Race for the White House: Republican Edition
Elections are a lot like fantasy football, you build a team and hope your team has what it takes to make it through the season and eventually win the playoffs. This election cycle is not much different.
We started the 2016 campaign field with 17 candidates, and now we’re down to 13. As of Monday morning, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham suspended his campaign and withdrew his candidacy for president. While most people breathed a sigh of relief as another GOP candidate is gone from the roster of Republicans running for president, there were those who sighed over the fact the race is narrowing because there might not actually be a formidable candidate to promise a GOP victory come next November.
There is no doubt the current candidates have good qualities that make them viable candidates to lead our nation. Well, maybe all except for Donald Trump. I still can’t figure out what he’s doing running for president and can’t quite piece together where he found so many lemmings willing to support him. Nevertheless, he and the other 12 remaining GOP candidates are proving that in order to win the Republican nomination, they will need something more than money — they will need persistence.
From the onset, Republicans knew winning back the White House would not be a cake walk. It would take time and money. A lot of money. Even Florida’s favorite, Governor Jeb Bush, knew he needed a deep war chest before jumping in and declaring his bid for president. With so many candidates running for the Republican nomination, money is scarce and support is thin, unless you’re Donald Trump, who has copious amounts of both. However, those two things do not guarantee any candidate the Party’s nomination.
Primaries are quickly approaching and the ability to turn out the vote will show the strength of the candidate. Many people I talk to want to discuss Trump and his poll numbers and how he’s the Teflon candidate. But is he really? Trump is losing ground in Iowa and while he can turn out a rally of over a thousand people, how many are actually registered to vote? Will Trump supporters actually show up to vote in the primaries? At this point, no one has answers.
Everyone can read the headlines and watch the feud between candidates grow as their poll numbers rise and drop, but the truth is, no one has a clue what this election is going to look like after New Hampshire or even tomorrow. The landscape is changing on a daily basis and it’s still anybody’s election, unless of course you’re Rick Santorum. Rick, 2012 called and they’d like you back. Michelle Bachmann misses you.
The 2016 election is made up of issues such as immigration, foreign policy, ISIL, and gun control. The Republicans will need to choose a candidate who has the foreign policy knowledge and immigration stance to be able to sway the Independent vote, all while courting the conservative base of the GOP. It’s not an easy task, but it can be done with the right candidate. However, right now, my advice to the 13 candidates is to hang in there. This election cycle has broken the mold in terms of how to win the GOP nomination, and, if you’re patient, you just may come out on top.