Jeb Bush |
- Probably the most electable candidate
- Executive experience galore
- Huge battle-tested field operation
- Massive party backing and endorsements
- From the mother of all swing states
- More money than Uncle Scrooge
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- Grass roots hates him
- Wrong positions on immigration & Common Core
- Is going to have to defend his unpopular brother
- Married to a Latina
- Barbara Bush: "We've had enough Bushes"
- How did he earn his millions in the past 10 years?
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Scott Walker |
- Acceptable to all wings of the party
- Fought and beat the unions
- Actually governed as a conservative
- Won three elections in a blue state
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- New to the national scene
- Would boost Democratic turnout in the general
- Failed to create 250,000 jobs as promised
- Weak on foreign policy
- Didn't graduate from college; is he too dumb?
- Has never faced a presidential electorate
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Marco Rubio |
- American-dream type biography
- Latino
- Telegenic
- Very charismatic and likable
- From the mother of all swing states
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- First term senator
- Something of a lightweight on policy
- Supported Senate immigration bill before he opposed it
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John Kasich |
- Could be establishment fallback if Bush stumbles
- Twice elected in swing state of Ohio
- Would win some Democrats in general election
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- Not well known
- Running on competence not ideology
- Said St. Peter likes poor people
- Supported Medicaid expansion in Ohio
- Supports Common Core
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Ted Cruz |
- Republican establishment hates him
- Called Mitch McConnell a liar
- Tea party darling
- Young, fiery, and very conservative
- Surprisingly good at fund raising
- Excellent speaker and debater
- Latino
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- Republican establishment hates him
- First-term senator
- Masterminded the 2013 government shutdown
- Maybe too much of a firebrand for some voters
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Rick Perry |
- Elected governor of Texas three times
- Knows the big donors in Texas
- Looks intellectual in new glasses
- Probably smarter than George W. Bush
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- 2012 Oops! moment will follow him to the grave
- Thinks U.S. politics is like Texas politics
- I don't remember the third one
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Rand Paul |
- Could bring in new Republican voters
- Inherits his father's zealots
- Dislikes Big Government spying on people
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- Doesn't like wars
- Doesn't support "Israel good, Arabs bad" policy
- More of a libertarian than a conservative
- Was cheered at UC Berkeley
- Establishment is luke warm on him
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Chris Christie |
- Aggressive character
- Ran the RGA well; popular with governors
- Won election twice in a blue state
- #3 with establishment after Bush and Kasich
- Would probably bring in some Democrats
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- Polling badly in home state
- Hugged Obama
- Last fat President was William Howard Taft; but White House bathtub is bigger now
- We'll cross that bridge when we come to it--if it is open
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Carly Fiorina |
- Ran a Fortune 500 company
- Can attack Clinton without being called sexist
- Took on liberal icon Barbara Boxer in 2010
- Self-made multimillionaire
- Could self fund in the primaries
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- Was fired from a Fortune 500 Company
- Got $20 million severance when fired
- Was crushed by Barbara Boxer in 2010
- No natural constituency
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Mike Huckabee |
- Good sense of humor and very likable
- Ordained Baptist minister
- Southerner in a party whose base is the South
- Well known due to 2008 run and Fox show
- Economic populist
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- As Arkansas governor raised taxes repeatedly
- Very poor fundraiser
- Did badly in 2008 against a much weaker field
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Bobby Jindal |
- Is great at tossing red meat to the base
- Tons of executive experience
- Might bring in some minority voters
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- Disastrous SOTU reply in 2009
- Not a dynamic speaker
- Indian-American in a nearly all white party
- Still "Bobby" at 44 (but Bobby Kennedy did it)
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Rick Santorum |
- Been around the track before
- Won Iowa caucuses in 2012
- Very strong social conservative
- Comes from a big blue state
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- Didn't win in a much weaker 2012 field
- One-trick pony: only social conservatism
- Tends to lecture people and not likable
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Lindsey Graham |
- Knowledgeable on foreign policy
- Talks more about Beghazi than anyone
- Kind of folksy
- From the South
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- Base hates him
- Lifelong bachelor in family values party
- Short and dresses like a used-car salesman
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George Pataki |
- Was elected governor of a blue state three times
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Ben Carson |
- Devoted following
- Fiery speaker
- Not taken seriously by the establishment
- Was an extremely competent neurosurgeon
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- Gaffe prone
- He's black in a nearly all white party
- Never held public office
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Jim Gilmore |
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- Nobody ever heard of him
- Lost 2008 Senate race to Mark Warner by 31 points
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Donald Trump |
- Actually created thousands of jobs
- Can't be bribed by anyone
- Says things no one else dares to say
- Sort of endorsed by Sarah Palin
- Washington outsider
- Loved by "poke-'em-in-the-eye" wing of the party
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- Would be crushed by Clinton
- Establishment will do anything to stop him
- Used to be fairly liberal
- Demeaned John McCain's war record
- Made sexist remark to Megyn Kelly
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