Rubio is a douche, but he's youngish and has Hispanic heritage, which might make him look like less of a douche than he really is.

He does nothing to address the Republicant's largest problem. Their brand is in disrepute among African Americans, Latinos, Asians, and young people.

What scares me the most, however, is that Dems with their "clown car" imagery and etc. are too dismissive of politicians who HAVE WON ELECTIONS, and of a Republican party which in spite of all the "clowns", seems to have the ability to set both the agenda and language of debate.

their choice, and it's not a small number of voters. Republicans get elected over and over again because their rhetoric no matter how crazy resonates with millions of Americans. And Americans often vote the wrong candidates into office for all of the wrong reasons, voting in those candidates least interested in helping/serving the general populace and improving the future of this country in a constructive manner encompassing all Americans.

And, as you say, especially this IMO!

I have respect for the threat Bush lll and Rubio pose. They both will hold themselves out as thoughtful, tolerant, and caring individuals while espousing policies that are inimical to those traits. Kasich is much like that and scary too.... The " compassion conservative, I care" message.

Here's where I am confident... I don't know as much about other electorates as I should but the American electorate is largely divided by race. It's going to be tough for the Republican to win when the Democrat gets > 90% of the African American vote, >70% of the Latino vote, and >70% of the Asian vote.

For a Republican to win he has to get a larger share of the white vote than any Republican presidential candidate since Ronald Reagan's 1984 landslide. That's a huge hurdle to overcome.

use his brother as a national security/international adviser all that does is remind everyone of Bush Jr and do we really want another Bush in the WH? The more Bush III talks and keeps changing his story, the more he comes across as someone not ready to be in the WH.

You can't say that they do nothing to attract youth when they wouud be running against Hillary or Bernie... and they would certainly have more success with latinos than recent Rs... plus they would be favored in WI and FL.

The Cuban experience in this nation has been much different than the experience of other Latinos. The first wave of Cubans who came here in the late 50s and 60s were welcome with open arms, not so much for other immigrants from other parts of Latin America.


Both Walker and Rubio are on the wrong side of the cultural divide when it comes to glbtq issues and it's a gateway issue for a majority of young voters. If a person isn't open and affirming they aren't going to listen to anything else that person has to say. Plus they are both anti-immigration so I don't see many Latinos voting for a candidate who wants to send granny home...

Given all that, yeah Rubio is still a better candidate than the rest of that motley bunch but imho, it still won't be enough.

See http://www.latinodecisions.com/blog/2015/04/10/rubios-standing-with-latino-voters/

And within the Cuban/American subset, there are more subsets based on how many generations of family have been in US. The more generations, the greater the tendency to vote Dem.

By other Hispanics in the Carribean.

He's probably got the best combination of money and Base. The GOP primary voters aren't going to pay attention to his scandals. Has Koch money.
Rubio has teabagger support, but no money. And teabaggers are still suspicious about his immigration stances.
Jeb has plenty of money, but little support from the base.
Paul has no money and no support aside from Libertarians.
Santorum, Cruz, Perry, and Huckleberry are fighting over the same thumper voters, diluting their support. And they have no money.
By all appearances, Carson and Fioria campaigns are train wrecks.
Pataki-who? No one is paying attention to him.
I may have omitted several clowns in the car...hard keeping track of them all.

If you abstract certain sentences from his pronouncements they might make sense, but when you combine those sentences with his incredibly radical free-market/libertarian philosophy, it's more like Mad Max, Beyond Thunderdome.

Yeah, he's good on some trendy civil liberty issues like government surveillance but he opposes marriage equality and is in favor of an increased defense budget.

He's trying to be all things to all people.


I might favor policies that might be contradictory but I don't hold myself out as someone who is ideologically driven or pure. I like a little socialism, a little capitalism, and a lot of civil libertarianism.

Snotty is the Chosen One of the Kochtopus, so he will have money to burn.

As the republicans will see it, Walker is the shoo-in.

Bush is poison.
Rubio is a kid.
Paul might actually try to do stuff, and the party leadership doesn't want that.

But yeah. Barring a late entry by Paul Ryan, those are their four strongest

I think he'd be the most dangerous opponent.

Not to mention that Republicans must be drooling at the fact he won his re-election for governor with 64% of the vote.

than a reflection of voters' satisfaction with him.

The leadership of the Ohio Democratic Party has been a joke for most of the past 25 years. They can't field a roster of candidates for statewide elected positions to save their lives.

He does untold damage, but is able to come across as kind & wise & "pragmatic".

He's dangerous.

But, he won't be able to run as far as some of the others.
Rubio is probably the one on the best shape.
Why is it important?
Silly question really.

There's simply no question. He's won 3 elections in 4 years in Wisconsin. Run an uninspiring candidate against him and get ready for 8 years of that scumbag.

but then again I mention in a sane world and they sure don't live in one of those.
All of them worry the piss out of me though as not a single one will be good for America thats for sure.

It's just that some are tougher to listen to than others. I think that Ted Cruz is the most aggravating to listen to. Or maybe Santorum. Hell, they're all just awful...

hopefully we won't have to worry about them but then again we're talking about a country where we have a teaparty wing now

And I always hope that they won't get picked because we'll be stuck listening to them incessantly... And this time it's pretty much most of them.

From ignorant to stupid to out right crazy

Rick Perry came to mind. But then I decided that would get old pretty fast, since he's running for President of the United States, not on Saturday Night Live...

this is not a contest to see who can be the most obnoxious or who is the best class clown, we're talking about the Presidency of the USA
I'm worried that I live amongst such small minded people.

And they're not concerned about it at all, some even consider it a matter of pride that they don't pay attention or don't bother voting. And those who do often vote party, have no idea what they're voting for. My district - Kirsten Gillibrand's former district here in NY - just elected a protégé of Paul Ryan! How many who voted for her even know that??!

Depressing to even think about it

I guess I don't have as much to complain about. We do have a Democratic governor, such as he is. And you also have tornados!

We used to be a Democratic state back when I was younger. Hell oklahoma elected its first republiCON governor back in '61 if my memory serves me right. Still today most all our local offices are held by democratic party members but at the federal or state level we elect pukes now. ;hi:

The only reason New York's a blue state is because of New York City. The rest of the state is pretty Republican and I live in the Northeast. After decades of Republican representation, we elected Kirsten Gillibrand, but after she was appointed senator when Hillary Clinton became Secretary of State, we managed to remain Democratic for only a term and a half. There were a lot of elections in past years when the Democrats didn't even bother offering a candidate.

They are equally repugnant.

Bush will win because he has the MIC in his corner
Walker will be his competition in the real world because he has the Koch Bro money
Rubio will skate by because the Republicans need him for a pretense of diversity on the stage
Paul will hang in for a while because he has enough outliers from all directions

So it comes down to Bush v Walker and the MIC money and spy apparatus wins.

That said, Bush has the donors, the name recognition, and the connections.

Yet he is unpopular among Republicans.

It will be interesting to see how far the Republican Party will go to promote the chosen one. Technically, they don't even have to consider the actual primary votes; they could just anoint someone at the convention.

most likely to be Hillary Clinton, obviously.

It's pretty tough for a party to pull off a three-fer with the White House, but I think odds are pretty good for us next year.

They have an uninspiring group of white men (minus the rarely-mentioned woman) who are recycling the same stale ideas, but are now heavily dosed with hatred and extremism.

Very unattractive in every way.

Although if HRC gets the Dem nomination then probably Jeb. Because the dynasty issue would be canceled out.

Walker is just so stupid looking, though. I don't know if America is ready for a president that looks completely braindead. Even W looked smarter.

is the hope that this country has More Bush fatigue than it has Clinton fatigue.

Money, connections, Florida, Hispanic wife, speaks Spanish, looks and sounds somewhat "Presidential" and somewhat likable.

he's not on the crazy train, he does look and sound ""somewhat "Presidential" and somewhat likable."" And, he has all of the connections, etc., etc.

the current crop stinks.

Worrying about any of the rest of them is just a waste of time. They voted for junior twice; they will writhe in ecstasy over mama and poppy Bush's favorite son.

Mark these words.

on which is the most conservative. I asked them to rank at least the top five.

Counting only first-place votes, Paul won with 25%. A runoff would have been between him and Cruz, and Paul would have won it.

Taking second and third preferences into account -- several different ways -- Bush rose to the top.

Walker
Rubio
Topiary
Paul

A Huntsman type. One that would stand a real chance of defeating anyone we have (with their financial advantage).

i.e. one that stands no chance whatsoever of getting their nomination.

in my State win 3 elections so he scares me, but in all honesty Rubio is the one I think has the best chance.
Young, charismatic, good looking, minority, first term Senator. Where have I seen that resume before?

If Clinton is the candidate (disclaimer my mantra from the beginning has been "NO MORE CLINTONS, NO MORE BUSHS&quot I fear that she will not excite the youth, or the base. She is "last generation" compared to Rubio and Walker (and Cruz but he ain't going anywhere) and honestly she just isn't that inspiring. I think we are all relying on the past two Presidential elections to predict 2016, and I just don't see the same dynamics.

Obama was young, charismatic, good looking, and our first African American. That's inspiring!!!! He also ran against an old fuddy duddy (Mccain) and a "Ken Doll" multi millionaire with a plastic personality (Romney). Also let's look at history, only once in how many generations has one party won three Presidential elections in a row. I think the deck is stacked against us (or at least even) and we are gonna have to work our asses off in 2016.

What exactly does Clinton bring to the table that is new? Or is she just better than the other guy? And to tell the truth I think her age will work against her. People are ready for the next phase, not a step back into last century!

... for instance:

- Bush's very name is toxic and his nomination would deflate the energy of the tea party and the right most half of the Republican party in general. He's no threat.

- Rubio is clearly very green and has very poor political instincts. He also faces problems on the right part of his party for literally drafting immigration legislation that included a path to citizenship (amnesty in teabagger parlance). He also seems to not have any special draw among Latinos. The polling I've seen show no particular additional appeal than what a white Republican would get. Also, Rubio, like Bush, poll behind Hillary in Florida. If they can't beat her in their home state, a swing state, they are in big trouble.

- I cannot imagine Walker or Cruz having any chance among moderate and swing voters. They would lock up the 25% of country that are the farthest right conservatives, those folks love them, but lose just about everyone else and consequentially would get creamed in a general election.

- Rand Paul has a very specific niche among people that support him rabidly. Outside of that, he has little appeal to most folks.

I don't think he can get through the GOP primaries, but if he could he would give the GOP a sane-sounding, relatively charismatic, relatively popular governor from a swing state who (1) can't be tarred with helping cause DC gridlock (unlike Rubio and Paul); (2) is a fresh face (unlike Bush); and (3) hasn't spent the last 6 years saying batshit-crazy things on Fox that will come back to haunt him (unlike the whole rest of the clown car except Pataki).

Seriously, Kasich is the one Republican who would actually worry me.

he's apparently able to convince a lot of people he's a good guy. I can't dismiss the fact that he won the recall (I didn't expect that). After destroying the unions in Wisc. I figured he was done, but I was WRONG.

and the recall election in 2012 was in June. Yes he won all three, but Democrats had/have a serious turn out issue regarding off years.

Also the national spotlight would expose his contemptible ass-hattery. His social positions are simply out of the mainstream and his economic message is the same as Romney's (which lost) and Brownback's (which is a disaster). He has no foreign policy chops, and he's an idiot live. He's Cross-Eyed Palin.

I think that if Christie makes it out of NJ without an indictment, he, Paul and Rubio slice and dice the others on the crowded debate stage. All three would go after Walker and make mince meat of him, except for Rubio maybe, who is a fast talker but actually kind of dumb if you look close enough.

The thing that worries me most is Democrat's devolving into a circular firing squad.

I would rank Kaisch ahead of Paul. The GOP donor class and the RNC really hates Rand Paul and he will never be the GOP nominee

is that he and his wife robbed the Republican Party blind in Florida (though some might admire them for it).

Bush III has a tendency to shoot himself in the foot, repeatedly

Scott Walker might be the darling of the uber conservative/Tea Party types but I am not so sure about the main stream, which you need to win to take the White House.

If Rand Paul can survive his party and the primary process, he could actually be a real threat. While I don't like all his positions, he is not afraid to take a position against his own party and might actually reach more people then the rest of the clown caravan.

though I've seen recent polling that gives him a 58% disapproval rating in cheeseville. Shocker, right? 😅 I'm not sure that W2 can win the nomination. I wish Paul would pull a Nader. I would have to start a fan club. I wonder what #/% of Cuban Americans identify as republicans.

First generation considers themselves Cubans, and vote heavily republican. Second generation considers themselves Cuban/Americans, and votes less republican. A few generations in call themselves Americans, and vote heavily Dem like other Hispanics. I read this on a research paper a couple years ago, sorry no link.

First, they must be Conservative As Hell. So far, all the candidates meet that standard. They must be Christian, pro-life, anti-gay, this, that and the other. And as I've said, all of them so far are all that.

Second, they must be Compliant. If a GOP Congress is paired with a GOP president, they'll invoke the nuclear rule right out of the gate then spend the next two years enacting the ALEC wish list. Forget whatever personal stances they have; if we get an All-GOP government the Koch Brothers and the Christian Right will draft the bills and their handpicked lapdogs will put them in office.

Third, they must be A Governor. Either a current or a former one is fine. Republicans like electing governors; one of Shrub's big selling points was his executive experience as governor of Texas. (Unfortunately, no one outside Texas found out the Texas governor has almost no power - NOFX's song "Idiot Son of An Asshole" described his job as "signing stuff and executing people," which is pretty close to the truth.)

Fourth, they must be a Real American - the only way Bobby Jindal will ever become president is if he goes to the "fake vacation" company in Total Recall and gets them to change all the conservative ideas he has to liberal ones, then joins the Democratic Party. Since they don't HAVE those fake vacation machines, he's gone as far in politics as he's ever going to get.

And lastly, they must be From The South.

Given those five demands, we're down to three choices. Most of them haven't been governors, Walker and Christie are northerners, Jindal and Nikki Haley (wait for it, with the current trend of the entirety of the GOP wanting to be president you know they'll declare soon) have Indian heritage...which leads us to:

Rick Perry
Jeb Bush
Rick Scott

And of the three, my nickel is on Rick Perry. He doesn't look like Frankenstein's Monster the way Rick Scott does, and his family name isn't attached to two disastrous presidencies like Jeb's is.

Bush VS Clinton situation.