I do agree that Pataki (who I don't dislike) Graham, Gilmore, Santorum, Perry have so little chance of ever moving up to even two percent that they are a complete waste of air time. Of that bunch I think Graham is the only one who even admits why he is still in the race which is to bring as much attention to his one issue, the War on Terror, as he possibly can. The rest of them are unlikely to have the funds to stay in the race for more than a few more weeks as none of them are likely to garner much support.
As for Graham, honestly, I believe his cause would be better served by spending time in the Senate than on the campaign trail. More exposure on CSPAN than he ever will on the campaign trail, and we bboth know that iasn't really saying much. I think, barring anything outrageous or unpredictable, the field will quickly pare down to Trump Carson Bush Rubio Fiorina Kasich and maybe Cruz and Paul... (the latter two should drop out now and avoid further embarrassment) Until then, its a clown car crapshoot as to who the flavor of the week in the media will be when they need filler space between Trump articles and soundbytes.
Most recent Iowa polls indicate 3 current members of the GOP clown car at 0% - that's ZERO percent.
Five others check in with 1-2%.
Why is anyone even looking at these clowns?
Why are these clowns still wasting their (and by extension OUR) time?
Exposure of their ideas that nobody cares about?
Maneuvering for a position on the eventual GOP ticket?
A cabinet post? A book deal? Or just an ego stroke?
Why is this still a thing
I think I can see why they are still in. When you look at your poll results two candidates that most people will agree have almost zero chance of winning each command 32% of the "first or second choice" I think most of the career politicians in the race realized how meaningless these early polls really are and hope that if they can somehow stay in the race as "other" candidates drop out, maybe they can pick up some of those votes and become relevant themselves.
I do agree that Pataki (who I don't dislike) Graham, Gilmore, Santorum, Perry have so little chance of ever moving up to even two percent that they are a complete waste of air time. Of that bunch I think Graham is the only one who even admits why he is still in the race which is to bring as much attention to his one issue, the War on Terror, as he possibly can. The rest of them are unlikely to have the funds to stay in the race for more than a few more weeks as none of them are likely to garner much support.
I do agree that Pataki (who I don't dislike) Graham, Gilmore, Santorum, Perry have so little chance of ever moving up to even two percent that they are a complete waste of air time. Of that bunch I think Graham is the only one who even admits why he is still in the race which is to bring as much attention to his one issue, the War on Terror, as he possibly can. The rest of them are unlikely to have the funds to stay in the race for more than a few more weeks as none of them are likely to garner much support.
As for Graham, honestly, I believe his cause would be better served by spending time in the Senate than on the campaign trail. More exposure on CSPAN than he ever will on the campaign trail, and we bboth know that iasn't really saying much.
I think, barring anything outrageous or unpredictable, the field will quickly pare down to Trump Carson Bush Rubio Fiorina Kasich and maybe Cruz and Paul... (the latter two should drop out now and avoid further embarrassment)
Until then, its a clown car crapshoot as to who the flavor of the week in the media will be when they need filler space between Trump articles and soundbytes.
Coverage he would never get on CSPAN
but I do pretty much agree with your assessment about the thinning of the field in the short term. I do wish that both Cruz and Paul would drop out now, but that is just wishful thinking I suppose.
A couple of other candidates that might stick around for a while are Huckabee, mainly to keep his name in lights to boost ratings for his "real" job, and not because he thinks he has even a prayer of winning and Christie might stick around for a while as well, just "because". I think it serves him right to be getting so little support after his RNC convention last time out where his speech was much more of his first campaign speech of the 2016 election than it was an endorsement of Romney, who was who he was supposed to be supporting.
I also don't really expect Carson to be there for that much longer. Trump is an anomaly, but an experienced public figure with loads of his own money to spend if he so chooses. Carson is not, and although I like many things about him, I just think his poor public speaking skills coupled with his lack of a "political machine" will spell an early exit for him as well despite his current standing in the polls.
This article explains why.
-- Modified on 8/30/2015 12:55:37 PM