‘What’s going to change?’
Citizens Dedicated To Preserving Our Constitutional Republic
REPUBLICAN PARTY:
Businessman Donald Trump (New York) |
Former Governor Jeb Bush (Florida) |
Dr. Ben Carson (Florida) |
Governor Chris Christie (New Jersey) |
US Senator Ted Cruz (Texas) |
Former IRS Commissioner Mark Everson (Mississippi) |
Businesswoman Carly Fiorina (Virginia) |
Former Governor Jim Gilmore (Virginia) |
US Senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) |
Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (Florida) |
Governor Bobby Jindal (Louisiana) |
Governor John Kasich (Ohio) |
Former Governor George Pataki (New York) |
US Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky) |
US Senator Marco Rubio (Florida) |
Former US Senator Rick Santorum (Pennsylvania) |
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September 28, 2015, 08:06 pm
The criteria for the first Democratic presidential debate set the bar so low that every major candidate will get in.
Joining in the Oct. 13 debate alongside poll leaders Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are three candidates who barely register in national polls. They are former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. Chafee has registered no more than 1 percent support in four of 16 polls and zero in the rest of those that CNN is currently considering to determine candidate participation. Webb and O’Malley, meanwhile, have both only reached a high of 3 percent support in any poll since August.
“[The Democratic National Committee has] to give them their time,” said Aaron Kall, University of Michigan’s director of debate, of the three lowest-polling candidates.
The Democratic Party has already faced significant criticism, mainly from O’Malley, over its debate schedule. He’s accused the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of effectively rigging the schedule in favor of Clinton by limiting the voters’ exposure to other candidates.
“The last thing they’d want to do is get into another fight with the candidates about exclusions,” Kall said.
CNN confirmed Monday that any candidate who has averaged 1 percent in at least three credible polls released between Aug. 1 and Oct. 10 would be able to participate in the Las Vegas debate.
Because most recent polls have included Vice President Biden and found him with double-digit support, he has already qualified for next month’s CNN debate if he decides to jump in the race.
With that main hurdle past, Biden wouldn’t even have to file official paperwork by the debate. CNN’s criteria said that a simple public declaration would suffice.
For Geoffrey Skelley, a political analyst with the
University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, keeping the door open for Biden is a no-brainer.
With CNN receiving massive viewership of its GOP debate thanks in part to the draw of Donald Trump, a Biden-Clinton showdown on top of the inclusion of Sanders would certainly up excitement.
The network’s worst-case scenario: Biden announcing but not qualifying because of a technicality.
“There’s no question the media wants Biden to run; from the drama standpoint, having Biden and Clinton go at it really raises the bar,” Skelley said.
“It’s a realization that if Biden says he’s in, given where he’s polling, he’s really in.”
The networks had received criticism about the GOP debates, even directly from some candidates, questioning the wisdom of using polling to winnow the field in the first place. So instead of opening itself up to another round of criticism, the network has avoided it all together.
DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced in August that Democratic debates would include polling from the “six weeks prior to the debate.” Chafee hadn’t registered in enough polls over that span, but CNN’s debate criteria uses polling dating back to Aug. 1, allowing Chafee to qualify.
Having a first debate so late in the primary season is a stark departure from recent history, as the 2008 Democratic debates started in April 2007. But it’s not completely unprecedented — the party’s first debate of the 1992 cycle was in November 1991.
It’s unlikely that the inclusion of the entire field will make too much of a difference to the front-runners.
While lower-polling candidates will likely have the time to get their messages out, most expect the majority of the debate to focus on Clinton and Sanders — and Biden, if he runs — considering much of the focus of the past two Republican debates centered on the top candidates.
Webb, O’Malley and Chafee will instead be fighting for relevance in front of their largest audience of the campaign. All will look for their own Carly Fiorina moment, reminiscent of the former businesswoman’s stunning rise in the polls after she jumped into this month’s main-stage Republican debate and enjoyed a widely praised performance.
David Birdsell, a Baruch College political science professor and debate expert, told The Hill that while it’s a long shot, Webb has the “rhetorical skills” to surprise some.
“Webb is the only person in my view who has redeemed the notion of the State of the Union rebuttal,” he said of Webb’s 2007 speech.
“He actually responded extemporaneously to what [President George W.] Bush said. It was extremely fluent, coherent, well argued,” he said.
Skelley said that he thinks it’s unlikely that Webb or Chafee can use the debate stage to make a major run, as he sees Webb as too conservative for Democratic primary voters and noted that Chafee hasn’t won elected office as a Democrat — having switched parties twice from Republican to independent to Democrat.
“If Biden doesn’t get in, I can see O’Malley getting somewhere,” Skelley said.
“If he has a really good debate performance, maybe people search him out as a potential alternative to Clinton. You could imagine him having a moment.”
Regardless of whether they seize that moment, the inclusion does set up the potential for dynamics that could complicate the debate.
“To some degree, the presence of the other three helps Clinton in the sense that there will be more focus on the other individuals,” Skelley continued.
Another potential issue for the front-runners is that with not much to lose, O’Malley, Webb or Chafee may jump on the attack. And if they do, that ire will likely be directed square at Clinton, and to a lesser extent, Sanders.
“Having candidates that don’t have anything to lose is potentially dangerous to front-runners,” Kall said.
“It only increases the chances of them trying to do a Hail Mary [pass] or land a zinger that can really hurt the leading candidates.”
Skelley agrees.
“On the campaign trail they’ve been a little reticent to overly criticize [Clinton],” Skelly said, “but they might if they realize this is their one shot.
“Sanders actually might benefit in that sense that if he is in a position where the three lower-tier guys are attacking Clinton,” he added.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/255223-lower...
By Bill Press - 09/28/15 06:48 PM EDT
In John Boehner’s telling, it was just another day at the office: hang out with the pope, enjoy dinner at Trattoria Alberto, get up the next morning, say your prayers, grab coffee at Starbuck’s, gobble down eggs over easy at Pete’s Diner — and oh, by the way, quit your job.
Except, of course, when the Speaker of the House of Representatives, third in line to the presidency of the United States, suddenly quits his job, it’s anything but routine. It’s a bombshell political announcement with profound implications for the Congress, for the Republican Party and for the 2016 Republican primary.
With Boehner’s resignation, the Republican civil war is not over, it’s just begun, which has to be making party leaders nervous. Anti-establishment forces have prevailed in the House. Donald Trump, Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina, three outsiders, are leading the Republican primary field for 2016, and it’s not clear any establishment candidate can overtake them. The downfall of Boehner may signal the end of the Republican Party as we once knew it.
As a Democrat, I know I’m supposed to tap-dance on Boehner’s grave, but actually I was sorry to see him throw in the towel. I’ve known Boehner since my days as co-host of CNN’s “Crossfire.” He’s a good man. He’s a true, and reasonable, conservative, someone who was always willing to reach across the aisle and seek common ground — as he did with Teddy Kennedy and George Miller on No Child Left Behind, for example.
Unfortunately, his Speakership will be remembered as one of the least effective in history. Why? Because, from the beginning, afraid of losing his job, Boehner was afraid to challenge the Tea Party madmen in his conference in order to get things done. He let them run the show. He let the minority rule the majority.
And, in the end, that’s what did him in. Never having accepted Boehner as conservative enough, extreme right-wingers in the House decided to challenge him one more time. And even though he’d beaten them back a couple of times in the past, and probably could have done so again, he just didn’t have the stomach for another fight. Instead, he walked away.
It’s a sad ending to a sad Speakership. If only he’d been willing to take on Tea Party Republicans by letting the full House debate and vote on the issues, Congress could have passed immigration reform, a transportation bill, a farm bill, gun safety legislation and raised the minimum wage — and John Boehner would have been remembered as a great Speaker.
Press is host of “The Bill Press Show” on Free Speech TV and author of “The Obama Hate Machine.”
http://thehill.com/opinion/bill-press/255210-bill-press-boehner-dow...
Boehner was weak and never was a true conservative. It is good that he is leaving. It is not a sad ending..... it might be a positive beginning for the rest of us FINALLY!
Me too....odds are against it but I am really hoping.
Boehner is a disgrace.
‘What’s going to change?’
‘It could confirm some of Americans’ worst impressions of Congress’
Sep 29th, 2015 8:41 am by Jim Hoft
This is what happens when the vast majority in media aligns itself with one party against half of the country. Only an idiot or a liar would suggest that the media is biased against liberals. The media has always leaned left, but in the age of Obama they have staged an outright war on right leaning Americans.
The Tea Party was called racist by media liberals from day one while violent crime-ridden Occupy camps were called mostly peaceful. Opposition to Obamacare and anything else Obama and Democrats wanted to do was called racist.
The Democrats created the completely fake “War on Women” and the media propagated the lie every step of the way.
Whenever a Republican says something the media deems controversial, every single Republican is forced to comment on their remarks. Democrats are never subjected to this treatment. If time permitted, a dozen other examples could be provided.
Could it be that the brainwashed are no longer clueless?That would be nice.
Still, very disappointing.
The article says: "And now for today’s least shocking statistic: Just four in 10 Americans say they have a “great deal” or a “fair amount” of trust in the media to report the news fairly and accurately, according to new data from Gallup".
Four of 10 still think the media is doing fine?
Good find DD.
Marrand I would say it is much better than when 9 out of 10 thought MSM was fine.There are always going to be some sheep... no matter what... unfortunately...
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