GOP Primaries/Candidates thread

[mr_genius]

I mean, seriously - Giuliani??? He is almost everything the far right hates in a candidate. He just won't play well to that crowd. And yet, he's apparently the best current option.

 

they think he will beat Hillary Clinton, thats why he'll win the nod. but we've seen that plan backfire for a party before (aka, Kerry is most likely to beat Bush in '04).

 

I still think Romney will end up with the nod, especially if Thompson doesn't run or exits early.

 

Romney is the GOP's version of John Edwards IMO, doubt either one of them will get the nomination. i also think the whole mormon thing will hurt him. not saying thats fair or anything, just know how some GOP primary voters are.

Edited June 4, 2007 by mr_genius

[NorthSideSox72]

they think he will beat Hillary Clinton, thats why he'll win the nod. but we've seen that plan backfire for a party before (aka, Kerry is most likely to beat Bush in '04).

If that is the sole criteria, I think McCain and probably Thompson are better candidates than Giuliani.

 

But with so many viable candidates in both parties this cycle, there is just so much up in the air. I think that this coming winter and spring are going to be fascinating to watch in both parties.

[Chet Lemon]

Romney is the GOP's version of John Edwards IMO, doubt either one of them will get the nomination.

 

I was saying the same exact thing to my friend the other week, although I think Romney might have a better shot of getting his party's nomination.

[southsider2k5]

Guess who has a website and wants money?

 

http://www.imwithfred.com/

[kapkomet]

Guess who has a website and wants money?

 

http://www.imwithfred.com/

IMO, he's the best candidate to date.

[mr_genius]

Thompson making gains...

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/po...0,6280343.story

 

also from the article

 

Clinton, in a showing that could spark concern among some Democrats, does not fare as well. For instance, against Giuliani, her strongest GOP rival, the poll found she would lose by 10 percentage points.

[southsider2k5]

This could go into either thread, but it is depressing enough on its own merits.

 

http://hillaryspot.nationalreview.com/post...WQ4MzdkZWE5MDQ=

 

The Endless Bush-Clinton Era?

 

Hillary Spot reader Dave writes in:

 

The math on this is amazing: By 2008, no American under 50 years of age will have ever voted in a Presidential Election where either a Bush or a Clinton was not on the ballot for President or Vice President. No American under 35 will remember when a Bush or Clinton was not President of Vice President.

 

Virtually all of the 18, 19, and 20 year olds voting for the first time in 2008 will have lived their entire lives with a Bush or Clinton as President.

 

Carrying this trend out another four to eight years seems absurd — except, or course, that maintaining the status quo is the very definition of conservatism.

 

I think someone had noted that every Republican ticket since 1952 had either a Nixon, a Dole, or a Bush on it, except for 1964.

[kapkomet]

Wow... that's crazy.

[Balta1701]

Newsday.

Rudolph Giuliani's membership on an elite Iraq study panel came to an abrupt end last spring after he failed to show up for a single official meeting of the group, causing the panel's top Republican to give him a stark choice: either attend the meetings or quit, several sources said.

 

Giuliani left the Iraq Study Group last May after just two months, walking away from a chance to make up for his lack of foreign policy credentials on the top issue in the 2008 race, the Iraq war.

 

He cited "previous time commitments" in a letter explaining his decision to quit, and a look at his schedule suggests why -- the sessions at times conflicted with Giuliani's lucrative speaking tour that garnered him $11.4 million in 14 months.

 

Giuliani failed to show up for a pair of two-day sessions that occurred during his tenure, the sources said -- and both times, they conflicted with paid public appearances shown on his recent financial disclosure. Giuliani quit the group during his busiest stretch in 2006, when he gave 20 speeches in a single month that brought in $1.7 million.

 

On one day the panel gathered in Washington -- May 18, 2006 -- Giuliani delivered a $100,000 speech on leadership at an Atlanta business awards breakfast. Later that day, he attended a $100-a-ticket Atlanta political fundraiser for conservative ally Ralph Reed, whom Giuliani hoped would provide a major boost to his presidential campaign.

 

The month before, Giuliani skipped the session to give the April 12 keynote speech at an economic conference in South Korea for $200,000, his financial disclosure shows.

 

Giuliani's campaign said that the former New York mayor did participate in Iraq Study Group activities but refused Newsday's repeated requests to explain how.

 

Instead, they referred to a May 24, 2006, letter Giuliani sent to the Republican co-chairman and former secretary of state James Baker. In it, Giuliani praised the group's "truly important mission" but cited his time commitments for why he couldn't give the group "the full and active participation" it deserved.

 

One source familiar with the group's activities recalled that Giuliani did participate in an early conference call in spring 2006 that was mainly organizational. But Giuliani's name is mentioned nowhere in the group's final report, which lists more than 160 people who were consulted.

[claydude14]

Where's the Ron Paul love?

[mr_genius]

Where's the Ron Paul love?

 

I like Ron Paul

[Balta1701]

Actually saw a car with a Ron Paul sticker today.

[EvilMonkey]

Where's the Ron Paul love?

His supporters are too busy spamming internet polls.

[BigSqwert]

Where's the Ron Paul love?

Is he that reggae/dancehall artist? The music thread is in SLaM.

[Balta1701]

Rudy's south carolina campaign chairman resigns over cocaine charges.

 

One of Mitt Romney's top aides seems to have called a trucking company and impersonated a police officer to threaten to issue a citation.

[mr_genius]

Rudy's south carolina campaign chairman resigns over cocaine charges.

 

One of Mitt Romney's top aides seems to have called a trucking company and impersonated a police officer to threaten to issue a citation.

 

obviously Hillary Clinton is the only solution. great post Balta

[Balta1701]

obviously Hillary Clinton is the only solution. great post Balta

Oh, ok, so I shouldn't post any actual news about the folks in your party? Feel free to post the random stupid stuff done by the other campaigns, I thought that was what these threads were for.

 

And you should know I'm not a Clinton fan at all.

[NorthSideSox72]

obviously Hillary Clinton is the only solution. great post Balta

Sir Genius-

 

This is not a GOP-only forum. This is a GOP Candidate forum. For good, bad or otherwise. I see no reason why this sort of information shouldn't be posted here, where it belongs.

 

If a DEM candidate or their staff steps in a big pile of it, feel free to post in the DEM candidate forum. In fact, please do that - the more info in here, the better.

 

Sincerely-

Mr. Northside

[EvilMonkey]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...7062501487.html

 

Apparently Fred's ex-ladies think he is their man!

 

Republican Thompson endorsed by ex-girlfriends

 

By Steve Holland

Reuters

Monday, June 25, 2007; 6:46 PM

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Things must be going well for prospective presidential candidate Fred Thompson because even his ex-wife and former girlfriends are endorsing him.

 

One-by-one they've said the Tennessee Republican is their man -- at least for president, according to London's Sunday Times newspaper.

 

The former senator and Hollywood actor is to hold the first fund-raising event for his potential campaign on Tuesday in Nashville, ahead of stops in early primary states of South Carolina and New Hampshire this week.

 

An announcement on a Thompson candidacy is expected some time in July. "He's making up his mind as to when's the best time," said spokesman Mark Corallo.

 

Thompson, 64, dated for a long time after his 26-year marriage to his first wife, Sarah Knestrick, ended in 1984. In 2002 he married Jeri Kehn, who is 24 years younger than he.

 

Many of his old girlfriends still adore him and hope he wins.

 

"I think he has a great chance of capturing the women's vote. He's majestic. He's a soft, safe place to be and that could be Fred's ticket. Women love a soft place to lay and a strong pair of hands to hold us," ex-girlfriend country music singer Lorrie Morgan told the Sunday Times.

 

Another old flame, Republican fund-raiser Georgette Mosbacher, said he would defeat Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton because of his appeal to "traditional women who will like the Southern gentleman in him," according to The Times.

 

There's an old country music song with the line, "All my ex's live in Texas, and that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee," but it obviously does not apply to Thompson.

 

He remains on excellent terms with his first wife and Thompson has said she intends to campaign for him, the Times reported.

 

SURGE IN POLLS

 

Thompson, even as an unannounced candidate, is enjoying a surge in public opinion polls without the type of intense media scrutiny that will take place once he jumps into the race.

 

His standing suggests the Republican Party is still searching for a candidate that can carry Republicans to victory in the November 2008 election.

 

Thompson supporters see him as a Ronald Reagan-type Republican who will push conservative values among a group of candidates that includes the front-runner, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, as well as former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Arizona Sen. John McCain.

 

A new CNN poll said Thompson trails only Giuliani. Giuliani led with 31 percent, followed by Thompson at 21 percent, McCain at 19 and Romney at 11.

 

Thompson's rise in the polls could be at the expense of McCain, who was once considered the odds-on favorite to win the Republican presidential nomination but who is currently lagging in the polls and having trouble raising money.

 

Senior McCain adviser Charlie Black believes Thompson will jump even further in the polls once he announces his campaign but predicts it will not last.

 

"He's going to get a huge burst of publicity. He'll probably go to first in the polls for a while, but I think it's going to be hard to put a campaign in place to sustain it," he said.

[Balta1701]

I want to gouge out my eyes after reading this.

Before beginning the drive, Mitt Romney put Seamus, the family's hulking Irish setter, in a dog carrier and attached it to the station wagon's roof rack. He'd built a windshield for the carrier, to make the ride more comfortable for the dog.

 

[snip]

 

As the oldest son, Tagg Romney commandeered the way-back of the wagon, keeping his eyes fixed out the rear window, where he glimpsed the first sign of trouble. ''Dad!'' he yelled. ''Gross!'' A brown liquid was dripping down the back window, payback from an Irish setter who'd been riding on the roof in the wind for hours.

 

As the rest of the boys joined in the howls of disgust, Romney coolly pulled off the highway and into a service station. There, he borrowed a hose, washed down Seamus and the car, then hopped back onto the highway. It was a tiny preview of a trait he would grow famous for in business: emotion-free crisis management.

[NorthSideSox72]

I want to gouge out my eyes after reading this.

OK so, I have owned only one pet that was larger than a fish, in my life (our current cat, which I married into, my wife's previously). So I am not exactly an animal person. But, I have a very low opinion of anyone who mistreats animals unnecessarily. Whether callously or intentionally, its irrelevant. My opinion of Mr. Romney just went way, way down.

[NorthSideSox72]

Fred Thompson leads the GOP field in a new national poll.

[southsider2k5]

Where's the Ron Paul love?

 

I think I would rather see Ross Perot run again...

[CubsSuck1]

I think I would rather see Ross Perot run again...

 

I understand that Paul's candidacy is a long shot at best, but I hope that his ideals may at least somewhat influence the GOP and balance out some of the neo-conservatism. I'm somewhat surprised that constitutionalism and a non interventionist foreign policy can be considered radical, but hell what do I know?

[southsider2k5]

I understand that Paul's candidacy is a long shot at best, but I hope that his ideals may at least somewhat influence the GOP and balance out some of the neo-conservatism. I'm somewhat surprised that constitutionalism and a non interventionist foreign policy can be considered radical, but hell what do I know?

 

Actually before the term was hi-jacked, Paul would be considered probably the truest economic conservative out there. He actually believes in totally free markets and zero government intervention, along with balanced budgets.