. Walker, etc). But what Dems are going to want to face H. Clinton? That's an interesting question. M. O'Malley is one. B. Schweitzer?

For a pol who is mostly known at the state or regional level, making a run for national office is a way to expand name recognition, get some TV face time and build funding connections. O'Malley is a perfect example. If he (and others) do challenge Hillary and lose, that lose won't be near as important as the gain in exposure.

 

[The_Animus]

Scandals aside, Christie and Walker both seem to have jobs problems in their respective states.

Walker promised to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin.
As of now, that goal looks to be practically impossible to reach.

Unfortunately Walker just blames it on the past administration, the recession, and on the recall creating a poor business climate full of uncertainty. Then he points to Wisconsins unemployment rate as being lower than the national average.

Things may change but at the moment I see Walker winning reelection. A well functioning democracy requires the people to actively pay attention to politics in an intelligent way. You always hear political commentators saying how they think the people are smart enough to understand what's going on. I disagree. If that were the case Walker wouldn't have the ~50% support he currently shows in polling for his reelection.

 

[hgc]

For a pol who is mostly known at the state or regional level, making a run for national office is a way to expand name recognition, get some TV face time and build funding connections. O'Malley is a perfect example. If he (and others) do challenge Hillary and lose, that lose won't be near as important as the gain in exposure.

Yeah, right. Taking the long view. Is he launching his 2024 campaign now?

 

[hgc]

Way back in May 2013, when M. Bachmann announced her retirement from Congress, I went ahead and struck her from our contenders list. I just figured that Minnesota's Palin was pulling herself out of elective politics.

Did I figure wrong. It seems that our hero is whining to Real Clear Politics that the political press is ignoring the possibility that she will again reach for the brass ring.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/ar...she_might_seek_presidency_in_2016_123419.html

So, welcome back to our old friend. I'm still pretty sure she won't run, but as long as she marks herself among the mentionables, I'll un-strike her.


GOP
P. Ryan
C. Christie
M. Rubio
J. Bush
M. Bachmann
W. "M." Romney
S. Palin (again of Fox News)
M. Huckabee
T. Pawlenty
J. Thune
S. Walker
D. Trump, President of Never Gonna Run for President (and Celebrity Jokebag Contingent)
R. Paul (le fils)
J. DeMint
N. Haley
S. Martinez
R. Santorum
M. Pence
C. Rice
R. "T." Cruz
P. "B." Jindal
J. Brewer
J. Kasich
B. Carson
R. "B." McDonnell
J. Huntsman
T. Nugent (Celebrity Jokebag Contingent)
P. King
J. Bolton (Funny facial hair never wins)
H. Cain
J. Scarborough
M. Rogers
M. Blackburn
A. West

Dem
H. Clinton
J. Biden
M. Warner
M. O’Malley
A. Klobuchar
C. Booker
A. Villaraigosa
B. Schweitzer
K. Gillibrand
A. Cuomo
R. Emmanuel
M. Cantwell
E. Warren
Ju. Castro
D. Patrick
H. Dean
E.G. "J." Brown
J. Webb

Indeterminate
M. Bloomberg
J. Ventura
B. Sanders

 

[Spindrift]

No unstriking of Christie after his recent visit to Iowa?

 

[hgc]

No unstriking of Christie after his recent visit to Iowa?

I'll make a bargain: The day that the US Attorney for the district of New Jersey announces that his investigations are concluded and no indictments issued, I'll unstrike C. Christie.

 

[Ladewig]

I'll make a bargain: The day that the US Attorney for the district of New Jersey announces that his investigations are concluded and no indictments issued, I'll unstrike C. Christie.

What exactly does the list represent?

People who have a chance at the nomination?
People who may be number one in the polls before the nomination?
People who may be in one of the top three in the polls before the nomination?
Something else?
Planet X?