(CNN)Jeb Bush is suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination, he announced Saturday night.
He needed to drop out. He wasn’t going to win. Perhaps if he were the first Bush son to run, he would have had a chance. Let’s hope some others follow his lead.
The longer Trump and Cruz are leading the pack the better chance Hilary has. It may already be too late .
Hillary is done. This Bernie thing is going to sap her energy and dollars for the general election. She’ll win the nomination but plenty of disillusioned Bernie voters stay home.
Carson and Kasich need to drop out today. Reince Priebus can help that by telling them neither qualifies for the next debate.
Steve:
So who would be left standing on the right? Trump and Cruz aren’t electable. Rubio, maybe if he gets some lessons on thinking on his feet. Kasich has the most experience and is by far the least offensive to independents.
I don’t think Hillary is done any more than Rubio is. That may change by May 1st. Guess we have to wait and see.
It would have been more interesting if George Bush 43 would have run.
Maybe if Jeb ran in 2o12, things may have been different.
Dan:
bush 43 was out to terms. Guess we will never know if Jeb could have prevailed in ’12. Mitt and Jeb are pretty much interchangeable; dull, former governors born with a silver spoon in their mouth.
Tweeting w/Jay Weber just now on Trump. I see so many people in the GOP going crazy this morning about Trump, but none of them want to strongly advocate for how to solve this. It isn’t about getting “Rush” to denounce Trump or continuing to tweet to the same people that “Trump is no conservative”.
Answers have been clear to me for over a year now.
a) Marco Rubio has the tools to be a very formidable candidate in the fall. But his “electability” goes out the window if he can’t get the nomination. Further in the general election his electability the same as Romney’s was if he doesn’t bring over the Trump/Cruz blue-collar voter. So first the anti-Trump forces need to acknowledge Marco really isn’t electable if he’s only getting 22% of GOP vote. Now how can he broaden his GOP base? See b.
b) Marco isn’t smart enough (or his donors stop him) to understand that formulating a tough new approach on immigration (basically cut and paste it from Trump’s website) and giving a major policy speech repudiating his Gang of 8 is the answer.
If Marco gets up and says “Back in 2013 I made a mistake with Gang of 8. I didn’t understand how badly our borders were being abused. I didn’t understand how badly employers were abusing cheap immigrant labor to suppress jobs and wages for US workers. And I didn’t realize that “fencing” doesn’t provide the symbolism that a wall does. Because of this, I agree with what Trump/Cruz voters have been asking for. I will get all of this done and you have my word on it. I will not bend nor deal like Trump would be susceptible to doing as Bob Dole and Jimmy Carter have pointed out endorsing Trump. As the world has changed the last four years, I’ve changed to protect you, the American citizen AND the American worker”
If you say that won’t work I say look at Cruz. Cruz was a 5% fringe candidate until he basically adopted Trump’s positions on the wall, H1B1, protecting US workers (it’s more than just “amnesty for Latinos” Rubio fans). Now Cruz co-opts Trump’s message and goes to 20% support. If Rubio get’s 10% more of the vote (I’ll be in that 10%) he’s now on track to beat Trump.
Don’t try to argue against this. This is the solution and we don’t have time anymore to sit and make excuses for Marco or blame Hannity.
Steve,
Your prescription holds merit, but I don’t think it’s the only way for unseat Trump. Even is Rubio does this mea culpa and prostrates himself before the electorate, there are going to be plenty of voters who just don’t buy it. At this point, I think the only way is for the field to consolidate behind one candidate. Either Rubio or Cruz need to drop out. Sure, Carson and Kasich need to drop out too, but as long as both Rubio and Cruz are in the race, Trump has the inside track.
As for me, put me in the “I won’t ever vote for Trump” camp. He is dangerous to the Republic and I’m not about to give my vote to a tyrant whose ego and ambitions don’t even pretend to acknowledge the bonds of the Constitution or common decency.
The reality is that Trump has the opportunity to effectively conclude the GOP nomination battle in the near term on March 1. The opportunity might slip away, but it is there. The other campaigns don’t have enough budget to do heavy media buys in all the states, so Trump’s command of free media will shape the coverage in the March 1 states to an even greater extent that it has in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. Apparently, Trump also has had more paid campaign staff working in the March 1 states than either Rubio or Cruz too.
There has been no public poll released for Texas in the last month. I’m guessing one will come out in the next few days. Cruz was leading in earlier polling, but not decisively so. If Trump wins Texas next week, do any of the other candidates have a path to victory?
In the other March 1 states where there has been public polling, Trump has led. If Trump sweeps everything but Texas, he is still in a good position to close things out since he has consistently out polled Rubio and Bush combined in Florida. This could all change, but the window for the dynamic to change is beginning to close.
I agree with much of what was said above about the political merits of Rubio repositioning on immigration, but he may be out of time. They all may be out of time.
I think Trump can still be beaten after March 1st but it will require Rubio or Cruz dropping out. Unfortunately I see mixed results for each on March 1st.
Rubio will do well in MN, VA, CO caucuses. Cruz likely does well in TX and ARK. But there won’t be a “knockout” by either of them to claim second place on their own. And of course Trump still likely finishes first in most of those States.
And that doesn’t account for crazy Kasich who will get creamed on March 1 but wants to live to fight on in MI on March 8th and on March 15th in IL, OH.
We have time up until March 1st. But after that date there need to be only two in the field going forward.
And of course let’s say Trump is beaten out by Rubio. Good luck trying to unify the party and keep those dejected Trump voters for the general election. Again all the reason why Rubio has to give a major speech on immigration this week (but he won’t and can’t due to his donors and GOPe)
A close family member works on The Hill and made some observations about Rubio. He said that Rubio has a very poor reputation among mainstream R’s because he has stabbed too many in the back during his ascent to presidential candidate. He hasn’t bothered to build any support from those folks so doesn’t have a network to provide funds or access to old-liners with money. At least not yet. So he needs to grovel at the feet of some of the power brokers, and make an about face on immigration. Couple those with the shellacking he got from Christie and he has a real tough row to hoe.
Nobody cares about your fucking family.
Presidential politics isn’t the PGA tour, where you become rich if you never win but get finish in the top 35
Where does Marco actually win a state ?
i disagree with Steve.Bernie ‘s dead – to blacks and Hispanics . That race will be over March 15th
The GOP benefitted from Tea Party anger the last 2 years but that begat the uncontrollable
Frankenstein that is the Donald and there isn’t anything the Establishment can do about it
seek:
At least I have one.