The "Who is running?" tea leaves thread

[Mr. Morden]

Dean is returning to Iowa:

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2013/08/15/whats-howard-dean-doing-in-iowa

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After a drought of 2016er visits to Iowa on the Democratic side since the first of the year, we now have recent visits to the state by Klobuchar, Biden, and now Dean.

[Atlas Has Shrugged]

Christie took shots at Jindal and Paul.

That fat  is starting to annoy me. There is a differance between stating your raw, honest opinion, which Christie used to do, and sucking the balls of the establishment because he thinks he is Mitt Romney's heir for some reason.

[RogueBeaver]

Paul has returned fire through an adviser: "So if I translate Gov. Christie correctly, we shouldn't be the party of ideas," Paul adviser Doug Stafford told CNN in an email. "We shouldn't care what we stand for or even if we stand for anything. We reject that idea. Content-free so-called 'pragmatism' is the problem, not the solution." So the debate exchanges will be a repeat of the squabbles between Rudy and Ron Paul 5 years ago.

Of course Christie is Romney's heir: Northeastern center-right establishmentarian. Now granted he's a far better pol and more conservative than Romney, but they still occupy the same primary slot.

[morgieb]

How come there's little interest in what Democrats do to prep for President?

Hillary factor?

[RogueBeaver]

Yeah. As for Christie, while I'm much closer to him than Paul on the FP argument I don't think trying to shut down debate on this or any ideological subject is healthy. He couldn't have forgotten the FP debate where Romney was either mishmash or disagreeing with Obama on implementation rather than policy, Russia aside?

[RogueBeaver]

Uhh, Scott Brown to IA. Headline grabbing.

[Maxwell]

Uhh, Scott Brown to IA. Headline grabbing.

yeah... No. Chris Christie already has the base that Scott Brown is looking to, and Brown has angered a lot of people he once was supported by. I can't see it.

[Mr. Morden]

Klobuchar, in Iowa, sidesteps the question when asked about her 2016 intentions, saying that she's happy where she is, but that speculation about her future is "nice":

http://blogs.desmoinesregister.com/dmr/index.php/2013/08/16/2016-watch-in-iowa-klobuchar-says-its-nice-when-people-talk-about-presidential-bid/article

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On Hillary Clinton, Klobuchar said:

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[Eraserhead]

Doctor Dean goes back to the scene of the crime

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/08/15/howard-dean-returning-to-iowa/

I suppose there is a decent chance that he'll end up being Hillary's main opposition.

[Reluctant Republican]

It sounds to me as though Klobuchar is getting impatient at having to defer to Clinton.

How much longer can Clinton afford to wait before other dems get restless? And does it even matter?

[RogueBeaver]

More on Scott Brown's headline-grabbing in IA. A better way would be running for guv, Senator.

[Bull Moose Base]

More on Scott Brown's headline-grabbing in IA. A better way would be running for guv, Senator.

Why shouldn't we think he's for real?

[RogueBeaver]

For the same reason we discounted his musings about running against Shaheen?

[Bull Moose Base]

For the same reason we discounted his musings about running against Shaheen?

unless this is the reason he passed on that race.

[Reluctant Republican]

Isn't Brown fairly pro choice though? I can't see him running unless he shifts on that. And even if he did, he'd be attacked for it.

[Mr. Morden]

It sounds to me as though Klobuchar is getting impatient at having to defer to Clinton.

How much longer can Clinton afford to wait before other dems get restless? And does it even matter?

It doesn't matter.  The other Dems can start doing some early state politicking just in case Clinton decides not to run.  We're seeing that start up now.  (Actually, it started up last year, when O'Malley, Patrick, Schweitzer, Klobuchar, etc. were visiting the early primary states, but went into hibernation from about Nov. 2012 until now.)  If Clinton decides not to run, they'll then be ready to go.  But if Clinton does run, then she'll still (mostly) clear the field, and those Dems with presidential aspirations will go into hibernation again.....ready to emerge in 2017 to prepare for 2020 if Clinton ends up losing the general election this time around.

[Mr. Morden]

Frank Bruni's latest column in the NY Times reports from Bush-world on Jeb's 2016 considerations:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/opinion/sunday/bruni-the-pasts-future-republican.html?_r=1&

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The column also suggests that while Christie also has a lot of support among big money GOP donors, not all of them are as keen on him, and Bush might be a good alternative for them, if he's interested.  It sounds a bit like Bush is more open to running if the GOP elite collectively decides that Christie and Rubio are both going to be duds.

[Mr. Morden]

More on Scott Brown's headline-grabbing in IA. A better way would be running for guv, Senator.

He sounds remarkably open to a run with those quotes:

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Of course, that doesn't automatically mean that the implied presidential ambition is "real".  We'll have to wait and see.

[Mr. Morden]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323423804579020781151204004.html

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[Mr. Morden]

Scott Brown:

link

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[Mr. Morden]

The Boston Herald on the GOP proto-campaigns in Iowa:

link

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[Mr. Morden]

Robert Costa of National Review has a must-read on Christie's (seemingly successful) hard court press to get in the good graces of the GOP elite, following their disappointment with him over his cozying up to Obama:

http://nationalreview.com/article/356215/christie-establishment-darling-robert-costa

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On the RNC bigwigs' reaction to Christie's speech at this month's RNC summer meeting:

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[RogueBeaver]

Cruz, Paul, Rubio, Walker will attend a DC fundraiser for Branstad 9/24. Christie, Jindal and Ryan had signed on as sponsors but had scheduling conflicts.

[RogueBeaver]

Rubio to CA for fundraising this week.

[Mr. Morden]

Howard Dean is visiting New Hampshire next month:

http://dailycaller.com/2013/08/20/howard-dean-testing-the-waters-in-iowa-and-new-hampshire/

This follows his visit to Iowa this month, making him the first 2016er on the Democratic side to visit both early primary states this year.  (Though O'Malley, Schweitzer, and probably one or two others who I'm forgetting, did it last year.)

Meanwhile, Scott Walker is asked about his 2016 plans, and he dodges the question, saying that it's too early to speculate:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/356240/walker-gop-focus-2014-races-not-2016-andrew-johnson

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