Since the turn of the century the mainstay and established GOP powerhouses are slow when it comes to running Presidential elections and from the looks of things 2016 is going to no different.
Back in 2008 the GOP found themselves so focused on the Hillary Clinton Campaign that they failed to take notice or even respect the fact that the rising star of Barack Obama was gaining ground with his ability to organize an army of pavement pounders to get out his message --Even Hillary herself was caught off guard. Despite the fact that his background was community organizer. In the end the GOP ran their standard "trusted" campaign with the McCain nom. To combat Obama and to try to get ahead of their "supposed" war on women (never mind the Clintons' version) lead to the GOP's great faux pas in that of making Sarah Palin the VP choice. 2012, in the end, would be no different despite their wins in the mid-terms, with their pick in the stiff, robotic form of Mitt Romney. The only smart thing they seemed to do back in '12 was try to court the younger vote, break the mold that has been the stagnating the Republicans for two decades that they are old, rich and white with the some what unlikable Paul Ryan (hey, he digs "Rage Against the Machine").
Now we turn to 2016. Obama is done. Termed out. who will precede him to the oval office. And the cast of characters couldn't be more vast. Early on the media declared that the race was pretty over and was going to be Jeb Bush v. Hillary Clinton even before either candidate threw their hats into the proverbial ring. While the two played coy, pretending if they had to debate with themselves about if they wanted to get in, although we all knew that was going to be the case. Hillary at first was the media's and self declared nomination for the Demarcates and Jeb believed this to be the case for him as well. Then two things happened. Two possibly the strangest things in modern politics: Enter Socialist Bernie Sanders and businessman and media whore Donald Trump.
At first Trump wasn't taken seriously. Looked on as possibly another Ralph Nader or if he ran as an independent maybe even a Ross Perot, as he descended down his golden escalator for his big announcement. But leave it to Trump to trump the field of naysayers.
Since his announcement of running for President, Trump has been a thorn in the side of pretty much everyone. Leaving people in both parties and the media scratching their heads in wonderment.
To look at the Trump campaign you would think it was set for disaster from the onset. But in truth his weaknesses are some of his strengths. The real secret to his success is that Trump has been a media figure since the 1980's. And has been on the forefront of social media. Back in '08 the media was all about Obama and his Blackberry. How he would have to give it up. By '12 the Demarcates were running Facebook and Twitter ads recruiting the young to vote while the Republicans were still playing catch up. (If you look back as far as the 90's and Bill Clinton, where you saw him on MTV and late night TV playing the sax while the GOP dismissed him for it). Trump has been a household name for the last decade just with his Reality Television program The Apprentice. Everyone knows who Trump is. Knows what he's about. How he acts. At the moment their are no real skeletons waiting in the closet to come and derail his juggernaut. The man has no filter when it comes to his mouth --another thing that in the past has upset and killed other candidates-- and pretty much says whatever is on his mind. Trump has tapped a vein in today's society that is tired of the usual brand of bullshit politics. How they tell you what you want to hear and in the end have their own agenda. Or end up selling themselves too much and effectively tying themselves to the wrong agenda once in office. Which is another of his strengths --and something that Romney back in '12 failed to do: Donald Trump is mostly financing his entire campaign. And with Campaign strategies that Cruz and Rubio seem to be running, how until late, the field of prospective candidates is (was) so wide their thinking is all I have to do is stay close to the top spot and when the others start to fall away I'll be able to pick up momentum and votes. And if that didn't work out hope for a brokered convention where Cruz and Rubio stand a better chance than Trump for getting the party's nom. It's no wonder why Trump has dominated the race.
But since the Iowa Caucus (the only loss for Trump) and how the field has began to shrink (now down to 5) this strategy doesn't seem to be panning out the way they were hoping. The big boost both Cruz and Rubio were hoping for when Jeb finally called it quits didn't materialize. If anything it made the two other front runners look somewhat weaker. Out of the all the candidates only Cruz looks to win his home state. While Rubio did have a good last debate, acting like a man who wants to be president, Trump still has 16 point lead [02/25/16] on him with Cruz not far behind. On top of all that, Rubio's momentum from his debate win was cut short with Trump trotting out one time President hopeful Chris Christy with his endorsement for Trump.
Feelings are that by the March 15th primaries the race for the GOP nomination will be locked in for Trump.
Is Trump a breathe of fresh air that the GOP needs if it wants to stay viable in the future? Or is this the beginning of the end of the Grand Ol' Party built on Lincoln? Fact is both are answers are correct. The Repubs need a new face. At first the Tea Party seemed to be the answer until it fell apart by being hijacked by big money people. However, when you look at the other side of the aisle and that of the Dems, they seem to be facing the same problems. Bernie Sanders has upset the cart that has kept the DNC in power for the last decade --first with effectively turning the last two years of Bush into lame duck and 8 in the oval office. Sanders has shown cracks that the Demarcates would rather stay hidden (with their own big money people issues). They are losing the young (their mainstay for years now) for promises of a better cheaper tomorrow as we see large crowds out for Bernie Sanders rallies and his #FeeltheBern dominate social media. One has to stop and think about why Sanders isn't on top of the DNC heap the same way Trump is for the GOP. Is it that the young fail to get out and vote or is it media bias as some claim. One fact is that Hillary has done a better job capture the African-American vote. In that case there, Sanders has a long road ahead for the nom which seems further and further away from him after each primary. However, the longer he stays in the race the Hillary Campaign seems to take more cracks. Giving the GOP a different set of talking points other than Benhazi.
If the 2016 run for the white house has showed us anything is that people are done with status quo.
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