Tag Archives: GOP primary

national news, political news

A Trump exit strategy emerging?

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures and declares "You're fired!" at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, June 17, 2015. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY - RTX1GZCO

This is not an original thought. I heard it day before yesterday on CNN, but it’s worth sharing here.

It goes like this.

Donald Trump’s poll numbers are as high as they’re going to get; they’re at around 22 to 25 percent. Republican voters who currently prefer other candidates — that’s about 70 percent of them or so — overwhelmingly don’t want to vote for Trump as an alternative.

That means Trump has no chance of being nominated, let alone being elected president of the United States in November 2016.

Thus, he’ll drop out before the first contest in Iowa, which is just about four months away.

You see, the idea goes, Trump has been calling his GOP foes “losers.” He doesn’t want to be labeled as such.

So, he’ll find a way to couch his withdrawal in non-loser-like fashion. Maybe he’ll find a way — and this is my thought — to declare his intention to “pursue other interests.”

Then he’ll be gone.

Actually, I want him to stay the course. Take it to the limit, Donald. This is too much fun to let go.

 

national news, political news

Trump continues to confound

So help me,Ā I was certain that Donald Trump sank his presidential campaign when he made light of John McCain’s heroic service during the Vietnam War.

It didn’t happen.

I was certain that he would implode during that first Republican joint appearance with nine other “leading” GOP candidates.

That didn’t happen, either.

Then he got into that public feud with Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly over thatĀ ghastly remark he made about the source of “the blood.”

Hey, no problem.

Trump said “I’ll build a wall” to keep illegal immigrants from entering the U.S. through its southern border. Yep, he’s going to do all this all by his ownself.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on this stuff.

The latest poll numbers show that Trump is putting some distance between himself and the rest of the GOP field — which comprises some serious, intelligent and accomplished individuals.

What in the world is happening here? Have we become so celebrity conscious that we (meaning the Republican Party’s most faithful voters) place celebrity above actual knowledge of things, such as, say, the limits of the office at stake?

Trump is sounding like someone whoĀ wants to take singular control of the federal government. All those first-person singular references to all the action he intends to take suggest he doesn’t understand that the U.S. Constitution inhibits the power of the presidency.

Checks and balances, Donald?

The current president, Barack Obama, has used his own executive authority rationally and in accordance with the law … and yet we keep hearing from GOP leaders about the “lawlessness” they insist pervades the Obama administration.

Just wait’ll they see what a President Trump might try … not that it’ll matter to them.

And yet the man continues to set the pace in a field of highly qualified GOP contenders.

What in the world gives?

 

political news

Jindal makes it a baker’s dozen … and counting

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is now among the growing horde of Republicans running for president of the United States.

We all thought he’d go hard after Hillary Rodham Clinton, the Democratic frontrunner (for now, at least).

But, no-o-o-o. He saved his heaviest fusillade for John Ellis Bush, the former Florida governor aka Jeb, son and brother of former presidents.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/bobby-jindal-2016-presidential-announcement-119378.html?hp=t4_r

Jindal is one of the many 1 percenters running for the GOP nomination — that’s 1 percent in the public opinion polling to date. He’s got to make some noise, so he did so today.

ā€œYouā€™ve heard Jeb Bush saying we need to be able to lose the primary to win the general election. Weā€™re going to help him do that,ā€ Jindal said, launching his campaign.

Jindal said of Bush: ā€œHe is saying that we need to hide our conservative ideals.Ā But the truth is, if we go down that road again, we will lose again.ā€

He calls himself a Christian who’s unafraid to proclaim his faith; he favors small government, less tax, strong defense, family values. Gosh, have we heard all this before? Do any of the GOP candidates oppose any of those things? Hardly.

Jindal’s the 13th Republican to declare his or her candidacy for the White House. More are on the way into the center ring. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is coming in; so is Ohio Gov. John Kasich. By my count that makes 15. Hey, there might be even more.

Democrats have just four candidates. How boring that primary could be if Clinton smokes the field. Then again, Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist, is making a serious move on HRC, at least in neighboring New Hampshire, site of the first primary.

Man, oh man. This campaign is going to be loads of fun.

 

national news, political news

Bush loses weight, gains momentum

Jeb Bush has lost weight.

It’s reportedly 20 to 30 pounds. The former Republican governor of Florida is considering a run for the presidency next year.

Does one have anything to do with the other?

Sure it does.

http://www.examiner.com/article/jeb-bush-weight-loss-will-bush-s-weight-loss-help-his-run-for-president

We’ve become obsessed with how candidates look. OK, maybe not obsessed, but its important in the minds of voters who want their national leaders to present themselves well.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, another possible — if not probable — GOP presidential candidate, had some surgery to help him control his weight. He said at the time he was doing it for health reasons and because his wife and children were concerned about his health. I am certain of their concern.

But he said nothing about the cosmetic aspect of the weight loss surgery and whether his own ambitions for higher office had anything to do with his decision.

The last truly obese president we elected was probably William Howard Taft, who weighed in at 300-plus pounds. But that was in 1908. Enough said about that, yes?

These days, candidates have to look theĀ role they seek to assume.

Thus, Jeb Bush’s weight loss serves as a precursor to what almost every political pundit/commentator/observer has been saying for months. He intends to run for president of the United States.

If nothing else, Gov. Bush’s weight loss is a testament to the stamina he’ll need to endure the grind he’s about to undertake.

 

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Rick Perry needs a makeover

Politico.com reports that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has embarked on an extreme makeover to make erase memories of a disastrous — and short-lived — run for the presidency last time around.

He’ll need it, badly.

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/04/rick-perry-extreme-makeover-105843.html?hp=t1

Perry reportedly is more relaxed and confident sounding these days, Politico reports. That’s as it should be, given that he’s a lame-duck governor. He’s held the office seemingly since The Flood and is now heading for some other mission in life.

He wants to be president, or vice president perhaps.

My own feeling is that he’s got a long way to go before he achieves either office.

A friend of mine — a former Republican state legislator who is no friend or fan of Perry — thinks the governor actually wants a No. 2 spot on the next GOP presidential ticket. He believes Perry knows his brand as a Republican presidential nominee has been damaged beyond repair, so he’s willing to settle for running as the GOP veep nominee in 2016.

ā€œWhere I have noticed it profoundly is in the last few weeks, the national TV appearances, whether heā€™s been on a number of Fox shows or Jimmy Kimmel and some of the others, he just seems like a very confident, upbeat and articulate spokesman for conservative policy and values,ā€ former Perry aide Ray Sullivan told Politico.

Perry’s brand is well-established in his home state of Texas, where his unique brand of good-ol’-boy conservatism plays well. It hasn’t yet taken hold in the rest of the country, let alone in the rest of the Republican Party, which is full of tea-party conservatives who so far have done a better job of selling themselves to a willing party base.

Let us not forget that those infamous pre-2012 GOP primary gaffes — namely the “oops” blunder in which he couldn’t name the third agency he would dismantle were he elected president — will be on the record … forever.

Good luck with your makeover, governor. You’ll need to be unrecognizable from what you’ve shown us so far.

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Waiting for Stockman to come clean

I’m waiting anxiously for U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman’s revelation as to where he’s been hiding out the past few weeks.

The goofy Texas congressman is running for the Senate against incumbent Republican John Cornyn. He made his announcement with a bit of a splash. Then when the ripple disappeared, so did he.

The tea party favorite really doesn’t — or shouldn’t — have a chance in Hades of winning the Republican primary this coming March. But with Texas politics being as volatile as it is — especially on the GOP side — nothing would totally surprise me.

Stockman has been MIA for some time. He has canceled campaign appearances amid some questions about whether he has the endorsements he claims.

Late this past week, he tweeted something about an announcement as to where he’s been. I’m hoping he’ll tell an anxious public where he’s going, such as whether he’s going to keep running for the Senate.

A part of me wishes he’s been hiking along some mysterious trail, a la former Republican South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who had his staff lie about his whereabouts, only to have it revealed he was cavorting in Argentina with a woman other than his then-wife Jenni.

But we’ll see come Monday where Steve Stockman’s been hiding.

Welcome back to the spotlight, congressman.

I hope.

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Cornyn running against … President Obama?

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has just let Texans know how seriously he views the challenge from his right.

Not very seriously at all, or so it appears.

Cornyn has released a TV spot that talks not about any of the people running against him in the March 4 Republican primary. He blasts President Obama.

http://wordpress.com/read/blog/feed/12395410/

It’s not surprising, perhaps, to see this kind of strategy begin to play out. The more a powerful incumbent says about an opponent, the more publicity the opponent gets. I refer to U.S. Rep. Steve Stockman, R-Friendswood, who’s emerging as the chief primary challenger to Cornyn.

The incumbent isn’t about to give Stockman any mention at all. Why should he? Doing so elevates Stockman’s profile; it gives him attention; it provides him with grist of his own to use against Cornyn.

It doesn’t hurt that Cornyn is holding up the president as a “foe,” given Barack Obama’s unpopularity among most Texans.

The language in the ad is harsh. In my view it’s overly harsh, but that’s just me.

However, it makes for extremely smart politics from John Cornyn.

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Clear the decks for this county judge race

If anyone out there is interested in joining the Republican Party primary field in the race to be the next Potter County judge, they ought to go find something else to do between now and next March.

The developing contest between Nancy Tanner and Debra McCartt is shaping up to be a barn-burner.

http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=978847#.UqB8Hkrnat8

The two candidates appeared recently on a local TV news special and addressed specific concerns critics have leveled at both of them. They acquitted themselves well.

Tanner and McCartt bring specific and unique strengths to this campaign.

Tanner brings 20 years of experience as administrative assistant to County Judge Arthur Ware, who’s not running for re-election. She knows the county, its elected and appointed department heads, and how its government works. Ware fired her earlier this year for reasons he — nor Tanner — have yet explained publicly. My guess it had something to do with the fact she announced her intention to consider running for the office before Ware — who’s been recovering from a devastating stroke — declared his intention to step down.

McCartt lacks Tanner’s hands-on experience. She doesn’t lack, however, any public relations skills. McCartt had a successful run as Amarillo’s first female mayor, where she proved to be an effective spokeswoman and advocate for the city’s policies, strategies and goals. She showed significant courage in pushing the city forward in implementing its red-light camera program and has made no apologies for that decision. I applaud her for that. The major question facing McCartt, though, will be: Can her PR skills and political backbone transfer easily into the detailed work required of a county judge?

I heard a rumbling earlier this week about a possible third candidate stepping in the race. I won’t reveal the name I heard, other than to describe him as a longtime political gadfly. Other names have been bandied about the County Courthouse almost since Ware’s stroke in 2010.

My hunch also is that Democrats need not apply.

This campaign is going to boil down to which of these two well-known women will win the GOP primary next March.

If the early indicators play themselves out, we’d better strap ourselves in for a wild ride along the campaign trail.

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What’s up with Dewhurst?

What in the world is happening to Texas Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst?

The one-time giant of Texas politics — the guy who came out of nowhere to become Texas land commissioner in 1998 — and has been elected three times as the state’s lieutenant governor — is looking and sounding like a floundering underdog in his race for re-election next year.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/burka-blog/dews-latest

Now he’s singling out state Sen. Wendy Davis, D-Fort Worth, who’s pondering whether to run for governor next year.

A new poll suggests Dewhurst isn’t the favorite in a four-person Republican primary race for lieutenant governor. Blogger and Texas Monthly editor Paul Burka thinks Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples is the man to beat in the primary. Dewhurst might end up third in that four-person race.

Dewhurst cracked to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram editorial board that the state likely will be asking next year “why were we talking about Wendy Davis?” Burka wrote this: “What he should be worried about is whether people will be saying, about a year from now, ‘Why were we talking about David Dewhurst?’ As for Davis’s prospects in a general election race, they depend upon whether she can make inroads among Republican women in the suburbs. Getting picked on by a man is a good way to start.”

Burka’s commentary reminded a bit of the shabby treatment that Republican gubernatorial nominee Clayton Williams gave Democratic nominee Ann Richards in that fiery 1990 governor’s race. The two of them appeared together at a function as the campaign drew to a close. They shared a dais. Richards walked over the Williams and extended her hand. Claytie refused to take her hand, calling her a liar because of things she said in a campaign ad about her opponent. The snub was seen all across the state and as a few pundits said at the time, Williams managed to offend Texans’ traditional view that men treat women with courtesy and respect. That act of rudeness — plus Claytie’s infamous “sit back and enjoy it” comment about rape — sealed his fate. Richards was elected governor.

Dewhurst’s star has been falling. He got steamrolled in the first of three special legislative sessions — by Sen. Davis, of course, in that well-documented filibuster of an anti-abortion bill. Let us remember, too, that he lost the GOP U.S. Senate primary race in 2012 to that upstart loudmouth Ted Cruz, who painted Dewhurst as some kind of squishy moderate. Dewhurst has been trying to out-Cruz everyone in Texas ever since — and he doesn’t do it with much grace.

Dewhurst has his hands full trying to hold his office next year. Staples, Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson and state Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston all are challenging him in the primary.

A year ago I would have bet on Dewhurst beating them all. I’m not so sure now.