Bring back duels.

Edit: Yes, we're citing racismschool non-ironically.

jerseyhoya wrote:...If I was writing a made up blog post with no facts or sources about Christie's impending departure from the race, I'd have come up with more believable reasons for why he was bowing out.

Well, the NFL season starts soon.

you know what's weird, i was watching 'tale of the tape' from Maddow's Friday episode (where she takes old clips of everyone running for president) and Donald Trump has a completely different accent 40 years ago. He must've had some instruction on how to downplay it or something.

also, the graphics from this era are amazing

Judging from the logic of keeping families together while deporting millions of undocumented, Trump wants to strip citizenship from millions of children:

On immigration, Trump said, "We're going to keep the families together, but they [those in the country illegally] have to go," according to a transcript released by NBC.

He also said the country should "get rid of" birthright citizenship.

"What they're doing: They're having a baby. And all of a sudden, nobody knows ... the baby's here," he said.

Trump's paper said Mexico "must pay for the wall and, until they do, the United States will, among other things: impound all remittance payments derived from illegal wages; increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats (and if necessary cancel them); increase fees on all border crossing cards – of which we issue about 1 million to Mexican nationals each year (a major source of visa overstays); increase fees on all NAFTA worker visas from Mexico (another major source of overstays); and increase fees at ports of entry to the United States from Mexico [Tariffs and foreign aid cuts are also options]."

his numbers will go up

the most recent FOX News poll has Trump leading by double-digits, Cruz and Carson being the only others close.

They obviously won't drop out, but I wonder if Carson or Cruz dropped out what % of their support could go to Trump. It might be as equally important they stay in the race as it is some of the more qualified candidates start dropping out to thin the non-lunatic field.

from the poll I looked at really in depth about a week ago, those three all have overlap in voters who like them. So if one drops out, the others would get a certain amount of their support.

On December 9, 2011, less than 1 month before the Iowa Caucuses, the RCP average was

Gingrich - 33.8%
Romney - 20.8%
Cain - 12.5%
Ron Paul - 9.5%
Perry - 7.3%
Bachmann - 5%
Santorum - 3.5%
Huntsman - 2.5%

Over 60% of the average was made up of people with voting intentions for candidates who would have been disastrous if they got nominated, and the two guys who ended up winning 48/50 states had less than a quarter of the vote between them.

did anyone from that list drop out prior to Iowa?

jerseyhoya wrote:On December 9, 2011, less than 1 month before the Iowa Caucuses, the RCP average was

Gingrich - 33.8%
Romney - 20.8%
Cain - 12.5%
Ron Paul - 9.5%
Perry - 7.3%
Bachmann - 5%
Santorum - 3.5%
Huntsman - 2.5%

Over 60% of the average was made up of people with voting intentions for candidates who would have been disastrous if they got nominated, and the two guys who ended up winning 48/50 states had less than a quarter of the vote between them.

Yeah, I know. I just think it's funny that the party leaders undoubtedly and ironically have an interest in those two turds staying in the race.

Bucky wrote:did anyone from that list drop out prior to Iowa?

Cain dropped out a few days later

the August 11th 2011 FOX News poll had Mitt at 20, Perry at 13%, Palin at 8%, Bachmann at 7%, Gingrich at 6%, Ron Paul at 5%, Cain at 5%, Huntsman at 2%, Santorum at 2%, Pawlenty at 2%. This was after Perry announced. September then saw the quick fall of Perry, the rise then fall of Cain, then the rise and slow fall of Gingrich. Romney then took over for Gingrich around December 2011 and as the field whittled going into January, then the religious voters brought Santorum into the race for a longshot.

Romney consistently stayed first or second the entire time through national polling, not dipping below 14% but in one poll. Everything was stacked towards him, outside of Iowa and South Carolina, for him to win the nomination.

Trump is 22.3 with the RCP average, Bush 10.3, Walker 8.5, Carson 7.5, Cruz 6.8 Rubio 6, Huckabee 5.5 Fiorina 4.3, Paul 4.0, Kasich 3.8, Perry 1.5, Santorum 1.3, Jindal 1.0, Graham 0.8

Everything is stacked towards Bush this time but the voters don't seem to realize they're being told to pick him at this juncture in the same way they did with Romney last time.

edit: I'm assuming some of them will be promised things in order to drop out.

Everything isn't stacked toward Jeb this time. He's is in a much weaker position than Romney because the field around him is significantly stronger, and if you're a mainstream Republican you have a bunch of choices. In 2011 we had Romney and for a moment Perry and maybe Huntsman depending on your level of self loathing. Here you've got Walker, Rubio, Christie, Kasich as plausible nominees in addition to Jeb.

Jeb is not overwhelmingly likely to be the nominee as Romney was for most of last primary (the whole time outside of Perry's first month), but the nominee is very likely to be one of Jeb, Rubio, or Walker.

GOP needs Rubio on the ticket somewhere.

The Nightman Cometh wrote:Yeah, I know. I just think it's funny that the party leaders undoubtedly and ironically have an interest in those two turds staying in the race.

Trump isn't going to be the nominee. The party has no interest in Cruz being in the race. If you gave Priebus a free whack that he could make anyone's campaign disappear without any negative fallout, he'd think for a while choosing between Trump or Cruz. Trump is providing more PR headaches in the short term, but Cruz could be the nominee, and him as the nominee would be bad.

Carson is a different story and has a compelling personal background and amazing professional history and whatnot. I think his voter is more religious than anyone who'd be climbing on board with Trump for the duration. If he sticks around and grab 5-10% of the vote away from Cruz and Huckabee, I'm sure the powers that be in the party would be happy with his continued existence.

Again, don't disagree. But I think there is an advantage to all three staying in the race especially when there is a chance none of Bush, Walker, Rubio, Kasich, and to a lesser extent Fiorina will have a compelling reason to drop out before the early state elections.

Having Carson stick around is a way to show off your big tent - but he has way too much in common with Sarah Palin; makes a nice first impression, but the more he talks the more he displays that he shoots from the hip; he does not speak from wisdom or knowledge.

He's actually less qualified than nitwits like Cruz and Perry. More qualified than Trump, but so is my cat.

jerseyhoya wrote:
Carson is a different story and has a compelling personal background and amazing professional history and whatnot. I think his voter is more religious than anyone who'd be climbing on board with Trump for the duration.

7th day adventist

pretty kooky sect but at least they invented graham crackers

Carson is simultaneously a symbol of what makes America so great and what makes a few of the individuals who make up its populace so scary

TomatoPie wrote:GOP needs Rubio on the ticket somewhere.

They sure aren't going to get the latino vote by treating them well or even by treating them as people. So, yeh, I think Rubio needs to be on the ticket to help stem the tide of Latinos becoming democrats. I'll be shocked if he's not on the ticket. Bush/Rubio would have some pull for their vote with Bush's wife also having that heritage. I think that's the smart pick for the GOP.