Tag: Campaign 2016

Paul: Romney Is ‘Yesterday’s News’

Buck Banks

If Romney runs to the right of Jeb Bush, he’ll still be to the left of the rest of the party, so it may be a difficult spot to occupy. Look, I like Governor Romney, I like him personally, I think he is a good person, I think he was a great businessman. But you know that’s yesterday’s news.

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the Louisville Courier Journal.

Paul Characterizes GOP as ‘Same Old’ Same Old

Buck Banks

You need a candidate who reaches out to new constituencies and is able to bring new people into the party. Because if we do the same old, same old candidates, we are going to get the same old result.

— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), “back in insurgent mode, lobbing bombs at his potential Republican presidential rivals and looking to take back a political spotlight that Bush and Romney have been hogging lately,” Politico reports. “Paul is also heading to New Hampshire and Nevada this week, hoping to strike a fire with voters who want a new voice to carry the GOP’s message to the White House.”

How the GOP’s ‘Five-Ring Circus’ Is Shaping Up

Buck Banks

silver-datalab-candidate-venn1-e1421190365162

This from Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight: “The chart is an oversimplification, but it recognizes the GOP’s dynamics are more complex than a simple left-right spectrum would imply. Some wings overlap more with others. For instance, a candidate could easily have a lot of appeal to both tea party and libertarian voters. But it’s unlikely that one candidate would simultaneously be the choice of both Christian conservatives and moderate voters.”

Santorum: Do We Really Want ‘Bomb-Throwers’ as Presidential Candidates?

Buck Banks

Do we really want someone with this little experience? And the only experience they have basically — not Rubio, but Cruz and Paul because I don’t think Rubio is going to go — is bomb throwing? Do we really want somebody who’s a bomb thrower, with no track record of any accomplishments?

— Rick Santorum, dismissing possible 2016 primary competitors Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) as “bomb throwers” with few achievements, the New York Times reports.

Graham: ‘We’re in a Religious War’

Buck Banks

We’re in a religious war. These are not terrorists, these are radical Islamists who are trying to replace our way of life with their way of life. Their way of life is motivated by religious teachings that require me and you to be killed or enslaved or converted. The President of the United States tiptoes around the threats we face and he is trying to diminish the religious aspect of this war. Why? I don’t know.

— Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), in an interview with Hugh Hewitt.

Bush Campaign Seeks to Limit GOP Field Through Fundraising

Buck Banks

$100 million

Fundraising goal of Jeb Bush’s allies for the first three months of this year — including a whopping $25 million haul in Florida — “in an effort to winnow the potential Republican presidential primary field with an audacious display of financial strength,” Bloomberg reports. “The targets were confirmed by multiple Republican sources involved in finance meetings with Bush’s team. They requested anonymity to discuss internal deliberations. One said the point is to persuade some establishment candidates to stay on the sidelines in the 2016 race.”

The Odds Are Really Long that Hillary Clinton Will Win in 2016

Buck Banks

When it comes to making predictions about 2016, there are lots of important numbers to follow. The unemployment rate. Consumer confidence. The president’s approval rating. The horse race polls. But, in my mind, the most important data point to follow is the one which measures Americans’ desire to stay the current course or try a different one in 2016. … History tells us that the odds of a Clinton presidency are long. In the modern era (well, really since Andrew Jackson in 1836), no Democrat has succeeded a 2-term Democratic president.

— Amy Walter, writing for the Cook Political Report.