Despite Email Flap Hillary Contines to Lead in Polls
March 18, 2015 - Recent revelations that Hillary Clinton used her own personal email account while she was Secretary of 
State seem so far to have little effect on her standing in the latest 2016 presidential poll
Clinton leads all potential Democratic presidential primary challengers by a large margin. Her closest competitor is Vice President Joe Biden who receives 15% compared to 62% for Clinton. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts often mentioned as possible presidential candidate received 10% compared with 67% for Clinton. Other possible challengers including former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont received less than 5%.
In potential November 2016 general election match up ups Clinton leads all potential Republican challengers.
When pitted against former Florida Governor Jeb Bush , Clinton receives 55% compared with 40% for Bush.
Clinton's closest competitor at this point in time is Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky who receives 43% compared with 
54% for Clinton. Other potential GOP challengers fare as followed, Clinton 55% vs Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker 40%, Clinton 55% vs former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee 41%, Clinton 56% vs Dr. Ben Carson 40%.
As far as the Republican presidential nomination race the potential candidates are all in tight pack with none earning above the support of 20% national wide. Bush leads with 16% followed by Walker with 13%, Paul at 13% , Huckabee at 12% and Carson at 9%.
Now clearly out of the top tier of candidates New Jersey Governor Chris Christie finds himself tied for 7% of support with Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Other potential Republican White House hopefuls include former Texas Governor Rick Perry at 4% and former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania with 1%.
In other presidential news, Hillary Clinton is busy hiring staff in the key early states of the presidential nominating process of Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. While Clinton continues to stay publicly that she has not decided yet to run for president in 2016, it is expected that she will formally launch her presidential campaign in April. Clinton's presidential headquarters should she run is expected to be located in Brooklyn, New York.
If No Hillary, Who Wins Democratic Nomination
March 4, 2015 - While its to early to see what the recent revelations about the use of a private email account by Hillary Clinton during her time as Secretary of State will have on her expected presidential run , it does beg the question if not Hillary who will the Democrats put up in 2016 as their nominee.
Should Hillary Clinton not run the person must likely to benefit would be Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Warren already has dedicated supporters who would rally around her would she run for president. Its possible that Warren's ardent supporters could propel her to victory in the Iowa caucuses should she run. With a win in Iowa , Warren could effectively lock up the nomination with a victory in New Hampshire. Being right next to her home state of Massachusetts , Warren is already known in New Hampshire which gives her a leg up on winning the first in the nation primary. After Hillary , Warren is the only candidate the Democrats have who voters in a general election would stand in long lines to vote for as they did twice for Obama. The prospect of making history by electing the first woman president, would give Warren a good chance of winning the general election.
Next up on the list of contenders would be Vice President Joe Biden. Its kind of hard to imagine that there is a great deal of hard core Biden supporters in the Democratic Party. Prone to making verbal gaffes , its difficult to imagine Biden as the parties nominee. Its even harder to see him winning in the general election. While voters wanting to make history would stand in line for either Clinton or Warren , its hard to see anyone standing in line for Biden. The chances of Biden winning the 2016 general election seems remote.
Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York , twice elected by large margins seems a likely contender should Warren not run 
and Biden falter along the way. Possessing a famous last name within the Democratic Party, Cuomo is a good orator and well known in Democratic circles. The last time the voters elected a Governor of New York president was Franklin D Roosevelt in 1932. Should he get the nomination Cuomo would have a better 50/50 chance at winning the general election.
After Warren , Biden and Cuomo the Democrats prospects look pretty slim. Former Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland has been been testing the waters about a possible presidential bid. O'Malley though is little known outside of Maryland and it hard right now to see how he would get the nomination or even win the general election.
The dream candidate for the Republicans is Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Elected as an Independent Sanders caucuses with the Democrats and has expressed an interest in running for the Democratic nomination. A long shot to win the nomination , seems hard to come up with a scenario where Sanders could prevail in a general election.
Paul Wins CPAC Straw Poll, Walker A Strong Second
March 1, 2015 - Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky came in first yesterday in the CPAC stray poll with a surging 
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker a strong second. Paul winning the CPAC straw poll for the third year in a row received 25.7% of the vote followed by Walker with 21.4. Walker's showing in the straw poll continues a series of good news for the Wisconsin Governor as he is currently leading in both Iowa and New Hampshire.
In third place in the straw poll was Senator Ted Cruz of Texas at 11.5% followed by Dr. Ben Carson at 11.4%.
The complete results of the CPAC straw poll are as follows:
- 25.7% Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky
- 21.4% Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker
- 11.4% Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
- 11.4% Dr. Ben Carson
- 8.3% former Florida Governor Jeb Bush
- 4.3% former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvanian
- 4.0% Senator Marco Rubio of Florida
- 3.5% Donald Trump
- 3.0% Carly Fiorina
- 2.8% New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
- 1.1% former Texas Governor Rick Perry
- 0.9% former Louisianan Governor Bobby Jindal
- 0.8% former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
- 0.3% former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
- 0.3% former Ambassador John Bolton
- 0.1% Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina
- 0.1% former New York Governor George Pataki
Walker Opens Up Lead In Iowa
February 26, 2015 - Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has opened up a significant lead in the latest polling out of Iowa. Walker is polling 25% of the vote with his closest competitor being Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky with 13%.
Tied for third place in Iowa is former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee and Dr. Ben Carson at 11%. In a surprising 5th place as the moment is former Florida Governor Jeb Bush with 10%.
In a distance sixth place is Senator Ted Cruz of Texas with 5%. Rounding out the bottom tier of the poll is New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania all at 4%.
Romney Ends Third Presidential Bid
January 30, 2015 – Three strikes and your out is the message Mitt Romney put out today when he announced 
that he would abandon a third run for the White House in 2016.
Romney, who served as Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007, sought the Republican Party nomination in 2008 and then won it in 2012. In the November general election Romney was defeated by President Barack Obama.
Essentially running for president for over the past ten years when he first became a Governor, Romney suffered a key defection to his third White House bid when a key Iowa staffer defected to the Jeb Bush camp earlier in the week.
The Romney camp as a rationale for a third presidential campaign would say that it took Ronald Reagan three tries to win the White House. The reality is that Romney is probably closer to the unsuccessful presidential campaigns of 
Hubert Humphrey than Reagan. In 1960 Humphrey lost the nomination to John F. Kennedy as Romney lost the nomination to John McCain in 2008. In 1968 Humphrey won the Democratic nomination, but lost the general election to Richard Nixon, as Romney lost the 2012 election to Obama.
In 1972, Humphrey mounted a third presidential campaign but lost to eventual Democratic Party nominee George McGovern. While Romney didn’t make it in a third attempt to the actual voting as Humphrey did, he essentially lost the underground presidential primary where candidates compete behind the scene for staff and financial donors.
Romney if he had continued in the race would have complicated the Republican party’s message that probable Democratic party nominee Hillary Clinton is yesterday news, something that could have been applied to Romney considering this was his third race.
Romney’s decision is probably good news to the Jeb Bush campaign as they both appealed to the same wing of the party. Should money people and staffers now begin a steady movement toward Bush that’s probably bad news for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie.