Which Republican Has The Best Chance Against Our Nominee in 2016?

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

I know that the 2012 election just ended several months ago, but since Hillary Clinton has been talked about so much on our side, I am curious to know which Republican politician we think would have the best chance against us in 2016, especially with the recent buzz about Jeb Bush and now, just this weekend, Rand Paul winning the straw poll at CPAC.

Even if Hillary Clinton isn't our nominee in 2016, I still see the Republicans having a VERY hard time, especially because of the demographic shifts and current state of the Republican party.

[JaneyVee]

1. We can't disclose those secrets to the other side.

[PennsylvaniaMatt]

8. Good point! But they are just so delusional.

This is the party that seems to choose how much of a staunch conservative a person is over how electable they are, so this thread is more about who is more electable. Remember, for a time in early 2012, it looked like they would pick Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum as their nominee, even though EVERY poll had both of them getting crushed by President Obama. And, this is the party that thought Mitt Romney was not conservative enough for them.

[marybourg]

2. The least loony one.

[hfojvt]

3. probably

Hillary Clinton

but I am not sure who "our" progressive candidate will be

we may not even have one willing to step in front of the likely Clinton juggernaut.

[Pullo]

4. GWB destroyed the Republican brand.

I think any GOP nominee has a slim choice at this point. Maybe I'm over-confident, though. One thing is for sure, the Republican primary season greatly wounded Romney. They'll need to change some things next time so the party isn't showcasing their worst elements throughout the process.

[1-Old-Man]

15. How can you say that when they got nearly half the vote in the last election?

and to be absolutly honest with you I think if that video tape of Romney decrying the 47% of do-nothings its quite likely that Obama would have lost the election. Bush didn't destroy anything, he didn't even run many of them off, all he did was unify the vast majority of those idiots who remain Republicans.

[1-Old-Man]

5. I don't think we've seen the end of Rick Santorum just yet

but I don't know how he might fare in his own Party's Primary process. It appears that in the last round of Primaries he actually won a lot more of them than he was given any credit for at their Convention. Of course they also ignored Ron Paul's contingent in favor of he who had already been chosen. It just puts one to wondering, who does the choosing?

[Capt. Obvious]

21. Republicans tend to nominate the second place finisher the next time around

So Santorum would make sense. But so would Huckabee were he to run.

Huckabee would be more dangerous since he has his own Faux show, books, radio show, etc.

[BlueStater]

6. Chris Christie and Jeb Bush would be their strongest candidates.

Everyone else that has been mentioned is just laughable.

[Pullo]

14. True, but I doubt the could survive the Republican primary

Even if they did, they'd be so damaged nationally and would have a VERY difficult time "moving to the center" come time for the general election.

[bemildred]

7. Eisenhower might have a chance. nt

[customerserviceguy]

9. At this point

I'd have to say Rand Paul. Chris Christie and Jeb Bush have zero chance of being nominated. I'd like to think that Santorum could pull it off, we'd crush him like a bug.

However, if there is some sort of immigration reform, and Repukes are not too unhappy with it (both really big 'ifs') then maybe the issue will have blown over, and Marco Rubio has a shot at it, if that issue is off of the table.

Rand Paul has done a LOT to get himself in the news since the election, I don't see him slowing down on that one little bit. He has the built in support of the Paulbots as a foundation for the nomination, and nobody else in the GOP field has Mitt's money and financial connections to beat him. I think Gingrich is washed up, and would not get out of single digits if he entered the Iowa primary.

Paul's also positioning himself to grab independent support, he'll do a lot better at it than either McLame or Mittens could do with it. Of course, Hillary has positioned herself to be either the beneficiary of a successful Obama administration or plausible deniability for anything that went wrong with it, if it doesn't look so good for the President's poll numbers three years from now. They're both acting like boxers at the beginning of a match, taking size of the other before the punching begins.

[Bjorn Against]

10. The Republicans have been pushing Ted Nugent for President

There are nearly 200,000 likes on the Ted Nugent for President Facebook page.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ted-Nugent-for-president/178869296791?ref=ts&fref=ts

That could be an interesting pick to say the least.

[LeftInTX]

11. Marco Rubio or Jeb Bush

I think Rubio has a chance at getting the nod. The Tea Party craze will settle down, the Republicans very much want to pander to Latinos.

[CK_John]

12. Not sure who, but it will probably be a female who has issues with her birth papers

and questions about her citizenship. Another in your face GOP candidate.

[Freddie]

13. Chris Christie

People have the (very mistaken) impression that he's a "moderate." He may not be quite the flaming nutjob that the others are, and being gov of NJ he's not trying to pass draconian abortion laws like in redder states. But he's no moderate.

[randome]

16. I think Christie is the most electable.

And that's not saying much, which is really good news for the world.

[Drew Richards]

17. THey should run a Palin-Bachmann ticket I am sure that would frighten us most. :) NT

[stevenleser]

20. I hope for a Santorum/Bachmann ticket. I would love that.

Santorum's anti-LGBT positions become more out of step with America with every passing hour. His anti-women positions annoy women so much that he would more than offset any benefit from having a woman on the ticket.

And crazy Bachmann would be the icing on the cake. I think the two of them would win less than 8 states.

[stevenleser]

18. In order: Huntsman, Jeb, Rubio, Christie

Anyone else has 0% chance of winning and none of the above really has any chance at all against Hillary.

I think Huntsman gives whoever the Democratic nominee the most problems because he is the least crazy and actually is fairly intelligent.

Jeb brings all the Bush $$$$ and experienced dirty trick personnel to the job.

Rubio might convince some latinos to vote Republican, although I am not completely sure what percentage of the latino vote that voted Democratic would switch because of Rubio. More than 0 but probably much less than the GOP would need to make a difference.

And Christie has done enough to where he might seem like someone who is less partisan than some other folks. I think it is BS and the guy talks out of both sides of his mouth, but I could also see an experienced campaign manager spinning it as a guy who is post partisan. That might help him a lot.

[bermudat]

19. None