If keeping up with the growing field of 2016 Republican presidential candidates is confusing, longtime GOP adviser Ron Bonjean has a suggestion on how to approach it.
“I liken it to a car race, like NASCAR,” he said. “Some drivers get noticed early, some break down. Some fans watch all 500 laps, others just for crashes. But in the end, it’s just the last five laps that matter.”
Top party analyst and former Mitt Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said that each of the 10 Republicans already in the race and the five or so still planning to join are equally confused on what voters want and how to grab their attention.
“There seems to be an emerging appetite for a new face and potentially someone who can draw a generational contrast with Hillary Clinton,” said Madden, a regular CNN commentator. But, he added, it “still remains to be seen, though, if that is an interest that wanes and whether or not a voter premium on experience returns.”
Pollster David Winston, who is not affiliated with any candidate, said the early primary fight has provided a “great field” of candidates. But the rubber hits the road in August, when the first Fox debate will be held, followed by CNN’s in September.
“That’s what matters most,” Winston said. “It is a defining moment. It’s huge.” The Fox debate, Aug. 6, is especially important because only the top 10 will be allowed in, a likely crushing blow to eight lower-tier Republicans.
And once that occurs, GOP communications guru Brian Walsh added, it will become even easier to differentiate the candidates when the campaigns start airing TV ads. “A lot of it is name recognition at the moment, though I wonder how much that means further down the road when the campaign and ads really begin in earnest,” he said.
SEN. MIKE LEE SEES THREAT TO NONPROFIT RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS
This month’s likely Supreme Court decision on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage could wipe out the nonprofit status of some 25,000 religious schools and colleges in America, and Utah Sen. Mike Lee is moving fast to protect their tax-exempt status.
Lee told the Washington Examiner that he plans to introduce legislation to protect religiously affiliated institutions after President Obama’s top lawyer warned it would become a huge issue if the court rules for same-sex marriage over the objections of many of the institutions.
“I don’t know if ‘assault’ is the right word, but I took Solicitor General [Donald] Verrilli at his word when he said in oral arguments before the court that if the definition of marriage was changed to include same-sex unions, then absolutely the nonprofit status of many religious institutions would be at risk,” the Republican said.
Faced with losing money, many of the threatened institutions said it’s not a tough choice. “We will not jettison our convictions for any tax benefit,” said Samuel Oliver, president of Tennessee’s Union University.
IT’S STARTED: CHELSEA CLINTON FOR PRESIDENT
Since she has already expressed an openness to running for Senate in New York, it only makes sense that buzz would begin over Chelsea Clinton one day becoming president.
Democrats promoting a Clinton dynasty have whispered about it, but now a prominent Republican pundit is openly raising the issue.
In his new book The Queen, top radio talker Hugh Hewitt lays it out in memo style to Hillary Clinton. An advance sales copy was provided to the Examiner.
He spells out a twisted route to the Oval Office that begins with Hillary, as president, picking a vice president who doesn’t have the usual ambitions and would step aside during re-election. Hewitt suggests Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, his former Harvard University classmate.
Once in office, Hillary Clinton would then name New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand to the Supreme Court when an opening occurred and make sure Chelsea Clinton was appointed as her replacement.
The final move would be to the vice presidency for Chelsea, either if Hillary dies and Patrick names Chelsea or he steps aside to allow the mother-daughter ticket. “How long can Chelsea go? As long as she wants,” Hewitt wrote.
QUOTE:
“This is not like a one-shot deal. I am like the problem relative that you invite for holidays and you are hoping maybe he won’t come, and you know they’re always the first one to show up.”
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in Greenville, S.C., as he readies a likely Republican presidential bid
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
