Do you think he can pull off, starting as a candidate backed by the Tea Party, Libertarian then move to midstream?

-- Modified on 9/15/2014 2:57:06 PM

1. Rand Paul - Gardening
2. Ted Cruz - Head Janitor
3. Marco Rubio - Landscaping
4. Chris Christie - Kitchen
5. Rob Portman - Front End (Front Door, Limo Doors)
6. Donald Trump - Wardrobe selections
7. Mike HuckaBS - Morning prayers

Thanks for letting me know!

To be honest, I'm not sure. I guess my biggest question, within the question, is really, will the Tea Party forgive him, and stand behind him. It seems some candidates have been punished pretty severely for doing what he appears to be doing, but that was on the state and federal congressional level, not on the presidential level. Regarding moving target or flip-flopper, and think that was to do with who tries to label him first, and whether they succeed in making the flip-flopper tag stick.

Yes Matt, I think the Tea Party would stand behind and push their ticket(no matter who it is) all the way to the WH.

Jimmy Carter: "I'm a one-term Governor from Georgia and a peanut farmer.  I'm not a creature of Washington.  I can go in there and fix that mess!"

Ronald Reagan:  "I'm not from Washington.  I'm a former Governor of a big state, that's about as far away from Washington as you can get.  I'm an outsider.  Elect me and I'll go in there and fix that mess!"

Bill Clinton:  "I'm not from Washington.  I'm a Governor from a mid-size southern state.  Elect me and I'll get in there and fix that mess!"

George W. Bush:  "I'm not from Washington.  I'm a Republican Governor from Texas who worked successfully with a majority Democrat legislature.  I can bring people together.  Elect me and I'll get in there and fix that mess!"

Barack Obama:  "I'm not from Washington.  I'm a community organizer from Illinois.  If I can organize a community, I can organize a nation.  Elect me and I'll get in there and fix that mess!"

The only exception to this rule amongst POTUSs of the last forty years is Bush 41--manifestly a creature of Washington.

Aside from that, they all pose as "outsiders", anti-status quo, etc.

I'm not talking about the reality of their "insider-ness" here--just the way they try to portray themselves to the voting public.

See, at this point, Hillary will have a hard time portraying herself as an "outsider"--twenty-four years on the national stage will tend to do that to a person.

But most of the currently-identified GOP contenders still fare so poorly on name-recognition with the general public that nearly all of them will be able to sell an outsider/anti-status quo image to the public.

I was speaking as if the readers were not buying in. I think you understood that or you wouldn't have sourced those particular quotes. Given your main talking point of "insider-ness" - Money dominates Washington politics(along with all politics) I don't see this fact ever changing in my lifetime.