Who wins 2016 Presidency?

[Scratchtown]

I don't know who exactly is confirmed running but this website gives us an idea. I know Hilary has not decided yet, according to her interview that is airing tonight on ABC.

Anyway, who do you think will win? Or, if you feel being open, who are you voting for this early in the game if the election was tomorrow?

http://www.politics1.com/p2016.htm

[NUance]

[The Dude]

Honestly I've become so disillusioned with politics in general I don't think I care anymore. Maybe I'll end up paying attention again and vote, but probably not.

 

I remember at one point thinking Rubio would be an reasonably decent candidate, but his anti-science convictions gross me out.

[carlfense]

Barring an economic downturn/unforeseen scandal get used to saying President Clinton again.

 

Can't say that I'm excited about that.

[Husker_x]

Barring an economic downturn/unforeseen scandal get used to saying President Clinton again.

 

Can't say that I'm excited about that.

 

I can't imagine she could possibly be worse than Bush or drastically worse than Obama. I think she's likeliest pick. She's the most popular, experienced, and probably wealthiest candidate in the field. Her biggest political rival in New Jersey went and committed suicide over a bridge. The rest of the GOP field looks about as useless as the last group of clowns. If Rand Paul is seriously one of your party's top contenders, you have a problem.

 

Marco Rubio had a chance to be respected, but his flipflop on his own immigration bill is a little staggering and frightening. You hope that your candidate, whoever it is, has some balls and shows leadership. He should be ruthless with his own base. In fact, that's the whole game right there. Whatever you think of the democrats, they at least have a way of converging on important issues (healthcare, immigration, climate change) and working to address them. The so-called "conservative Republicans" haven't had an idea outside of going to war and cutting taxes in twenty years. When they do have an idea--blue moon territory--they're promptly shut down by the mental patients that form the conservative base and forced to backtrack. To be a Republican in the modern sense of the word is to 1) deny reality, 2) oppose any plan that deals with reality (especially if Obama is within a hundred miles of it), and 3) fail to generate a single policy idea that the whole party, let alone America, can get behind.

[NUance]

You say this.

I think she's likeliest pick. She's the most popular, experienced, and probably wealthiest candidate in the field.

But then you say this.

You hope that your candidate, whoever it is, has some balls

Do you know something about Hillary that we don't know??


/ It could explain Bill Clinton's string of extra-marital affairs. lol

[huKSer]

Barring an economic downturn/unforeseen scandal get used to saying President Clinton again.

 

Can't say that I'm excited about that.

22nd amendment prohibits more than 2 terms - like Bill was REALLY the president

[JJ Husker]

Hillary will be the next Pres barring some really freaky sh#t coming out, hell that won't even matter, that's how bad the repub options are. On the plus side, I think she might be a step up from the current condition. The last thing we can do is expect excellence in the WH- that ain't gonna happen no matter what.

[zoogs]

The last thing we can do is expect excellence in the WH- that ain't gonna happen no matter what.

I disagree JJ, I think we have had and will continue to have some very capable people in the presidency. But the challenges the job requires them to face, both in administration and politics, are pretty significant. I think it matters somewhat *who* the president actually is, but broadly he or she will be governed by the various demands of reality.

 

So actually, the argument I'm making is almost just 'Vote for a party' (barring crazies), which flies in the face of the meritocracy ideal I think most of us, me included, would like to ascribe to the election. I don't think either field is filled with 'bad' candidates (maybe a lot of unfamiliar names). I like Rubio, but the Republican Party of today I find fairly unnerving. They seem to be governed by their extreme flanks, and that's troubling. It would be interesting to see how a Republican president takes leadership in this climate. And maybe be a little scary, too.

[tschu]

Hillary will defeat either Chris Christie or Jeb Bush, and it'll be close.

[JJ Husker]

Sorry Zoogs, I disagree. We've been short changed in the office of the Presidency for as long as I can remember. Since I've been alive, there have only been two worth a sh#t- Reagan and Kennedy. All others have been some degree of suckiness. I won't say it is all the individuals fault but rather that our system just doesn't work anymore. Things are too polarized and politicized to function properly. I don't see things improving without some radical changes and I believe our citizenry is too apathetic to drive the changes that need to be made. Sure it's a tough job, but the clowns we've been electing to the position aren't helping things. If the last ten Presidents are truly the best and brightest we can get to run, Lord help us.

[Junior]

Sorry Zoogs, I disagree. We've been short changed in the office of the Presidency for as long as I can remember. Since I've been alive, there have only been two worth a sh#t- Reagan and Kennedy. All others have been some degree of suckiness. I won't say it is all the individuals fault but rather that our system just doesn't work anymore. Things are too polarized and politicized to function properly. I don't see things improving without some radical changes and I believe our citizenry is too apathetic to drive the changes that need to be made. Sure it's a tough job, but the clowns we've been electing to the position aren't helping things. If the last ten Presidents are truly the best and brightest we can get to run, Lord help us.

Sincere question: what makes you say that Reagan was a good president?

[Ulty]

Hillary seems to be the only heavyweight name in the mix, but I honestly don't think she wins it. Historically, it is rare for the same party to keep office in a non-incumbent year. It happens if the predessor was wildly popular (i.e. Reagan giving way to Bush 41), but otherwise it doesn't happen. The only other time in the past century when the same party retained power was Herbert Hoover being elected after Calvin Coolidge, and then we got the Great Depression amiright? Truman and LBJ retained the party's power after their predecessors, but they took over after the deaths of FDR and JFK and essentially got to run as incumbents by the time the election rolled around.

 

Obama is not a popular president. Unless he gets a wild surge in his last couple of years, I have a hard time seeing a Democrat getting elected, even with Hillary's stardom and the lack of competent Republicans.

 

On top of that, I think Hillary brings to much baggage. I am pretty liberal by the way and rather like Hillary, but she has always been a polarizing figure, and I'm not sure if she'd be able to pull enough of the middle voters to the left coming off of Obama's low approval rating. If Hillary was the candidate, the campaign would be brutal as the 'Pubs would dredge up Whitewater, Vince Foster, Monica Lewinsky, and all of those images of her looking fat and disheveled that the right wing has been joking about for years. The Republicans have been bracing for a Hillary Clinton campaign for two decades. It would be ugly. McCain got blasted for his age during the 2008 race. Hillary is only a couple years younger, so that could be a possible issue as well.

 

Not only that, but there is something to be said about moving forward instead of trying to go back in time. I thought Clinton was a pretty good president, but the 90s were a long time ago and getting further away every day. For the same reason, I don't think the country would have the stomach for Jeb Bush, simply because of his name. This country needs to move on from the Bushes and Clintons.

 

The Republicans haven't really put out anyone qualified or sane in the last couple of years to make a name for himself and unify the party, let alone the country. But I would bet we see some shiny new faces after the 2014 elections to gear up for the election. They will probably find their own version of Obama (which they have been trying to do for years already) and forget about all of the "community organizer" and "executive experience" rhetoric they tried a few years back. But even if they can't find Mr. Right for 2016, I bet they find a Mr. Right Now who is clean enough to take the election, because I don't think the Democrats will have enough national strength to carry it again.

[VectorVictor]

Hillary will defeat either Chris Christie or Jeb Bush, and it'll be close.

 

So you think that the 'Baggers will actually let Jeb or Christie get the GOP nomination...interesting.

 

Frankly, I just don't see the GOP being able to field anyone with a name--Jeb, Christie, or Rubio (thanks to position changes) aren't going to get 'Bagger votes, and the normal GOP is getting damn sick and tired of idiots like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry wasting oxygen on their stage. They're either going to have to find someone without a track record to throttle them over, or they'll have to compromise on someone they know won't win just to save face for future elections...

 

...so perhaps 2016 is the year of Herman Cain?...

 

[tschu]

 

Hillary will defeat either Chris Christie or Jeb Bush, and it'll be close.

 

So you think that the 'Baggers will actually let Jeb or Christie get the GOP nomination...interesting.

 

Frankly, I just don't see the GOP being able to field anyone with a name--Jeb, Christie, or Rubio (thanks to position changes) aren't going to get 'Bagger votes, and the normal GOP is getting damn sick and tired of idiots like Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, and Rick Perry wasting oxygen on their stage. They're either going to have to find someone without a track record to throttle them over, or they'll have to compromise on someone they know won't win just to save face for future elections...

 

...so perhaps 2016 is the year of Herman Cain?...

 

 

 

It'll be the same as last time, the Baggers will make a big stink in the primary and the establishment will have to appease them because they're still a significant part of the party. The GOP knows that a teabagging candidate has absolutely zero chance at winning the general election, so you'll get establishment Repubs leaning pretty far right until the primaries are done, then they'll return to their normal "moderate" (if you can call anything about the GOP moderate anymore) selves. Uundoubtedly it will be a Bush/Christie type - not a Rand Paul/Paul Ryan type who gets the nomination.