Fiorina

MommyLiberty5013

Just saw on FB, she's suspending her campaign.

smerka

Christie is out too

nkjacobsma

I don't think Christie is confirmed yet. I expect Carson to jump ship after SC. Since Kasich did so well, I could see him and Bush holding on to the end...which will again, hurt Rubio and help Trump/Cruz.

MommyLiberty5013

Just got an email from Carson. They may be planning to hold on through Nevada.

BlueBirdMB

Christie is officially out.  I think this is only good news for beating Trump.  We have to limit the field.  Trump is almost nobody's second choice, so if we can cut people out, he can't win with only 30% or so.  It would be a travesty to allow Trump to win with 30% just because we have a field of candidates who can't "take one for the team" and get out of the way.

Carson has bad numbers, but he was in first place not too long ago and I suspect he raised a lot of money then that can keep him moving forward for a while.

Bush has more money than God, so yeah, he'll be in until the end.  He and his family seem completely befuddled about why he isn't doing well...

Kasich had his moment.  He keeps saying he's hoping Michigan will be his next NH, and I think he's willing to stick it out until then even if has to sleep in his car, but we'll see.  He has terrible numbers moving into other states and unlike NH where he worked his ass off doing appearances, he can't do that anymore.  I see this being the beginning of the end for him.

I still think it's going to end up with Cruz, Trump, and Rubio fighting it out and I think it will be a tight race until the end.  At least I hope so.  May be wishful thinking. 

vlagrl29

I heard about Carly and Christie today. Guess you were right about Christie quitting before Carson. I too believe it will come down to trump Cruz and Rubio.

smerka

I think it will be Bush or Kasich. I know it doesn't look possible now but in 2012, the Republican candidates that were a bit nutty, Bachmann, Cain, Santorum, etc, led and then disappeared. I think Carson is already on the way out and we won't hear from him much this year. Rubio won't recover from that debate. The real question is what will Trump do that finally pisses off his base?

vlagrl29

smerka said:

I think it will be Bush or Kasich. I know it doesn't look possible now but in 2012, the Republican candidates that were a bit nutty, Bachmann, Cain, Santorum, etc, led and then disappeared. I think Carson is already on the way out and we won't hear from him much this year. Rubio won't recover from that debate. The real question is what will Trump do that finally pisses off his base?

that's an interesting theory that I hadn't heard yet.  So weird that Rubio wouldn't recover from a small mix up in his debate.  

catsareniice1

They're debating again this Saturday night in South Carolina so we can see a shift again. When does S. Carolina vote?

vlagrl29

catsareniice1 said:

They're debating again this Saturday night in South Carolina so we can see a shift again. When does S. Carolina vote?

I believe its Feb 20th for Rs and Feb 27th for D's.  Since I'm home with strep I will watch the D debate tonight on PBS.  

nkjacobsma

I think Rubio can and will recover. I think that the media blew what happened with Rubio way out of proportion on purpose. He has performed brilliantly, professionally, and on his feet in every other debate. In my opinion, he was the only candidate who had not had a bad debate performance at that point. 

I read a theory that the media, which often tends to be more left-swinging, doesn't want Rubio to win because they believe he could beat the Dem nom. 

BlueBirdMB

It was completely blown out of proportion and every interview I've heard Rubio do since the person interviewing him as been like, "yeah I didn't quite understand why everyone was so upset about it.  It wasn't a big deal."  But the headlines are out there and people's minds have been changed.  He'll need to do something big to recover. 

smerka

If he really doesn't understand why people were making a big deal out of it, that is a big deal.

MommyLiberty5013

smerka said:

If he really doesn't understand why people were making a big deal out of it, that is a big deal.

"It was completely blown out of proportion and every interview I've heard Rubio do since the person interviewing him as been like, "yeah I didn't quite understand why everyone was so upset about it.  It wasn't a big deal."  But the headlines are out there and people's minds have been changed.  He'll need to do something big to recover.  "

I think her point is that the other people interviewing Rubio made these remarks, not Rubio himself. I could be wrong, that how I read it, though.

BlueBirdMB

The people who have been interviewing him have admitted they don't understand why it got blown out of proportion.  Rubio has accepted responsibility with a lot of humility.  I think the whole thing is ridiculous and just an example about how fickle the voting population can be.  Look at his positions and make an opinion, not a single negative headline.