“This will be the most open Republican nomination in 50 years.”
— Former New Hampshire Attorney General Tom Rath (R), quoted by NPR, on the 2016 presidential race.
“This will be the most open Republican nomination in 50 years.”
— Former New Hampshire Attorney General Tom Rath (R), quoted by NPR, on the 2016 presidential race.
Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura (I), “who rarely returns to the Capitol offices he occupied from 1999 to 2003, took the opportunity to say that an independent fellow like him would make an excellent candidate for president in 2016,” the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports.
Said Ventura: “”I said that 2016 is an opportune moment because there’ll be no incumbent. I believe one issue that would carry me to victory … I would give the people of America to their first opportunity to elect a president who doesn’t belong to either party, since George Washington.”
An update to the paperback version of The Amateur by Edward Klein claims President Obama “made a secret deal to support Hillary Clinton when she runs for president in 2016, campaign sources say, payback for the support her husband gave him in 2012,” the New York Post reports.
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A new Quinnipiac poll
finds Hillary Clinton to be a very strong potential candidate against several named GOP competitors in a 2016 presidential race. Clinton
leads Jeb Bush, 48% to 40%, and Sen. Rand Paul, 49% to 41%, by eight points.
First Read points out that her number has fallen slightly in recent week but she’s still formidable: “She’s running ahead of both Bush and Paul among women by 20-plus points, and she trails among men in the single digits. If she runs and if that gender gaps persists, she’d be VERY DIFFICULT to beat.”
The Los Angeles Times reports that Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) performance running for president “painted Perry — maybe unfairly, perhaps indelibly — as inept and none too bright. That could prove an exceedingly high hurdle to overcome.”
Said former Dan Quayle aide David Beckwith: “Once it happens, it’s almost impossible to reverse.”
Ann Romney told CBS News that she and her husband back Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the 2016 presidential race.
Said Romney: “Mitt and I are always very, very partial to Paul Ryan,” while adding that “we don’t even know if he’s going to run.”
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) said “he’s undecided about running for president but didn’t appear to agree with his mother that enough members of their family have occupied the White House,” the AP reports.
Said Bush: “What can I tell you? All I can say is we all have mothers, right? She is totally liberated, and God bless her.”
Bush said he needs another year before making his decision.
First Read: “A word of warning to anyone thinking about 2016: Running for president doesn’t always help your political career. After unsuccessful presidential bids in ’04 and ’08, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) later found himself without a congressional seat. After he finished sixth in the ’08 Iowa caucuses — after moving his family to the state — Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) saw his popularity in his state plummet and decided not to run for re-election. And after briefly running for president in 2008, former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson (R) lost a Senate race four years later. And now you can add Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who like Dodd finished sixth in Iowa in 2012, to this list.”
Reid Wilson:
“Bachmann may have been the loudest member of the class of 2006, the
one who inspired the most heated arguments. But she will hardly be the
most consequential; her enduring legacy may be the lessons she taught in
how to lose friends and become completely uninfluential.”
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker “gave a well-received speech to the Iowa Republican Party
Thursday night, and many in the state say he would bring some strong
assets to a presidential run,” The Hill reports.
“While the beltway presidential buzz has
focused on Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ted Cruz
(R-TX), Walker’s admirers say his record as a conservative warrior,
folksy Midwestern demeanor and big fundraising connections could make
him a contender.”
Politico: “Back in 2008, Hillary Clinton committed so many management sins it was hard to keep track of them all – yet none was worse than failing to establish a coherent, functional chain of command. … People around Clinton say the once-and-perhaps-future candidate will learn from those mistakes if she runs again. But that will be easier said than done – and the initial roster of possible Clinton ’16 staffers, culled from interviews with people in the Clinton and Obama orbits, reveal just how tough it will be to balance loyalty with the imperative of empowering young, talented newcomers.”
Donald Trump has spent more than $1 million on “electoral research” for a potential presidential run in 2016, the New York Post reports.
Former Rep. Allen West (R-FL) told a radio show that he would be back in national politics soon.
Said West: “Well, we’ll get back into the political scene, but there are so many things I can do right now that can really help us going forward to the midterm elections. It’s not about me; it’s about the team, it’s about our country and that’s what I’m focused on primarily. So after the midterm election cycle we’ll look into getting back into the political framework in 2016. There’s no doubt about it.”
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) “comes to Iowa tonight amid speculation that he’d be a smash with Republicans here if he were to run for president, as some top Iowa politics watchers predict,” Des Moines Register reports.
USA Today: “Walker may be playing down the presidential talk, but there’s no question he’s making some moves that fuel such chatter. He’s also writing a book with former Bush speechwriter Marc Thiessen on his tenure as governor and the challenges facing the nation, due out sometime this fall.”
“They know they have a political problem–that’s obvious. But I don’t think they’ve come to grips with the fundamental issue, which is their governing philosophy. I think they’re going to have to lose one more.”
— Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute, quoted by The Atlantic, on whether the Republican Party learned lessons from its defeat in 2012.
Former Clinton White House counsel Lanny Davis said the growing IRS scandal has robbed Democrats of the so-called “trust edge” they held over Republicans and is now jeopardizing hopes that Hillary Clinton will replace President Obama in 2016, the Washington Examiner reports.
Said Davis: “This hurts the Democratic Party and will hurt anybody who runs for president in 2016. It will make it almost impossible to elect a [Democratic] president…I’m nervous.”
Coincidentally, Davis has a new book on how to deal with scandals called Crisis Tales.
Associated Press: “His latest legislative achievements put him in the vanguard of his party’s liberal base. He’s been a top fundraiser for President Barack Obama. And he’s ramping up his travel to help fellow Democrats around the country.”
“Little-known outside his home state, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has methodically checked the necessary boxes toward earning the reputation of good Democratic soldier as he considers whether to run for president in 2016 – a White House bid that would face long odds.”
“We’re going to win when we look like America. We need to be white, we need to be brown, we need to be black, we need to with tattoos, without tattoos, with pony tails, without pony tails, with beards, without.”
— Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), quoted by the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Beth Reinhard:
“Florida Sen. Marco Rubio hasn’t popped up in an early-primary state in
six months, leaving potential Republican rivals like Kentucky Sen. Rand
Paul, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal to make the
rounds while he carried the torch for his immigration reform plan. But
while furiously working the talk show circuit to sell a bill viewed
warily by many Republican voters, Rubio has been just as doggedly laying
the groundwork for a successful presidential campaign in 2016.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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