Who could beat Hillary?

[milhouse24]

Whoever appeals more to the Hispanic voters and can speak better Spanish.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Nobody, by virtue of her last name.

[Mister Mets]

It depends on the climate.

Kelly Ayotte, Chris Christie, Jon Huntsman and Susana Martinez seem like they would have a good shot even if factors give a slight edge to a generic Democrat.

Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal, Bob McDonnell, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan could win half the time if a generic Republican and generic Democrat are tied.

John Kasich and Mike Pence would run a few points behind Generic Republican.

Ken Cucinelli, Nikki Haley and Rick Santorum would need a 1980/ 2008 type anti-incumbent climate to have a shot.

Sarah Palin would need more than that.

Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee have the potential to win when the party has no business doing so, or to lose in a landslide, for completely different reasons.

[Ty440]

Again , other than slightly lower  black turnout, which demographic will Hillary not match or exceed Obama's numbers from 2012



White Men   ( no racism, Appalachian whites love the Clintons)
White Women (First women President, duh)
Hispanics   (Hispanics love Hillary, see the 2008 Primaries)
Asians        (maybe Republicans can make inroads, probably not enough to matter)

2016 will see a less white , more brown America, it is literally impossible for Hilary to lose the General barring some bombshell or a Mexican-American Republican version of Obama suddenly ascends.

[milhouse24]

Again , other than slightly lower  black turnout, which demographic will Hillary not match or exceed Obama's numbers from 2012



White Men   ( no racism, Appalachian whites love the Clintons)
White Women (First women President, duh)
Hispanics   (Hispanics love Hillary, see the 2008 Primaries)
Asians        (maybe Republicans can make inroads, probably not enough to matter)

2016 will see a less white , more brown America, it is literally impossible for Hilary to lose the General barring some bombshell or a Mexican-American Republican version of Obama suddenly ascends.

White men could very well stick with the Republican party again, especially if they like Jeb Bush or Rubio more. 
Hispanics may also go to the Republicans if Jeb or Rubio are on the ticket. 
Black voters will certainly not come out as high for Hillary, even if Deval is her VP. 
College voters won't come out for Hillary.
We'll have to wait and see, but I don't think Hillary is as strong with the "core constituency" that won Obama his 2nd term.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Again , other than slightly lower  black turnout, which demographic will Hillary not match or exceed Obama's numbers from 2012



White Men   ( no racism, Appalachian whites love the Clintons)
White Women (First women President, duh)
Hispanics   (Hispanics love Hillary, see the 2008 Primaries)
Asians        (maybe Republicans can make inroads, probably not enough to matter)

2016 will see a less white , more brown America, it is literally impossible for Hilary to lose the General barring some bombshell or a Mexican-American Republican version of Obama suddenly ascends.

White men could very well stick with the Republican party again, especially if they like Jeb Bush or Rubio more. 
Hispanics may also go to the Republicans if Jeb or Rubio are on the ticket. 
Black voters will certainly not come out as high for Hillary, even if Deval is her VP. 
College voters won't come out for Hillary.
We'll have to wait and see, but I don't think Hillary is as strong with the "core constituency" that won Obama his 2nd term.

Hispanics are not going to vote Republican just because a Hispanic is on the ticket. If the party was less anti-immigrant, a Hispanic would help, but as it stands, Clinton may get >70% again.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Again , other than slightly lower  black turnout, which demographic will Hillary not match or exceed Obama's numbers from 2012



White Men   ( no racism, Appalachian whites love the Clintons)
White Women (First women President, duh)
Hispanics   (Hispanics love Hillary, see the 2008 Primaries)
Asians        (maybe Republicans can make inroads, probably not enough to matter)

2016 will see a less white , more brown America, it is literally impossible for Hilary to lose the General barring some bombshell or a Mexican-American Republican version of Obama suddenly ascends.

White males didn't vote against Obama because of racism; they voted against him because they dislike his far-left policies.  The guy got elected twice; how's that for a racist country?

[everybodyvote]

It depends on the climate.

Kelly Ayotte, Chris Christie, Jon Huntsman and Susana Martinez seem like they would have a good shot even if factors give a slight edge to a generic Democrat.

Jeb Bush, Bobby Jindal, Bob McDonnell, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan could win half the time if a generic Republican and generic Democrat are tied.

John Kasich and Mike Pence would run a few points behind Generic Republican.

Ken Cucinelli, Nikki Haley and Rick Santorum would need a 1980/ 2008 type anti-incumbent climate to have a shot.

Sarah Palin would need more than that.

Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee have the potential to win when the party has no business doing so, or to lose in a landslide, for completely different reasons.

Could you explain Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee?

[Ty440]

Again , other than slightly lower  black turnout, which demographic will Hillary not match or exceed Obama's numbers from 2012



White Men   ( no racism, Appalachian whites love the Clintons)
White Women (First women President, duh)
Hispanics   (Hispanics love Hillary, see the 2008 Primaries)
Asians        (maybe Republicans can make inroads, probably not enough to matter)

2016 will see a less white , more brown America, it is literally impossible for Hilary to lose the General barring some bombshell or a Mexican-American Republican version of Obama suddenly ascends.

White males didn't vote against Obama because of racism; they voted against him because they dislike his far-left policies.  The guy got elected twice; how's that for a racist country?

Do you believe Obama did not lose a single vote simply because of the color of his skin, not one ? Race was not a factor what so ever??

[Blackacre]

Huntsman might, if he distances himself from the rest of his party. Christie could as well. Aside from that.... nope

[Fuzzy Bear]

No one has a chance unless the GOP is able to find the most qualified candidate and not let the imbecles from the Tea Party or religious extremists force a candidate to jump through pariticular hoops that make him/her unelectable.

Condeleeza Rice, Lamar Alexander, Rob Portman, Bobby Jindal, and Haley Barbour are all credible candidates ready from day one.  None of them are Tea Party faves, but the Tea Party is ruining the GOP.  Mitt Romney, for all his ineptitude, MIGHT have won had he not boxed himself in trying to be something he wasn't and ran as a moderate conservative with credibility.  The idea that voters reject the GOP because it is not sufficiently conservative is hokum.  The GOP is being rejected because swing voters think its candidates are quacks.

[Velasco]

White males didn't vote against Obama because of racism; they voted against him because they dislike his far-left policies.  The guy got elected twice; how's that for a racist country?

Probably a socialist revolution happened in the USA in the last four years but, honestly, I didn't notice.

[bedstuy]

2016 is very far away.  Compare November 2004 and November 2008, those were completely different political environments.  Nobody knows what will happen before the 2016 election. 

But, if we're making a prediction, we have to think about a few variables. 

1. How strong of a candidate was Obama in 2012? 
2. How strong of a pro-Democratic environment was 2012?
3. How strong of a candidate was Romney?
4. What is the likely strength of a 2016 Republican candidate compared to Romney? 

My general impression is that:

1. Obama was a decent candidate but appealed to a limited population.  Hillary appeals to a much broader group of people.
2. 2016 will be a better environment for a Democrat than 2012.
3. Romney was a strong candidate compared to the universe of candidates who can win the Republican nomination,
4. The 2016 candidate will probably be weaker. 

Given that, and the fact that Obama won by a decent margin, Hillary should be favored against any Republican.  Hillary would over-perform Obama among: Women, latent racists, David Brooks-type poseur moderates and people nostalgic for the 90s.  The Clinton campaign would have this great redemption narrative.  People love second-chances.  I think her ceiling is above 400 EVs.

Among the potential Republicans, only Christie seems like a threat.

[milhouse24]

I'm sure the NRA will do everything it can to beat Hillary and the Democrats.  Especially now that Gun control legislation will be passed in the next 2 years. 

The NRA helped GW Bush get elected over Gore. 

I think Gun control is a necessity for Obama, but if it passes, it will make Hillary's election very, very difficult. 

Hillary is playing everything very safe now.  She's successfully avoided a "potentially embarrassing" house committee on Benghazi.  She's just trying to get out the door before any other diplomatic relations hurt her political ambitions.

[Keep cool-idge]

This is the greatest thing ever!
Hillary winning back whitemen!
Hillary doing okay in coal country!
Chris Christine is the only one who can beat Hillary lol!
Chris Christine or anyone from New York area can't win the rust belt lol!
The GOP will never win again!
Hillary can't be beat unless something big comes out lol!

[America's Sweetheart ❤/𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖙𝖞 𝖂𝖆𝖗𝖗𝖎𝖔𝖗]

This is the greatest thing ever!
Hillary winning back whitemen!
Hillary doing okay in coal country!
Chris Christine is the only one who can beat Hillary lol!
Chris Christine or anyone from New York area can't win the rust belt lol!
The GOP will never win again!
Hillary can't be beat unless something big comes out lol!

I remember when Hillary Clinton would have been favored to win states like West Virginia and Arkansas over McCain... how the times have changed.

[Keep cool-idge]

This is the greatest thing ever!
Hillary winning back whitemen!
Hillary doing okay in coal country!
Chris Christine is the only one who can beat Hillary lol!
Chris Christine or anyone from New York area can't win the rust belt lol!
The GOP will never win again!
Hillary can't be beat unless something big comes out lol!

I remember when Hillary Clinton would have been favored to win states like West Virginia and Arkansas over McCain... how the times have changed.

Oh no obama has won the democrat nomination he will surely lose all the rust belt like Pennsylvania,Ohio,Michigan and even New Jersey lol.
You are forgetting that Hillary was also going to win Kentucky and possibly make Tennessee blue and that all the rest belt will be blue by double digits lol.

[Pericles]

This is the greatest thing ever!
Hillary winning back whitemen!
Hillary doing okay in coal country!
Chris Christine is the only one who can beat Hillary lol!
Chris Christine or anyone from New York area can't win the rust belt lol!
The GOP will never win again!
Hillary can't be beat unless something big comes out lol!

Emails.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

This is the greatest thing ever!
Hillary winning back whitemen!
Hillary doing okay in coal country!
Chris Christine is the only one who can beat Hillary lol!
Chris Christine or anyone from New York area can't win the rust belt lol!
The GOP will never win again!
Hillary can't be beat unless something big comes out lol!

Emails.

Yeah, we forgot that the media would be inclined to over-hype non-issues.

[Keep cool-idge]

This is the greatest thing ever!
Hillary winning back whitemen!
Hillary doing okay in coal country!
Chris Christine is the only one who can beat Hillary lol!
Chris Christine or anyone from New York area can't win the rust belt lol!
The GOP will never win again!
Hillary can't be beat unless something big comes out lol!

Emails.

Yea read all the comments on this post it's golden how funny it is 4 and a half years later.

[Deblano]

My everything hurts after reading this.

[catographer]

Hillary can beat herself if she decides to give the reins of her campaign again to the likes of Penn, Solis-Doyle and the rest of her 2008 gang.

I pretty much agree with the sentiment that the only person that could be Hillary is Hillary (or the people who created the terrible candidate that was '08 Hillary).

Hillary is popular because she is seen as a tough, no nonsense fighter was is kicking ass in man's world.  This is her calling card--and the source of people's respect.

If she suddenly reverts to '08 Hillary (happy go lucky, phony, clap clap point pointing) when the campaign approaches, her numbers very well may collapse back to Earth.

But if she continues to BE HERSELF (which in '08 was seen as a liability (bitch label), but now is likely to be seen as an attribute (badass reputation) she could win the White House with historic numbers.

This is my favorite, most prescient comment. Unfortunately instead of being the "tough, no nonsense fighter" she reverted to "happy go lucky, phony, clap clap point pointing." People saw her as fake and scripted and too politician. If she had been more honest with herself, less scripted then I think she could've battled the perception that she was corrupt and dishonest. She wasn't viewed as corrupt and dishonest so much because she did corrupt things and lied a lot (tho she did a bit), but more because her attitude was very establishment and people placed their cynicism about career politicians into her.

[Coraxion]

Only Christie, presuming that we are at the height of the roaring Obama Recovery (as is reasonable to predict) and Clinton has no major scandals between now and election day 2016.

Dammit! You jinxed it.

[Co-Chair Bagel23]

What about that guy who made a cameo in the home alone movie guys?

[super6646]

What about that guy who made a cameo in the home alone movie guys?

Hahahahahahaha!

Come on guys... focus on the "real" candidates.