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Sunday, Nov. 25, 2012 | 2 a.m.
Tired of presidential politics? Get over it: As many as 15 prominent Republicans are privately contemplating 2016 campaigns for the presidency — and the most serious and ambitious of the bunch are plunging in, some quite publicly. Don’t expect them to officially announce or even officially decide for many months. But Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin are doing nothing to disguise their presidential ambitions. Jindal, a Rhodes scholar and the new chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is making a very public case for a more intellectual approach ...
Not one original candidate. Not one of them connects with the majority of the American People. More of the same people who backed the flawed Republican platform and backed Mitt Romney. Mrs. Clinton will beat them all.
Having Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus back at the helm almost assures Democrats a victory in 2016.
Move along people, nothing new to see here.
I predict the next person to be the candidate for the Tea/Republican Party for Presidency will be someone they consider to be in the minority.
All indications show that strategy emerging for them.
They felt they got walloped this last election in that area. I agree. They did.
But what they incorrectly assume is, that if they decide that course of action, it will appeal to all minorities.
The problem with this is the simple fact that, because the Tea/Republican Party has decided not to change their policies, they figure that picking someone different than a senior citizen Caucasian will fix their ability to attract voters.
You change the messenger, but you still got the same ole tired worn out message that serves a very, very small percentage of America.
Words of wisdom, but hey, GOoPers, don't listen to me. I really hope you continue to pursue this course of action.
In other words, they are not going to change.
And the worse thing they could do is already happening right now. They are letting the ultra-conservative media STILL dictate what their policies are. With little cracks here and there, this is changing, but it sure don't seem they are interested in appealing to anyone except a very small core base of voters out here in America.
I still believe the modern creation of the Republican Party, along with their Tea Party parasite faction, will continue a downward slide in popularity. In other words, they love who they think is 53 percent of the people, and have decided to continue to ignore the other 47 percent. But the problem with this thinking is the percentages don't add up when you look at the last election. The percentages they are trying to build in voters is shrinking for them.
Lastly, the very idea of Sandoval becoming a front runner is laughable. He has no personality. He rarely comes out and speaks to citizens of Nevada. There is absolutely no charisma to speak of with him. The only reason why his name is floated out there is because it fits with the abovementioned party line tactic...find someone of color....find a minority....make sure he is uber ultra-conservative....just ANYONE of color. This tactic the Tea/Republican Party is using is going to fail also. Because people don't like to be taken advantage of. Especially for political purposes.
#1 To start stories now is as bad as all the recent TV commericals for the candidates.
#2 The Nevada Gov is an effective leader. He has no national following, however.
3# Like him or not, Chris Christie can wow a crowd. They have most powerful and effective person and should beg him to represent the party. He would capture the vote, like President Obama did in 2008.
Here's a thought - let's try fixing the country for the next 4 years instead of letting it all go to Hell while feeding individual egos. Isn't that what elected so called 'leaders' are supposed to do?
Actually, the Republicans NEED a bitter fight about the direction of the party. So much of their ruminating to date is about revising TACTICS when they need to think about their principles. William F. Buckley and Barry Goldwater had some intellectual heft and talked about what conservatism is and should be, not about how to tweak a postition to try to get another 5% of the Hispanic vote. That's needed today. I'm a flaming liberal who would like to see the Republicans thoughtfully state how their principles relate to the problems we face today. Then, perhaps, we could all figure out how best to proceed with solutions gleaned from both worlds. Brian Sandoval? You've got to be kidding!
Drop the religious right. Drop the war on woman's reproductive rights (even with abortion being legal, planned parenthood, etc..abortion rates are dropping) and focus on getting the minority vote. You can also drop the idea of privatizing everything the government does mantra. People have become wise to the corporate raider, the guy who says he can do it better and cheaper. We have seen the "fees" these guys extract for themselves in the name of cost cutting. Hostess is a prime example.
Send the same, tired argument of cutting taxes for the super wealthy, trickle down, anti-union message and you'll get what you got in 2012. A losing campaign.
Romney lost some of the swing states because he messed up on the auto bailout. People don't buy for a second that the industry would have been rescued under his plan. The industry would have been liquidated. He lost Florida because people feared for his Medicare plan (too many unknowns).
Change the message to be more inclusive.
Sheesh!! Can we just enjoy the Holiday Season THIS year and not think about who the Republicans are starting to dangle in front of everyone for 2016? This list will probably change 10 times in the next two years.
@Nevadashop: Agree about Chris Christie. I like the guy. However, he needs to seriously change his appearance by losing weight. Some will say weight shouldn't be an issue but when a person is a good 200lbs overweight, it is a serious issue for a potential presidential candidate.
Brian "my kids don't look Hispanic" Sandoval does not show up in the odds. Pro Choice? right to life wackos in the GOP won't allow it.
http://www.oddschecker.com/politics-and-...
Brian?....LOL
I gotta agree with Colin on this one.
The only reason that Sandoval would be chosen would be based upon his skin color as a way to try and lure in hispanic voters. I also agree that he is a lame-duck governor. He's not done anything outstanding to impress Nevada at all. Plus his past statements that he isn't concerned about racial profiling latinos affecting his kids because they look white is one massive skeleton in his closet.
Sandoval is NOT going to unite conservative voters. He doesn't display any confidence at all, and just tries to blend in and stay out of the spotlight as much as possible. He's got a great opprotunity to become outspoken and poach jobs from California in order to build a track record of creating jobs in Nevada. And with the current economic state, that would REALLY help him allot. But the truth is that he's too weak and won't do that. You get the feeling that he just wanted to be governor in order to throw out some favors so he could land cushy consulting jobs for the rest of his life, and that he doesn't want to jeopardize that at all by becoming too much of a lightning rod.
Agreed that Christie is a good candidate. With hurricane sandy he's shone as dedicated, and he not only distanced himself from Romney but attacked Romney's asinine comments.
I still don't think that any of this is going to work out for the GOP. The new wave of voters have a very distinct separation of church and state, and the GOP is just too far entrenched with organized religion. A minority candidate won't attract minority votes, and it certainly won't unite them. The Tea Party will siphon off more people and weaken the GOP further.
As much as Sharia Law is a "bogey man" that conservatives fear monger about, modern voters have the same fear of Christian Laws from outlandish fundamentalists that Republicans cater to for votes. That is why they don't vote Republican. Barry Goldwater warned about the dangers of religion taking over the GOP way back in the 1960's...
Since Sandoval took office Nevada has had the nations' worst umemployment -- which makes him the perfect GOP candidate in 2016.
Excuse me. Brian may be a nice guy, and a "minority" , but he is an empty suit. Even the Nevada court ruled his economic expertise to be lacking. He is not ready, able or visually appealing to be on the national stage. And, one look at Nevada's great government will make a laughing stock of a possible candidacy.
Enough already.
I personally don't think the Republican Party can straighten out their problems by 2016. How's the phrase go? "You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig" They will find a moderate candidate and there's lots of good ones within their ranks, but until they quit allowing the "whack-nut right" to call the shots, they won't appeal to mainstream America.
I'm not for one second suggesting they become more like Democrats, but they have to stop being the party of exclusion and start trumpeting what they're for, instead of ALL they're against. They do have some appealing positions, but they get lost in the hate.
Laugh all you want about "Hope & Change", but most people want to believe in a better tomorrow and will vote FOR something, as opposed vote AGAINST everything.
when sandoval was notified that the afl-cio fire union was using software to over inflate salaries and pension
he chose to do the same thing as the attorney general and many other elected officials who were also informed .
each has chose to do nothing and let the fraud continue as it does today.
the city and county commissioners are aware and also do nothing,
because their lobbying careers and futures depend on it.
yet the fraud costs you,the tax payers hundreds of millions of dollars every year
and will require more annual tax increases to sustain the fraud .
are these the presidential qualities you look for ?
One thing we do know is that, at 69 years old in 2016, Hillary Clinton will be too old to run. Flying around the world these last four years appears to have taken its toll on her mentally and physically. Besides, she needs to keep hubby Bill on a short leash so he doesn't cheat on her again.
LMAO!!! You must be joking. The governor from the state that is almost 50th in everything. If Puerto Rico becomes the 51st state to join the union, NV will drop down and rank 51st in almost everything. The man won't even get a shot at riding in the 2016 GOP Primary clown car of candidates.
Sandoval woud be a great VP. He is worthless, uneffective, and has no drive. Where are the jobs? Crickets...
Sandoval originally endorsed Rick Perry for President. That alone show's he's a complete dingbat.
Christie is interesting, but unless he loses 200lbs in the next 3 years it will be hard for any reasonable person to vote for a walking heart attack waiting to happen. If he doesn't lose the weight, his choice for VP will be a MAJOR consideration.
RefNV, I have to disagree that Hillary's age alone would stop her. Reagan was even older. Yes, her mental ability should be examined, like any candidate's (say, Reid, for example) but age alone is not a factor.
The GOP has not a clue on why they got their butt kicked. Matter of fact many of them refuse to admit that they received a butt kicking....
Look for very little change in the Republican Party between now and 2016.
Presently, the party is run by extreme right-wingers who have a very strange view of what America should look like...
Contrary to what some posters on this board believe, there's very few true moderates in the Republican Party & NO progressives........
Republicans such as Eisenhower, Ford & Reagan would be unable to win the GOP nomination if they were around today.
The GOP needs to move back toward the middle of the road if they truly want to be competitive in 2016. The country has changed and the GOP has not changed with the times.....
Matter of fact, the party is going backwards with their beliefs and goals....
Its 2012, not 1950!
El_Lobo,
First you state that Ike, Ford and even Reagan would be unable to win the Republican nomination today (an opinion I agree with) but then you say the Republican Party is going backwards.
That doesn't make any sense at all. American politics, and the Republican Party in particular, would be MUCH better off if they were to return to what they were in the 1950s or even 60s.
No, the Republican Party has been moving ever more to being controlled by religious dogma, in large part thanks to Reagan embracing the Moral Majority (read Constitution Party) and welcoming them into the party with open arms. (And if you want to draw a comparison between this and Sharia Law I wouldn't stop you.)
If you really want to go back, look at the original party of Lincoln, the Whigs. :)
Take away Reid's seat and the presidency is cake walk later on. This guy is plenty smart and very young so he's got time to build - not blunder with a premature run.
Sandoval cannot run a small state. Please Republicans put this amateur up for President in 2016 so that we Democrats can be assured of retaining the White House for another 4-8 years.
Republicans can forget about 2016.
They need not waste time or money on it.
They will just be spinning their wheels again.
We just may cancel the 2016 presidential
election and keep PRESIDENT OBAMA for a couple
more terms.
The republican party is too out of touch for the
future.
They're done.
And the new wig party?
Don't make me laugh.
El_Lobo......
Your comment is spot on.
So Teamster thinks we should just throw our laws out and have Obama stay in as President. Typical union person making the rules up as they go along.
The Only Republican candidate that did not pander to the Tea Party and is logically the Next Candidate is John Huntsman. He would have won This time, however the extreme right wing of that party has moved Republicanism backwards far enough that it's no longer recognizable. Had it not been for Citizens United and the Billionaires wanting full control over our government -, the Republican Party would already be dead.
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teamster is spot on, we should not have anymore elections for Prez and make Obama PRESIDENT FOR LIFE that will keep the money out of politics and streamline the process and eliminate those pesky political ads.