Republicans tickets that could challenge Hillary

[Libertarian666]

If the Tea Party "hijacked" the GOP how in the world did Romney win the nomination?

They couldn't agree on an anti-Romney candidate. It was a very weak field.

Indeed.  The Tea Party types loved, at various times:

Michele Bachman
Herman Cain
Rick Perry
Newt Gingrich

Oddly, though Ron Paul could arguably be viewed as the godfather of the whole Tea Party movement, and he won the 2011 CPAC poll, and nearly won the Iowa straw poll (won by Bachman), he never seemed to get serious attention from even the Republican media (Fox News, Wall Street Journal), and was treated like crap by the Republican party.  I wonder why that was?

Hint: it wasn't his views on the gold standard.

No, it was because he was opposed to unlimited spending on the military industrial complex. No candidate like that can ever win the R nomination as long as the current scumbags are in charge.

[Benko]

Christie does have one important quality (IMHO):  he can more than hold his own when questioned by media/others trying hard to make him look bad (there are you great fun you tube videos of such). CHristie is too much a RHINO to be my preferred candidate.  I believe Cruz can handle himself.  Anyone seen enough of Paul to know if he can?  From the last group, the only one that could handle the media was Newt. 

Put another way, both CHristie and Cruz are alphaish (as in alpha male) and that quality (I suspect) will be helpful in getting elected.  Or perhaps I am nuts.

[Libertarian666]

Christie does have one important quality (IMHO):  he can more than hold his own when questioned by media/others trying hard to make him look bad (there are you great fun you tube videos of such). CHristie is too much a RHINO to be my preferred candidate.  I believe Cruz can handle himself.  Anyone seen enough of Paul to know if he can?  From the last group, the only one that could handle the media was Newt. 

Put another way, both CHristie and Cruz are alphaish (as in alpha male) and that quality (I suspect) will be helpful in getting elected.  Or perhaps I am nuts.

Paul is very smart and can handle himself very well.

[Benko]

Paul is very smart and can handle himself very well.

Agreed. I just watched an interview of him and I was impressed. Perhaps sanity without charisma is sufficient to get elected at this point in time.

[Coffee]

Brian Sandoval: Young, good looking, Latino and smart enough to get elected in a state divided by Conservatives and Libertarians in the north and Dems in the south.

The "Coffee" theory is that: Americans vote for the candidate that comes across as most genuine and who they would like to have over for a bbq to hang out with.  Reflect back on every candidacy since Kennedy/Nixon and you'll see it's true, issues be damned.

[RuralEngineer]

I'm not sure I agree. His weight problem gives him an ordinary guy image. He has public approval ratings near 70% in New Jersey. If he is the nominee NJ will likely go Republican for the first time since forever. His great weakness is that the far right hates his guts. While the Tea Party types constitute only about 30% of the GOP they vote as a block and they are dominant in some key Republican states. They are a minority but they have effectively hijacked the GOP. So yeah, that is going to be a problem.

But if he somehow manages to get the nomination (unlikely) he is the only one I think who can go toe to toe with Hillary and the Clinton machine.

That he has almost 70% support in a very blue state should ring some alarm bells. It's not just the far right; the less-far and only slightly far right hate his guts too. They think he's a total RINO. He's another east coast liberal in conservative's shoes, in their estimation. They think of him as Mitt Romney II with a weight problem and a "union thug" attitude.

+ 1

I've was pitched firmly off the crazy train to right wing land long ago and I still can't stand this guy.  There are plenty of moderate to right leaning independents and GOP voters who won't support Christie for his various Democrat policies and the lingering stench of B.O. (that's Barack Obama, not body odor...although I'm sure a double dose of Old Spice Deodorant wouldn't hurt either).

Any GOP politician who doesn't completely energize his base AND capture independents is guaranteed to not only fail, but fail spectacularly.

[Pointedstick]

Brian Sandoval: Young, good looking, Latino and smart enough to get elected in a state divided by Conservatives and Libertarians in the north and Dems in the south.

Brian Sandoval is a great up-and-comer but he has a major problem: he's virtually unknown on the national political stage. Same with NM governor Susana Martinez. Both of them are genuine, down-to-earth moderately conservative hispanics popular on their home turf who haven't done a lot outside of their state borders to build a national profile.

I think Nikki Haley has the possibility to be very strong VP material in 2016 and possibly presidential candidate material after that.

[Coffee]

I disagree about Nikki Haley.  She strikes me as goofy and un-presidential for some reason.

As for Sandoval being an unknown outside of his home state: That's true, but so was Obama. 

[Edit: ... and Bill Clinton, for that matter.]

[dualstow]

Chris Christie?

How could he possibly? He is disgusting for women to look at and he's a big socialist gangster right? How is he going to appeal to anyone? Who would he appeal to?

That would basically be the elephant people giving up in my opinion. They would just be hoping enough people would vote against Hillary.

There are only 3-4 states that decide the election: Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio & Indiana I think. Maybe there are one or two others....Iowa?

She will crush him in PA, OH and IN.

What say you now? ;-)
http://www.talkradionews.com/top-storie ... -neck.html

[dualstow]

Rand Paul would wipe the floor with either of them, so I don't really care.

Oh, you mean Christie as a Republican candidate? I don't see how that is possible, since he is the very definition of RINO (Republican In Name Only). He's much better qualified as a Democrat.

We're talking about the (ugly) reality on the ground here, not whom you like best.

[moda0306]

Tech,

You think (Ayn) Rand Paul would have a chance of getting elected? With the baby-boomers collecting on retirement/healthcare programs that he has equated to slavery?

[dualstow]

Tech,

You think (Ayn) Rand Paul would have a chance of getting elected?

I guess that's what I should have asked. Mr Paul won't be wiping the floor with anyone.

[Libertarian666]

Tech,

You think (Ayn) Rand Paul would have a chance of getting elected?

I guess that's what I should have asked. Mr Paul won't be wiping the floor with anyone.

Not if he isn't nominated by the Rs, no.

As for his electability, I guess you haven't heard that there were polls showing that his father, who is MORE libertarian than he is, would have done better against Obama than any of the other R candidates, or you don't believe those polls were accurate Which is your privilege, of course.

However, I'm not sure that is important. Given the unfolding disaster of Obamacare, which is only going to get much worse over the next couple of years, I think almost any R has a good chance to beat almost any D in 2016.

[Benko]

However, I'm not sure that is important. Given the unfolding disaster of Obamacare, which is only going to get much worse over the next couple of years, I think almost any R has a good chance to beat almost any D in 2016.

1. I agree, though the Rs do have a bad habit of shooting themselves in the foot.  There are many way to do this from candidate selection, to being wimpy when the Ds will be playing hardball, to passing immigration  e.g. Rubio found out what coming out for immigration did to his polls, and it sounds like Rs may be getting ready to cave on immigration. 

2.  On another front, CNN poll has Christie and Clinton Deadlocked:

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/20 ... ibilities/

[Reub]

I'll be surprised if Christie can survive the primary process. I also think that Hillary could be looking very stale by 2016.

[Kshartle]

I'll be surprised if Christie can survive the primary process. I also think that Hillary could be looking very stale by 2016.

The repukes will nominate Paul Ryan. I doubt Christie even competes since he'll take a lot of Rhino votes from Ryan and help Rand win the early states (Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, my beloved Florida.) Winning three out of four there would make Rand unstoppable which would be intolerable to the repukes.

Sorry for the repuke word....whenever I talk politics and that gang, a little puke comes up.

[moda0306]

Whenever I talk politics and that gang, a little puke comes up.

Not surprising from a guy with "shart" in his name .

[Kshartle]

Whenever I talk politics and that gang, a little puke comes up.

Not surprising from a guy with "shart" in his name .

Yeah, I'll spare you what happens when I talk about the dems. I REALLY have to avoid those threads.

[moda0306]

Whenever I talk politics and that gang, a little puke comes up.

Not surprising from a guy with "shart" in his name .

Yeah, I'll spare you what happens when I talk about the dems. I REALLY have to avoid those threads.

I wonder if Obamacare covers shitty conditions like that...

[dualstow]

As for {Rand Paul's} electability, I guess you haven't heard that there were polls showing that his father, who is MORE libertarian than he is, would have done better against Obama than any of the other R candidates, or you don't believe those polls were accurate Which is your privilege, of course.

Assuming they are accurate polls, it doesn't matter. Neither Paul has a good chance of ever becoming president.

It's not that I am backing Chris Christie or anything. (Unlike most pp'ers on this board, I have never voted Republican). When I first threw his name up in this thread, it was with a question mark to gauge everyone's reaction. And now I'm following up, because Christie has done much better in polls than anyone here would have guessed, based on your (plural) replies.

[Bean]

Feels pointless speculating on who is running.

Obama proved you can become president in roughly a 4 year period start to finish.  The icing on the cake is he had zero experience in private industry, almost no political track record, and a obsure past.

Perfect recipe IMO to lead the free world into an era of unity of purpose and economic prosperity.

Yeap...

[dualstow]

Fair enough, Tenn. :-)

[Jan Van]

... Same with NM governor Susana Martinez. Both of them are genuine, down-to-earth moderately conservative hispanics ...

Susana Martinez? The far right can't stand a black brother in the white house, but a female hispanic would be tolerable? They get upset when a hispanic boy sings the national anthem at a basketball game...

[moda0306]

... Same with NM governor Susana Martinez. Both of them are genuine, down-to-earth moderately conservative hispanics ...

Susana Martinez? The far right can't stand a black brother in the white house, but a female hispanic would be tolerable? They get upset when a hispanic boy sings the national anthem at a basketball game...

I'd call this the "racist right."  Not necessarily "far right."  They sometimes even like government benefits when people that look like them are getting them.

And I don't doubt that they are a pretty big chunk of the population.

But the character flaw that is "racism" isn't necessarily tied in with conservatism, so I'd be a little careful about over-correlating the two.

[Jan Van]

But the character flaw that is "racism" isn't necessarily tied in with conservatism, so I'd be a little careful about over-correlating the two.

Of course, but this is about a republican ticket, so conservatives are the first who will be able to torpedo anyone trying...