There are 17 people running for the Republican nomination, but only half deserve to have their names even mentioned so that is exactly what I will do.
Obviously the most intriguing candidate thus far is Donald Trump. The outspoken billionaire seems to have garnered the most support, more than double any other candidate so for. Despite his brashness and sometimes outrageous remarks, his poll number continue to rise or remain steady. Originally claiming how wealthy he is, Trump said he would not accept contributions, but has now said he will accept $100 or less contributions from general public and not from lobbyists. Because of his popularity, Trump has become the talk of every news channel and his willingness to give interviews to just about anybody has made him a daily fixture on your favorite news station and that amounts to free advertising. Obviously his brashness and ignoring political correctness is what seems to make him popular with the public. In the long run, this early lead and all the free air time may actually hurt Trump's campaign. So far his campaign has been run on the cheap with little effort to set up professionally run campaign offices both locally and nationally. Getting people out to vote in a primary is important especially on a freezing or rainy day. Organizations can provide transportation and encouragement. Trump needs to rapidly build an organization and hire quality advisors who can help him with the issues for which he is least familiar. He can still make brash and outrageous statements as long as he can support them with facts and or details. Pledging loyalty to the party would also help him. Speaking of loyalty, Republicans need to be reminded that the unwillingness of some Republicans to vote in 2008 and 2012 gave us an inept, anti America, and criminal regime. Hillary Clinton, if she can overcome criminal charges that have racked her campaign, would bring more of the same incompetence and arrogance.
Surprisingly two other non political outsiders are doing very well, Benjamin Carson MD, and Carly Florin. In some polls they and the other outsider Trump have accumulated 40-50% of Republican support. Carson has been soft spoken but methodical in his approach and has challenged Obama more than other Republicans. Obviously a very intelligent and well educated man, a leader in his profession, has kept him in the top five in most recent polls and in second place in many. His biggest problem is and will be for now fund raising, which is unfortunately necessary to run an effective campaign. Likewise Fiorino has the same problem, though she proved to be the first Republican debate winner and she wasn't even in the prime time debate. Well spoken and knowledgeable on the issues has helped. As the only woman on the Republican side, people would love to see her and Hillary debate. but that is not going to happen unless the two become the vice presidential choice of their parties. Outsiders have done well, because many American are tired of the old loosing approach to winning a presidential election. Both McCain and Romney refused to effectively criticize Obama and more importantly inform America of his ties to communists, islamists, and anti Americans. Fearing the racist charge, they were unwilling to effective speak up and challenge a man whose main agenda was to degrade and ultimately destroy America. If the Republican Party leadership can't see that then they don't deserve to win.
Jeb Bush seems to lead the establishment candidates, primarily because of name recognition and his massive lead in fund raising. He was a very successful governor of Florida and has access to the political king makers in the Republican Party. Although he tends to speak well, his soporific approach draws little excitement. He does have the organization that Trump lacks and has the wherewithal to last until the end of the primary season. He has been at odds with the Republican base, especially over common core, immigration, and Iran.
Cruz, Rubio, Huckabee, Walker, Paul, and Kasich seem to have about the same amount of support. Cruz seems to be the most intelligent, but lacks support from the party bigwigs. Rubio comes off as clear, concise and sensible, He is the youngest in the group and that may work against him. He has VP written all over him. Huckabee trends to push the social issues too much. This always works against the Republicans and if he wants to continue to grow followers, he needs to stress the economy and defense. Scott Walker has beaten the unions three times and helped his state of Wisconsin. He needs to show how his pragmatic approach at the state level will play out nationally. Paul seems to have lost support recently, I believe because he tends to come off as kind of winey and combative, He is in danger of being left behind. John Kasich is a very interesting candidate who has been successful everywhere he has served. He needs to spend more time getting his message out, but he may not have the money to spend. He is another candidate who has VP written all over him.
The rest aren't worth me writing about or you reading about. Im not sure why they are even running. In my next blog I will discuss the strategy that Republicans ought to adopt to succeed.
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