Too Many Candidates??

[Tim Bonney]

[Sandy]

[Tim Bonney]

I agree Sandy. Circumstances are different and Hilary wouldn't be Bill. But I can see and feel the romanticism with which Dems view those years. That gives Hilary a big boost from the start. And the fact that no big player (I like Bernie but can't call him a big player) is tossing their name in to oppose her means she has a good shot at being the nominee.

Will independents vote for her? Well I think it depends if the Republicans can come up with someone who doesn't seem too extreme. I think Paul and Cruz are too nutty to get it. Fiorina isn't well enough liked. People at HP hated her. She laid off huge numbers of people and people will remember that.

Who could play the role of a Ronald Reagan now in the Republican party? I just don't see anyone with the stature and the charisma.

[KeithE]

[KeithE]

[Ed Pettibone]

Republicans may soon have a viable candidate; ALBANY, N.Y. — Former New York Gov. George Pataki says he’ll announce May 28 in New Hampshire whether he will seek the Republican nomination for president.

He made the announcement Thursday on social media and on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”

Pataki has made repeated visits to New Hampshire since saying in January he was considering a White House campaign. He said the nation can’t risk electing another Democratic president.

Pataki flirted with running for president in 2008 and 2012. The 69-year-old Republican was governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He has cited his electoral success in the heavily Democratic state as well as his ability to work with Democrats as his strengths.

[Sandy]

Rick Santorum made his announcement just down the road from me, in the same county, at a manufacturing plant that is currently running three shifts, after nearly shutting down and laying off about two thirds of its employees during the Bush recession. I think he's trying to re-image himself, since he came on very strong as pro-worker, pro-middle class, and left out any mention at all of the social issues that characterized his last campaign. He may be the one Republican who can make a decent showing without corporate money, since he won eleven primaries last time, and was basically outspent 15 to 1 or more in some cases.

It seems like there's been a right wing extremist recognition that hard core stances on social issues won't translate into votes. The shocker has been throwing Bush under the bus and admitting that Iraq was a mistake, but the backing away from core social issues also appears to be an indication that they are recognizing that right wing extremism isn't popular. Maybe they're just lying through their teeth and have no plans to follow through on what they are talking about if elected, and they certainly wouldn't be the first politicians to pull that trick. And maybe it is that money talks, and so the campaigns are reflecting what their financial backers want to support.

With so many candidates in the race, perhaps the Koch brothers could just throw their hat in, instead of spending $300 million.