It’s never too early to talk about the next Iowa caucuses. Here are a few news items to get the conversation started: Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the last GOP vice presidential nominee and chair of the House Budget Committee, will headline Governor Terry Branstad’s birthday event in Altoona this November.
Representative Peter King of New York, the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, is thinking about running for president and specifically criticized two other likely candidates: Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul. It sounds as if King doesn’t expect to win the nomination, but wants to “get my views out on national defense and foreign policy” and prevent people like Paul from being “the face of the national Republican Party.”
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is my ridiculously early pick to win the 2016 caucuses, but I think Paul Ryan could do well here too. I don’t see Peter King having strong appeal with Iowa Republicans.
I tend to agree with Josh Marshall that we are seeing “the end of Marco Rubio” as a presidential contender. Immigration reform is probably going nowhere, and Rubio bet a lot on that horse. Conservative talk radio host Steve Deace is wrong about most things, but probably not wrong about Rubio’s “Iowa problem.” The young senator would be better off running for re-election in Florida in 2016 and putting off any presidential ambitions for at least another four or eight years.
The latest Public Policy Polling survey of Iowa Republicans showed no clear front-runner.
2 Comments
Rubio/Jindal
Peter King and Rudy Guliani are pretty much lock step and the early states didn’t line up well for him. You need to be more fiscally conservative than King is to have an impact in New Hampshire. You need to be more anti-gay rights and abortion rights to play in South Carolina.
Ted Cruz has enough love from all of the different groups in order to be a factor. I didn’t think he would make the jump so quickly however.
I don’t think Cruz will play as well in swing states as Rubio would. Frankly, if Rubio played his cards right I think he could POTENTIALLY put Nevada, Colorado and Virginia back into the GOP column. Cruz can’t do that against Hillary.
I agree with you on Walker and the Iowa caucuses. I don’t know who Bobby Jindal’s handlers are, but as someone who has been involved with a couple of campaigns they have done that man a real disservice. He’s got a good back story and can throw conservative red meat out there, but they let him sound like a professor at a medical school when he gives a speech.
moderateiadem Sat 20 Jul 11:36 PM
speaking of Cruz
He is apparently considered a natural-born citizen despite being born in Canada. Although his father was a Canadian citizen at the time, his mother was a U.S. citizen, so Cruz never had to be naturalized. I have seen some chatter on blogs to the effect that Cruz isn’t eligible to be president.
I don’t see Jindal going far. I’ve never seen him speak in person, but when I’ve listened to parts of his speeches he sounds like someone who’s trying too hard. That gift of being able to connect with an audience is rare.
desmoinesdem Sun 21 Jul 9:30 AM