# The 2016 Republican candidates **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 9, 2015, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444 "2015-01-09T22:38:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 94
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1862 "2015-07-31T22:06:55Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > It would end federal funding of abortion, which is a major conservative goal. There is no federal funding of abortions. See The Hyde Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1863 "2015-07-31T22:09:27Z")
> [@Frank](#): > > The [Hyde Amendment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyde_Amendment) did that some 40 years ago. Beat me to it! ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1864 "2015-07-31T22:12:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Huck is wooing black voters, and unlike with other Republicans, he’s been successful in the past. How do you think he’ll do in a general election against an Obama-supported candidate? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1865 "2015-08-01T01:15:01Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > How do you think he’ll do in a general election against an Obama-supported candidate? Better than just about any other Republican now in the field… which would not be much. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1866 "2015-08-01T01:22:10Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Better than just about any other Republican now in the field… which would not be much. Kind of like being the prettiest girl at a leper colony. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1867 "2015-08-01T03:25:55Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > How do you think he’ll do in a general election against an Obama-supported candidate? IME, the second-term president tends to be nominally hands-off WRT their replacement. Obama will probably make a rousing speech at the convention, then go do presidenty stuff while the candidates duke it out. And, of course, on the outside chance it was Bernie, I am not so sure an establishment conservative like Obama would be all that keen on showing support for him. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1868 "2015-08-01T03:59:04Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Huck is wooing black voters, and unlike with other Republicans, he’s been successful in the past. > > [http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-huckabee-looking-for-a-niche-woos-blacks-in-gop-primaries/2015/07/27/cf6fc468-3081-11e5-97ae-30a30cca95d7\_story.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/mike-huckabee-looking-for-a-niche-woos-blacks-in-gop-primaries/2015/07/27/cf6fc468-3081-11e5-97ae-30a30cca95d7_story.html) > > Plus he knows his strengths. Don’t go to the NAACP, go to churches. Huck knows how to speak Churchese. I’m pretty sure the idea of guns being pointed at women trying to get an abortion will have a negative impact well beyond how well this dipshit can “speak Churchese”. > [@](#): > > Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee indicated Thursday that if elected, he wouldn’t rule out employing federal troops or the Federal Bureau of Investigation to stop abortion from taking place in the United States. [Here’s the link.](http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2015/07/31/huckabee-wouldnt-rule-out-use-of-troops-to-stop-abortion) ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1869 "2015-08-01T11:51:26Z")
Just playing to his audience. His campaign is all about boosting his ratings on Fox when he gets back there, nothing more. It certainly isn’t about helping his party appear to be responsible adults. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2015, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1870 "2015-08-01T19:14:57Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > IME, the second-term president tends to be nominally hands-off WRT their replacement. Obama will probably make a rousing speech at the convention, then go do presidenty stuff while the candidates duke it out. And, of course, on the outside chance it was Bernie, I am not so sure an establishment conservative like Obama would be all that keen on showing support for him. Second-term Presidents are just as active, or not, as their party’s nominees want them to be. In 2008, John McCain clearly didn’t want to even be in the same zip code as Dubya; in 2000, Gore was a bit more willing to accept Clinton’s help (and some pollsters said afterwards he should’ve used Clinton even more to campaign for him in the South). Calling Obama an “establishment conservative” is just silly. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1871 "2015-08-03T03:27:14Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Just playing to his audience. His campaign is all about boosting his ratings on Fox when he gets back there, nothing more. It certainly isn’t about helping his party appear to be responsible adults. Agreed. I’m just not buying the idea being pushed by one of our other posters that Huckabee’s supposedly brilliant strategy of campaigning in black churches rather than at NAACP meetings is going to rocket him to the top of the GOP heap. And as ridiculous as his comments are it is just one more example of these clowns repeatedly making comments that make it soooo easy to portray the entire GOP as bent on controlling women’s reproductive organs. The religious right may want that but there are a substantial number of Republican and independent women who disagree. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1872 "2015-08-03T03:37:00Z")
Huck was elevated in 2008 by the first debate. I’d be willing to bet that will happen again. ---
**Author:** ![Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kolak_of_twilo/32/73_2.png) [@Kolak\_of\_Twilo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolak_of_Twilo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1873 "2015-08-03T03:53:14Z")
Noted. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1874 "2015-08-03T12:35:41Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Second-term Presidents are just as active, or not, as their party’s nominees want them to be. In 2008, John McCain clearly didn’t want to even be in the same zip code as Dubya; in 2000, Gore was a bit more willing to accept Clinton’s help (and some pollsters said afterwards he should’ve used Clinton even more to campaign for him in the South). > > Calling Obama an “establishment conservative” is just silly. I have a different recollection. The way I remember it, Gore didn’t want Clinton to campaign for him with the mistaken belief that the sex scandal would make him toxic. Rather, the American populace gave him favorable ratings and Gore’s reluctance in using him was one of the factors, if not the main factor, in his defeat. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1875 "2015-08-03T14:04:17Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Huck was elevated in 2008 by the first debate. I’d be willing to bet that will happen again. The elevation was due to his being relatively unknown in 2008. He no longer will get the benefit of an introduction to the voters, they already know him and have already rejected him before. Unless every question is about abortion or gay marriage, he won’t get a bump with the rabid base. ---
**Author:** ![CaptMurdock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/captmurdock/32/11736_2.png) [@CaptMurdock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaptMurdock)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1876 "2015-08-03T15:01:53Z")
> [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](#): > > I have a different recollection. The way I remember it, Gore didn’t want Clinton to campaign for him with the mistaken belief that the sex scandal would make him toxic. Rather, the American populace gave him favorable ratings and Gore’s reluctance in using him was one of the factors, if not the main factor, in his defeat. The fact that Gore chose Lieberman, one of the few Democrats who actually sided with the GOP on the impeachment, as his VP cements this. He couldn’t have done better (or worse) if he had chopped Clinton’s hand off. :smack: Talk about “it’s your election to lose.” ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1877 "2015-08-03T15:08:24Z")
IIRC Gore had Clinton campaign for him in Arkansas and Kentucky, and do some closed-door fundraising in late 2000, but not much more than that (I agree it was largely because of Gore’s concern/distaste over Lewinskygate). McCain didn’t want Bush to do _anything_ for him in 2008. So many things went wrong for Gore in a very close election that any single factor - having Clinton campaign more for him; paying more attention to Gore’s own home state of Tennessee so that he carried it; not having a butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County; not having Nader in the race; etc. - could have tipped the balance in his favor. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1878 "2015-08-03T15:22:47Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > So many things went wrong for Gore in a very close election that any single factor - having Clinton campaign more for him; paying more attention to Gore’s own home state of Tennessee so that he carried it; not having a butterfly ballot in Palm Beach County; not having Nader in the race; etc. - could have tipped the balance in his favor. It’s the Butterfly Effect . . . ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1879 "2015-08-04T17:04:23Z")
On bracing yourself to share a stage with Trump: _On Twitter last week, John Weaver, senior adviser to the Republican presidential campaign of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, drew this analogy: “Imagine a NASCAR driver mentally preparing for a race knowing one of the drivers will be drunk. That’s what prepping for this debate is like.”_ From this article about Fox News’s Chris Wallace, who will co-moderate (or try to): [http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/10-gop-candidates-will-be-trying-to-win-a-debate-chris-wallace-wants-to-make-that-tough-for-all-of-them/2015/08/03/ffd27cf2-eae8-4718-af4a-6c3c08cd1a33\_story.html](http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/10-gop-candidates-will-be-trying-to-win-a-debate-chris-wallace-wants-to-make-that-tough-for-all-of-them/2015/08/03/ffd27cf2-eae8-4718-af4a-6c3c08cd1a33_story.html) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1880 "2015-08-04T17:11:10Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > On bracing yourself to share a stage with Trump: > > _On Twitter last week, John Weaver, senior adviser to the Republican presidential campaign of Ohio Gov. John Kasich, drew this analogy: “Imagine a NASCAR driver mentally preparing for a race knowing one of the drivers will be drunk. That’s what prepping for this debate is like.”_ The problem is that some of the other team coaches will respond by suggesting that their drivers get even drunker. A massive pile-up is inevitable. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2015, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444/1881 "2015-08-06T02:30:34Z")
A liberal Ohio policy wonk on what she’ll be listening for during the first GOP debate: [Seeking Real Talk on Cleveland Debate Stage | HuffPost Latest News](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/amy-hanauer/seeking-real-talk-on-clev_b_7939816.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=93) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-2016-republican-candidates/709444.md?page=95)