Let the 2016 campaign begin!
For the GOP, the journey ahead is more perilous. They will be going through civil war after this Romney loss: the very conservatives vs. the establishment; the cultural conservatives vs. the economic conservatives; the populists vs. old school. And there is no clear leader ahead. Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, would be formidable with his name and money.
Paul Ryan is a favorite among deficit conservatives and did well on the Romney campaign.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is a rising star of party and they need Latino inroads.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie did well in Hurricane Sandy and is a tough talker.
Rick Santorum would consider a run, and has backing of social conservatives.
Mike Huckabee needs to make a decision and is a popular figure in the party.
Blowback
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Plan ‘B’ is pretty easy …
How about the Republicans not nominate an “OLD RICH WHITE GUY” again?
It worked out so well every time before …
Bob Dole
John McCain
Mitt Romney
Allen West – 2016.
Not rich. Not old. Not white. Conservative and intelligent.
IrishSamurai on November 7, 2012 at 8:46 PM
I hope she does. She’d be one of my top choices along with Walker and Martinez if they ran. 2016 though is, I believe, her last chance to run and have a realistic shot of winning.
topdawg on November 7, 2012 at 8:46 PM
Naw, that would be Romney, couldn’t even beat McCain in 2008, and he lost last night, with fewer votes than McCain/Palin..:)
idesign on November 7, 2012 at 8:47 PM
Can someone explain what a RINO base is?
faraway on November 7, 2012 at 8:48 PM
I’m open to the possibility that the population has shifted so far since 2008 that there’s no longer any chance that Republicans will win, but, no one has provided any actual evidence of that other than the fact that Obama won his bid for re-election. Lot’s of presidents have won their bids for re-election which is why that doesn’t strike me as compelling evidence.
As for presidents not winning if unemployment is high, I think FDR did just that…then won again. Charismatic people can get people to support them even when what they’re doing is not good. I personally think the man has the charisma of a cranky misanthrope, but, a LOT of people out there look at him and see him as their best friend and a guy that really gets it and cares for them. That’s hard to beat, but, I don’t see another Obama in the Dem ranks. Unless he starts to talk about lifting term limits on Presidential runs, I’m not too worried.
JadeNYU on November 7, 2012 at 8:49 PM
bluegill that gloom and doom was warranted, now wasn’t it. I was right. We lost horribly. But I guess that Marco Rubio.. the lightweight Latino Obama will totes win in 2016 with his compelling recycling of Obama’s 2008 slogans in Spanish. Si se puede.
Illinidiva on November 7, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Washington D.C.
The acronym is:
Republican in Name Only = R.I.N.O.
IrishSamurai on November 7, 2012 at 8:50 PM
I don’t get the obsession with Ryan.
Notorious GOP on November 7, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Chris Cristie / Charlie Crist , fat and furious.
the_nile on November 7, 2012 at 8:51 PM
Umm. Well I don’t get the obsession with Rubio. Ryan is because he is the only political figure proposing serious fiscal reforms.
Illinidiva on November 7, 2012 at 8:54 PM
Wow. It was a joke but you probably know that. I am more than happy to go away.
magicbeans on November 7, 2012 at 8:55 PM
I don’t there’s that much of a population shift either. Obama did get 10,000,000 fewer votes. I think the issue is conservatives being fed-up with moderate candidates all the time. That’s the only explanation of Romney getting 3,000,000 fewer votes than McCain. And if those voters hadn’t stayed home, voted for someone else, or whatever else they did, those votes might have been enough to push him over the top in some of the key close states.
topdawg on November 7, 2012 at 8:59 PM
Don’t mind bluegill, it has sense of irony or humor.
idesign on November 7, 2012 at 9:01 PM
All we need is some ‘bot cretin telling us what the country wants. Again. “The country is just going to loooooooooove itself some Moderate Mitt! Boring, glib “competence” is What The Country Wants!!!!!”
No we don’t. We have a GOP that’s gone a-whoring after “indies” which they imagine to be “libs”. Therefore we get another choice-which-isn’t-really-a-choice. The GOP needs to be a conservative party, or needs to go up in flames. Take your pick.
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 9:01 PM
Just ignore Bluegill. She’s a ugly nasty piece of work.
sharrukin on November 7, 2012 at 9:01 PM
No sense
idesign on November 7, 2012 at 9:02 PM
Mike Huckabee is a popular figure in the party? Since when? And Christie can kiss any shot at it goodbye.
As for Paul Ryan, he won’t run for the nomination. In fact, I think he’ll retire from the House before the ’14 midterms.
changer1701 on November 7, 2012 at 9:02 PM
Nice to see you back. And fwiw this is a good time to point out that you were correct in predicting a Romney defeat while the rest of us where hoping for a win and thinking it was likely.
While I agree that you and I would have preferred a much more conservative candidate I am unconvinced that would have made a difference. I would love it if Sarah Palin were my president. And I also think she would have lost by a much larger margin than Romney did. I understand that is not what I said in the primary. My opinion of the electorate has shifted since then. I do not think a bold conservative in the Reagan mold could win today with the parasitic narcissists that make up this electorate.
Kataklysmic on November 7, 2012 at 9:07 PM
You’re quite the comedian there. Hardy har har.
Wishing for ABC to be blown up is an embarrassing, irresponsible thing to say.
bluegill on November 7, 2012 at 9:07 PM
Rubio already has a swing state locked up and he could probably beat bush in florida
Flapjackmaka on November 7, 2012 at 9:08 PM
Why not try it though? Obviously, running moderate squishes in the last two cycles hasn’t worked too well either.
topdawg on November 7, 2012 at 9:10 PM
Yeah, its always a very steep climb to take down the incumbent. Only ten presidents have lost re-election, and nine of those ten faced intra-party challenges. The other one was Herbert Hoover. Also, and I don’t think this has been emphasized enough, Obama is the first black President. That means something to a lot of people, and they were going to support the guy come hell or high water.
Lawdawg86 on November 7, 2012 at 9:11 PM
There’s wishful thinking and there’s reality: Squishes. Do. Not. Win. Nationally.
I don’t care if it’s Sarah Palin or Mike Pence or Bobby Jindal or whoever. But he/she has to come from the grassroots, from the “bottom up”. Enough with this lapping up whatever GOPe mannequin we’re force-fed with promises of ultra-electability. That horseshit is eternally, ETERNALLY discredited. I think the GOP is going to try Bush/Rubio. Won’t work this time. Watch.
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 9:12 PM
By the way, I’m no so sure about that.
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 9:17 PM
*not
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 9:17 PM
No doubt about that. We need to stop nominating joke, gimmicky, unqualified candidates like Palin who can’t stand the heat. Most of the country doesn’t even take the woman seriously, including many conservatives.
bluegill on November 7, 2012 at 9:22 PM
No, what we obviously need is some more of that MITTMENTUM!!!!! LANDSLIDE, BABY!!!!!
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 9:24 PM
Glad to hear that your strange obsession with Sarah Palin is starting to give way to the realization that others besides her ought to be considered. Enough with the personality cult of St. Palin the Victimized. She wasn’t up to the task last time. We all witnessed her meltdown. She can play a positive role, but not as our nominee.
bluegill on November 7, 2012 at 9:26 PM
I’m not the one who brought her up. You psychotic ‘bot libs are the ones always doing that.
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 9:28 PM
Mitt in 2016!!!! YEAHHHHHH!!!!!!!
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 9:29 PM
Conservatives are finished with Christie after last week.
Rubio will be the next martyr.
The Resolute Desk on November 7, 2012 at 9:55 PM
Heh, bluegill’s dream candidate failed and he has the nerve to tell everyone else how wrong they are so soon after. No humility whatsoever. What an a$$. If I could work some gypsy curse on him, I’d have Palin vs. Christie 2016.
Dongemaharu on November 7, 2012 at 10:11 PM
The next sure-fire winner!!!!!!!, you mean. Instead of pandering to the “middle” a la Romney, it’ll be pandering to the Latino vote. And Rubio still wouldn’t even win FL.
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 10:24 PM
For the love of God, people, NO!!! We need to run someone with the right combination of conservative street cred, executive experience, and charisma. No more of the same effing next-in-line horse shyte; that’s how we ended up with Mittens! And all of the Mittbots here sniffed and sneered at those of us who warned he was too vanilla, too boring. Oh that stuff doesn’t matter, we were told. He has a Harvard MBA! He’s a smart, accomplished man! That’s what people care about.
Hey, guess what? No they don’t!
We ran with a guy whose record effectively took off the table the greatest weapon we had against Obama and that was Obamacare. We were never in a position to hammer him on it because we nominated the freaking architect of the whole boondoggle!
Unbelievable. This is why I am no longer a registered Republican. SO HELP ME, if this stupid party does not elect an actual conservative next time — and more to the point, a conservative who can appeal to libertarians because in case it wasn’t clear from all of the state measures that passed yesterday, there are a LOT of them out there and right now — then it deserves to be relegate to the ash heap of history. Start developing and running some true talent — and defending said talent when it gets attacked. Then maybe we’ll have a chance in heck of taking back some ground.
NoLeftTurn on November 7, 2012 at 10:40 PM
Dream on. Never happen. It’s going to take a Conservative Party sooner or later. I’m banking on sooner. The GOP is nearing implosion.
ddrintn on November 7, 2012 at 10:44 PM
Too early to tell but it looks like we have a deep bench for 2016. The Dems…..not so much
terryannonline on November 7, 2012 at 11:03 PM
Palin 2016! Accept no RINO substitutes!
ChuckTX on November 7, 2012 at 11:28 PM
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