A Really Dumb Political Decision

Ted Cruz‘s speech last night was a mistake–his making a speech was not a mistake–what he said was a mistake.

On March 3, 2016, Real Clear Politics posted the following:

Echoing the iconic moment from the first debate of the cycle, Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, John Kasich and Donald Trump all agree to definitely support the Republican nominee, no matter who it is, at Thursday’s GOP presidential debate on the Fox News Channel.

RUBIO: I’ll support the Republican nominee.

…BAIER: Senator Cruz, yes or no, you will support Donald Trump is he’s the nominee?

CRUZ: Yes, because I gave my word that I would. And what I have endeavored to do every day in the Senate is do what I said I would do. You know, just on Tuesday, we saw an overwhelming victory in the state of Texas where I won Texas by 17 percent.

…BAIER: Governor Kasich, yes or no, would you support Donald Trump as the Republican nominee?

KASICH: Yeah. But — and I kind of think that, before it’s all said and done, I’ll be the nominee.

…WALLACE: Yes, you will support the nominee of the party? TRUMP: Yes, I will. Yes. I will.

There were a few moments during the campaign when it looked as if Donald Trump was going to disavow that pledge, but generally speaking, he stayed with it. Governor Kasich and Senator Cruz simply chose not to keep their pledge. Governor Bush was also conspicuous in his absence from the Republican Convention.

I believe Donald Trump is the only logical choice for President right now. I believe he will support the U.S. Constitution, and he obviously loves America. I was truly disappointed in Ted Cruz’s speech last night. I believe Senator Cruz is a good man who simply made a bad decision in making that speech. As for the other Republicans who are behaving like two-year olds, they need to get over themselves and help elect Donald Trump. The irony here is that there is a strong possibility that Donald Trump will not run for a second term if he is elected. The behavior of some Republican leaders now will determine if the American people are willing to vote for them in the 2020 primary elections.

Hopefully This Is The Dying Breath Of The Establishment Republicans

Mitt Romney is basically a good man. Lately I think he is a little misguided. True, he does represent the establishment wing of the Republican party, but I think the establishment wing needs to step aside now that their candidates have lost in the primary elections. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look as if that is going to happen.

The Hill posted an article today about some of Governor Romney’s recent activities.

The article states:

Mitt Romney, the GOP’s 2012 nominee, is among those courting prospects for a possible third-party bid to keep Donald Trump from the White House, according to a Washington Post report.

Among those prospects are Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.), one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who suspended his presidential campaign in early May.

Kasich’s chief strategist John Weaver said the governor isn’t interested in running an an independent.

Third-party candidates historically do not do well in elections. In this case, a third-party candidate would insure that the next President would be Hillary Clinton–the candidacy would split the Republican vote. With Donald Trump as the candidate, it is possible that many Republican voters will stay home, giving the presidency to Mrs. Clinton. Some of the pundits have stated that the establishment wing of the Republican party would rather lose this election than allow a non-establishment candidate to win. That is a scary thought. It is time we got the entrenched establishment of both parties out of Washington and replaced them with people who actually represent the American people. This election may well be our last chance to do that. Think carefully before you vote.

Letting Your True Colors Show

The Republican establishment is having a hard time nationally. They have decided on numerous candidates for President, and none of them have gotten much traction. John Kasich is the latest incarnation of that effort and does not seem to be resonating, so they may actually be warming to Donald Trump. As I have said, I am not a Trump supporter, but would vote for him before I would vote for Hillary.

North Carolina is also having a fight between the establishment and the grass roots. However, in this case, a group calling itself the grass roots actually represents the establishment. Last year at the GOP Convention, the attendees elected Hasan Harnett as the party chairman. He was not the choice of the NCGOP establishment, and they have attempted to make his life miserable at every opportunity since–to the point of locking him out of his email and office and then complaining that he is not doing his job. Well, tomorrow it comes to a head. There is a meeting in Raleigh to determine the fate of Hasan Harnett. The meeting was called by the North Carolina GOP Central Committee, a group that according to the Plan of Operation is supposed to be subservient to the GOP Executive Committee (evidently the Central Committee never read that part of the plan). Incidentally, the meeting was called on a day that it was known that Hasan Harnett would be out of the country and not able to defend himself. His schedule was made known to the Central Committee in January.

The Senate and House Republicans met recently in Raleigh to discuss the issue. The Daily Haymaker posted the story yesterday.

The article reports:

Sources tell me Woodhouse encouraged all members to show up and vote on Saturday.  Said one source:

“He reminded us to do it this weekend while we still had a vote.  He said we won’t have one under the new plan of organization.”

The reaction from the audience?  Said another source:

”Not a whole lot was said in response to what Woodhouse spoke about.  When this meeting was winding down, Woodhouse offered to stay a little longer to give people additional information and answer questions.  Out of the whole group — House and Senate — I’d say twenty to twenty-five hung around to hear more from him. Most people I’ve talked to said they are going nowhere near that meeting on Saturday. ”

I am told that Woodhouse has made a certain pledge to people about the aftermath of Saturday’s vote.  Said one source who has conversed directly with Woodhouse:

“[Dallas] has said that even if Harnett survives the vote on Saturday, they are still not going to let him back in the office or give him his email back or any of that stuff. The pettiness is going to continue.”

I hate to be difficult, but it doesn’t sound as if Hasan Harnett is the problem or is the one that needs to be removed. If the Republicans at Saturday’s meeting have any sense of decency at all, they will remove Dallas Woodhouse and anyone else who has been working with him in this effort. This is a kangaroo court that needs to be shut down immediately so the party can get on with the business of electing Republicans!

Would This Man Just Please Go Away?

Like a lot of Republicans right now, I am not necessarily thrilled with the way the primary elections are going. I support Ted Cruz, but would vote for Donald Trump before I would vote for Hillary Clinton. Staying home would only elect Hillary Clinton, so I am not interested in doing that. But then, we have the problem (and I do mean problem) of John Kasich.

John Kasich is still in this race because the establishment Republicans are funding him. They hope that he will beat either Ted Cruz or Donald Trump. They support John Kasich because he will do their bidding–Ted Cruz or Donald Trump will not. John Kasich would be a disaster for America. His nomination would probably destroy the Republican party. However, the people supporting him want to hold on to their power, and they see nominating him as the way to do that. Even if he loses, they won’t have to deal with an outsider in the White House who claims to be a Republican. So what are the chances of John Kasich winning the Republican nomination for President? Unfortunately, the chances are better than they deserve to be.

Real Clear Politics posted an article with some interesting quotes:

“And guess what, I’ve got friends who are going to be on the Rules Committee,” the Ohio governor said. “We don’t know who is going on the rules committee yet. And thirdly, people can be nominated from the floor.”

…”They’re not going to be the nominee,” Kasich replied. “Do you you think delegates are going to go to a convention and pick somebody who can’t even win?”

Cavuto presses Kasich on the fact that right now under the current RNC rules, he is inelligible to even be considered for nomination at the convention. Under the rules adopted in 2012 a candidate must have won eight states. Kasich has won one state.

Kasich says no, “that is false information. I don’t know where you guys get this stuff,” he said about the 2012 Republican convention rules.

“There are no rules at this convention,” before it starts Kasich said. “The Rules Committee hasn’t even met. They haven’t even been selected.”

“They’re not going to change any rules. You don’t change rules that haven’t been set,” he argued. The Rules Committee sets whatever rules it wants to before each convention, based subjectively on how the Rules Committee members feel about the candidates, Kasich explains.

Cavuto argues, “you know this governor as well as I,” about the 2012 rules. “There is a rule from the last time around,” Cavuto explains about the eight state requirment. “That would have to be changed to accomodate you.”

“Every convention sets its own rules,” Kasich said.

If the Republican convention nominates John Kasich for President, they will be following their tradition of forming a circular firing squad in an effort for a few people to hold onto power. If they are that stupid, they deserve to lose, and the party needs to disband. The work (and energy) in the Republican party in recent years has been in the Conservative movement, and the party has fought it from the beginning. If the party goes through with a plan to nominate John Kasich for President, I believe a conservative party will form and replace the Republicans.

Random Comments On The Republican Presidential Primary Race

I need to state up front that I voted for Ted Cruz. If Donald Trump is the nominees, I will vote for him. Generally speaking (with a few exceptions), I will vote for anyone other than Hillary Clinton. I don’t want to put her in the White House because I think she is corrupt and has no respect for the American people. It is also deeply troubling to me that she does not believe unborn babies have Constitutional rights. I wonder if there will be other groups of people in the future that she will decide do not have Constitutional rights.

Ted Cruz won in Wisconsin. That temporarily slows down the Trump train. However, it does not alter the fact that the Republican establishment does not want either Ted Cruz or Donald Trump as the nominee. The hope of the Republican establishment is a John Kasich, a Paul Ryan, a Jeb Bush, or someone else of that ilk. Obviously the Republican primary voters do not share that idea.

So where do we go from here? We can expect all sorts of news stories describing horrible actions of both Ted Cruz and Donald Trump. Some of them may be true; some of them may not. So far the big charge against Ted Cruz involves the DC Madam before he was married and a statement his father allegedly made. The charges against Donald Trump tend to change daily. Watch for a lot of news stories trying to sell the idea of a ‘fresh face.’ That trail balloon was put up earlier in the week. I am sure it will be back.

The GOP establishment has about six or seven weeks to sell the idea of a Presidential nominee that is not currently running. I see that as an impossible task, but I have been wrong before. Paul Ryan says he is not interested. I hope he stays with that position. John Kasich wants to win at pretty much any cost. Do any of these people realize how many people will stay home in November if the establishment picks a candidate that did not run?

Watching the Republican establishment fight Ted Cruz and Donald Trump makes me wonder why they have been AWOL in the fight against President Obama’s policies during the past eight years. It confirms my suspicion that the Republican establishment is no different than the Democratic party. That is the reason the voters are revolting during the Republican primary. We have given the establishment a chance, and they have failed. It is time to give the outsiders a chance.

A Solution Is Needed–I’m Not Sure This Is The Right One

This is not a new article, but I think it is something that needs to be looked at in view of the current presidential campaign.

In October 2015, CNN reported statements made by John Kasich about Social Security. There are some serious problems with Social Security and no obvious solutions, but while we are looking for solutions, young workers in America are still having Social Security deductions taken out of their paychecks despite the fact that they will probably never see a penny of that money. There are a few reasons for the problems with Social Security funding. The first problem is the declining birth rate. We need more workers paying into Social Security to keep the system going. Those workers may never see the money, but we need them paying into the system. That is dishonest, but that is the way it is set up. President Obama and some members of Congress are trying to avoid the problem by importing workers.

In November 2014, Fox News reported:

Illegal immigrants who apply for work permits in the U.S. under President Obama’s new executive actions will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare, the White House says.

Under the sweeping actions, immigrants who are spared deportation could obtain work permits and a Social Security number, which would allow them to pay into the Social Security system through payroll taxes.

No such “lawfully present” immigrant, however, would be immediately entitled to the benefits because like all Social Security and Medicare recipients they would have to work 10 years to become eligible for retirement payments and health care. To remain qualified, either Congress or future administrations would have to extend Obama’s actions so that those immigrants would still be considered lawfully present in the country.

So for ten years we will have more people paying in, and then after ten years many of those people will be looking for money–a temporary solution at best.

Another reason for the problems with Social Security is that there is no Social Security trust fund. Since the 1960’s, Congress has spent the money deducted from paychecks for Social Security. Anyone who served in Congress is responsible for allowing this to continue.

So what does John Kasich say about Social Security. The CNN article reports:

“We can’t balance a budget without entitlement reform. What are we, kidding?” Kasich said when asked about his opponents who say they won’t touch entitlements.

Kasich said he was part of the effort to reform Medicare and Medicaid in the ’90s, and that he also had a plan to change Social Security so that initial benefits were lowered for individuals not yet near eligibility.

He asked audience members to raise their hands if they were far from receiving Social Security, asked them if they knew yet what their initial benefit would be and then asked them if they would be bothered if it were a little lower for the good of the country.

One person said it would be a problem.

“Well, you’d get over it, and you’re going to have to get over it,” Kasich joked.

First of all, Social Security is not an entitlement–the people currently working have been paying into it since they started working. The majority of the people currently collecting it have paid into it during their entire working career. Entitlements are things that people get for free that they never worked for or paid into. I think our welfare programs should be seriously cut before any cuts are made to Social Security. I also think that younger workers should be given the option of setting up tightly controlled individual retirement plans that would be out of the government’s reach when it comes to spending money. A large part of the problem with the current Social Security system is that Congress has not acted in a fiscally responsible way. We cannot change the past, but we can fix the future. I don’t believe I want John Kasich to be the person attempting to fix the future of Social Security.

 

Yesterday In South Carolina

Yesterday Donald Trump won the primary election in South Carolina. These are the numbers (from Townhall.com):

SouthCarolinaPrimaryElectionAfter the primary, Jeb Bush suspended his campaign, so there are essentially five candidates remaining–the top three are Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz. So what can we conclude from this? The only Republican establishment candidate left is March Rubio. He is not the Republican establishment’s first choice, but he is the only remaining establishment candidate. The only true conservative in the race is Ted Cruz. We can expect to see more vicious attacks against him in the coming weeks both from the media and the Republican establishment.

This is the current delegate count in each party:

DelegateCountFebruary21*Party leaders who are free to support any candidate.

This is the beginning. If you truly want America to move in a positive direction in the future, I believe that Ted Cruz is your candidate. Be ready for the Democrats, the media, and the Republican establishment to go after Ted Cruz in a noticeable way. He is the candidate that is truly a threat to the status quo.

States Can Take Action When The Federal Government Fails To

Last Friday, The Daily Signal posted an article about states that have defunded Planned Parenthood since the undercover videos showing the sale of aborted baby body parts were released.

The article reports:

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is expected to sign a bill defunding Planned Parenthood, making Ohio the ninth state to do so since undercover videos exposed the abortion provider’s apparent role in harvesting the body parts of aborted babies.

The bill, H.B. 294, ensures that state and certain federal funds are not used to perform or promote nontherapeutic abortions at Planned Parenthood or elsewhere. The Ohio House passed the final version 62-32 on Wednesday and sent the legislation to the Republican governor’s desk.

“Governor Kasich has worked with legislative leaders to ensure that public dollars are used to their best purpose,” Kasich spokesman Joe Andrews said, according to The Columbus Dispatch. “The Ohio Department of Health had already stopped awarding state dollars to Planned Parenthood.”

Eight states—Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas, and Utah—have defunded Planned Parenthood after the pro-life Center for Medical Progress released a series of hidden-camera videos that put the nation’s largest abortion provider under the microscope for questionable and perhaps illegal practices.

As was previously reported here:

Two CMP (Center for Medical Progress ) investigators, David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, were indicted by a grand jury Monday with tampering with governmental records by creating fake driver’s licenses as part of a nearly three-year undercover investigation.

Mr. Daleiden was also indicted on a misdemeanor charge of soliciting human organs. He released a statement Monday defending the investigation and saying that “buying fetal tissue requires a seller as well.”

Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, said it was “not surprising” that the DA’s office would findPlanned Parenthood “blameless while trying to silence those who want to protect every human being’s life.”

“The evidence against Daleiden, as reported by the mainstream media, may or may not be valid, but lest we forget that the prosecution in this case is a district attorney’s office that has a Planned Parenthood board member as a prosecutor,” Ms. Brown said in a Tuesday statement.

Eleven undercover videos released by the CMP beginning in July prompted a dozen states to examine whetherPlanned Parenthood was illegally trafficking in fetal tissue from abortions. Planned Parenthood officials have insisted they were only reimbursed for costs associated with providing fetal tissue to researchers, which is legal.

The indictment of David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt was a travesty of justice. I am sure that the fact that the staff of the district attorney’s office includes a board member of Planned Parenthood had a lot to do with the indictment. I suspect that eventually that indictment will be overturned.

The article at The Daily Signal concludes:

Sarah Torre, a policy analyst in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation, wrote that Planned Parenthood affiliates receive over half a billion dollars each year from state and federal sources.

“Congress should end federal taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood affiliates and redirect those funds to health centers that provide health care for women without entanglement in abortion or questionable handling of baby body parts,” Torre wrote.

The prosecution of those trying to expose the horrific practices involving the sale of aborted baby body parts is horrible, but that is understandable when you consider the amount of money involved in making abortion an acceptable practice. However, there is a lesson here. The videos have resulted in a number of states defunding Planned Parenthood. The exposure of the practice of selling aborted baby body parts did bring positive results.

Finally, I would like to state that I do not want to make all abortions illegal. There are times when an abortion is a medical necessity. In those cases (which are very rare), that abortion should be done in a hospital under the supervision of a medical doctor. Abortion should not be a for-profit industry bringing in millions of dollars a year–it should be a medical procedure to be used only when absolutely necessary.

The First New Hampshire Primary Votes Are In

Mediaite posted an article this morning about the first primary election results from New Hampshire. Dixville Notch votes at the stroke of midnight, so their results are in.

The article reports the results:

On the Republican side of things, Ohio Governor John Kasich brought in one more vote than Donald Trump, for a total of 3 votes Kasich and 2 for the real estate mogul. As for the Democrats?

Call it a Dixville clean sweep for neighboring Senator Bernie Sanders, who brought in 4 votes compared to Hillary Clinton‘s 0.

Obviously, Dixville Notch may not be representative of the rest of America, or even of New Hampshire, but the numbers are interesting. The thing to remember when looking at the New Hampshire primary is that southern New Hampshire is generally inhabited by people who left Massachusetts because of the high taxes. It tends to reflect the liberal mentality of the northeast–even in the Republican party. A true conservative or an evangelical Christian running for President should not be expected to do well in New Hampshire.

It will be interesting to see how the media attempts to spin this. Will Hillary declare victory? Will the media attempt to push Kasich as a result of this vote? Stay tuned.

Why I Think The Republican Debate Is A Joke

I am watching the Republican debate. This is a collaboration between the Republican establishment and the media to make sure a non-establishment candidate does not win the Republican nomination. The media would like Hillary Clinton to win the presidency, but a lot of Americans are not necessarily following the media in this plan.

Note that Carly Fiorina is not on the stage and the John Kasich is. The only voting that has taken place in this election cycle has been in Iowa, where Carly Fiorina got more votes than John Kasich. Since that number represents actual votes, rather than inaccurate polls, I believe the people on the stage tonight were not chosen fairly. The establishment candidate is on the stage; the non-establishment candidate is not. Admittedly, the difference in the number of votes is small, but the fact remains that Carly Fiorina got more votes than John Kasich.

To add insult to injury, Breitbart.com has posted an article today about one of the moderators of the Republican debate. Martha Raddatz is married to a Harvard Law School classmate of Barack Obama. President Obama attended her wedding. President Obama appointed Julius Genachowski (Ms. Raddatz’s husband) to head the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  Ms. Raddatz is one of the moderators of the Republican debate. Does anyone actually believe that she will be an unbiased moderator?

The Republican Party needs to choose the moderators for the Republican debates. These moderators need to be people who do not have strong ties to the Democratic Party. What is happening now on ABC is an attempt to use the Republican Presidential candidates to ensure a Democratic victory in the Presidential election in November.

Some Thoughts On The Republican Debate

Late last night The Weekly Standard posted an article about the Republican Debate last night. The debate on CNBC was a tutorial on media bias. The questions were ridiculous, and the candidates called out the moderators on the silliness.

The article reports:

The three winners of the night were pretty obvious: Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump.

Rubio ended Jeb Bush’s campaign with the kind of body shot that buckles your knees. That’s on Bush, who never should have come after Rubio in that spot for a host of strategic and tactical reasons. But what should scare Hillary Clinton is how effortless Rubio is even with throwaway lines, like “I’m against anything that’s bad for my mother.” Most people have no idea how fearsome raw political talent can be. Clinton does know because she’s seen it up close. She sleeps next to it for a contractually-obligated 18 nights per year.

Cruz was tough and canny—no surprise there. He went the full-Gingrich in his assault on CNBC’s ridiculous moderators. He did a better job explaining Social Security reform than Chris Christie, even (which is no mean feat). And managed to look downright personable compared with John Harwood, whose incompetence was matched only by his unpleasantness. If you’re a conservative voter looking for someone who is going to fight for your values, Cruz must have looked awfully attractive.

Then there was Trump. Over the last few weeks, Trump has gotten better on the stump. Well, don’t look now, but he’s getting better at debates, too. Trump was reasonably disciplined. He kept his agro to a medium-high level. And his situational awareness is getting keener, too. Note how he backed John Kasich into such a bad corner on Lehman Brothers that he protested, “I was a banker, and I was proud of it!” When that’s your answer, you’ve lost the exchange. Even at a Republican debate.

And Trump had a hammer close: “Our country doesn’t win anymore. We used to win. We don’t anymore.” I remain convinced that this line (along with his hardliner on immigration) is the core of Trump’s appeal. But he didn’t just restate this theme in his closing argument. He used it to: (1) beat up CNBC; and (2) argue that his man-handling of these media twits is an example of what he’ll do as president. It was brilliant political theater.

I am not a Trump supporter, but I am supporter of the way he handles the press–he doesn’t back down. He’s not afraid of calling them out when they lie.

The article at The Weekly Standard regards the six candidates with an actual shot at winning the nomination as Trump, Carson, Rubio, Cruz, and possibly Fiorina and Christie. I think they are on to something. I will say that whoever wins the nomination will have some really smart potential cabinet members to choose from.

Last Night’s Republican Debate

I am a football fan. One of the great things about football is that when you turn on a football game, you see a football game. It is played like a football game and reported like a football game. Last night I turned on the Republican debate. I am not exactly sure what I saw. I am a Hugh Hewitt fan. He was there, sitting in a special chair. I believe he had less talking time than most of the candidates. I guess that’s okay–the candidates were the ones having the debate, but why was he there? Also, why was the debate reported as if it were a football game. It’s not a football game–it’s supposed to be a serious discussion to help voters determine who they want to run for President. Or is it?

Now I am going into some tall grass. In August, The Conservative Treehouse posted an article about the establishment Republican’s strategy to make sure Jeb Bush was the party’s nominee. Basically, the strategy was to split the conservative vote in every early primary state so that Jeb Bush would win, even without a plurality of votes. If you look at the candidates, the theory cannot easily be dismissed. Marco Rubio will take Florida, Ted Cruz will take Texas, Lindsey Graham will take South Carolina, etc. Therefore, by the time you get to the more liberal Republican states, no conservative will have enough votes to challenge Jeb Bush.

In July I posted an article by Mark Jones which explained a new rule by the GOP:

Any state, other than the four exempt states already mentioned, that holds a Primary the first two weeks of the month will be forced to allocate those delegate on a proportional basis.  This means that if 5, or even 15, candidates are on the ballot, each candidate will receive a percentage of our delegates commensurate with the percentage of the vote they receive.This may sounds like a fair process on the surface, but as usual, there is more to the story.  The RNC’s penalty will mean that a number of very conservative states,with high delegate counts like Texas, Virginia, and North Carolina, that intend to hold early Primaries, will be forced to divide their delegates among multiple candidates.  In fact, 10 of 15 Southern states plan to hold their Primaries in this window. Conservative stalwarts like Colorado and Utah also plan to hold Primaries in this window.  It is highly unlikely any candidate will emerge from these conservative states with enough delegates to establish a significant lead or gain momentum in the race to be the Republican nominee before March 14.

The purpose of the debate (in the mind of the establishment GOP) is to divide the support among the conservative candidates. The media tends liberal, so they are going to play along so that the Republicans put forth a weak candidate. Unless the conservatives running for President agree among themselves on who gets out of the race and who remains in the race, we are going to have Jeb Bush as a candidate. I can assure you his candidacy will result in a Democrat President. The success of Donald Trump has thrown a bit of a wrench into the establishment plan, but I seriously doubt that a majority of Americans support a Trump presidency.

There are some good conservative Republican candidates. If nothing else, the assembled people on the state would make an amazing Presidential cabinet. The problem is finding a conservative leader. I am sure Jeb Bush is an intelligent and very nice man–I just don’t want to see him as the Republican candidate–I don’t think he can win.

A Picture Of The Next Two Years

Holly Robichaud posted a column in the Boston Herald today about the political landscape over the next two years.

The article lists the conservative Republican presidential candidates as follows:

The GOP’s extensive field includes Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Govs. John Kasich of Ohio, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Mike Pence of Indiana and Louisiana’s Bobby Jindal.

While Cruz is no favorite of the D.C. 
establishment, his political backbone in working to stop the Obama agenda will be an advantage. Unlike Speaker John Boehner, Cruz embraces November’s message that Americans overwhelmingly reject Obama’s policies, including amnesty.

Paul should be red hot due to his appeal to younger voters, but his foreign policy and amnesty positions will hold him back.

Kasich, from a key electoral state, has served in Congress and been a Fox News host. As governor he created 45,000 new jobs and fixed an $8 billion budget deficit, and he’s someone to watch.

The article also mentions the moderate Republican candidates–Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Mitt Romney. If the number of conservative candidates split the conservative vote, one of these men could win the nomination.

The article also discusses the Democrat field:

Incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will have to decide between being a Boehner clone — which will depress the GOP base vote in 2016 — and being a leader in fighting Obama’s destructive executive orders. If he chooses the latter, McConnell could play kingmaker in the primary.

Most Democrats understand President Obama has moved the country too far to the left, except our U.S. Sen. Lizzy Warren, who thinks the whole world is the People’s Republic of Cambridge. Ultraliberals will continue to rally around her as the rest of Democrats try to go mainstream to save the party from extinction.

If the conservative movement wants a presidential candidate in 2016, they are going to have to unite around one candidate, and during the next two years, they are going to have to show the country that they have workable ideas as to how to turn America back to the constitutional republic it was intended to be.