[spence]

Originally Posted by Jim in CT

I'm not sure Hilary is beatable in 2016.

That will be the excuse running up into the election to ensure expectations are set as low as is possible. If the GOP can't articulate their message and simply runs against the ACA they will lose.

Spence, "that guy in NJ" is a hard-line economic right winger who got elected in NJ, then got re-elected in a landslide. No small feat. You can dismiss him as "that guy" if it makes you feel good.

Christy isn't a "hard-line economic right winger". He's fiscally conservative but also willing to negotiate. In the eyes of his party that puts him on par with Che Guevara.

Republicans will continue to struggle in presidential elections, it's challenging when every TV station except for one spends 23 hours a day demonizing a single Republican candidate. This will continue until people are forced to realize what SS and Medicare are doing to our future, and I predict an economic collapse that is bad enough that no one can say with a straight face that the liberals were right and the conservatives were wrong. That could well be the death of liberalism, depending on the level of pain. When our unfunded liabilities, which we need to deal with before the Baby Boomers are gone, is measured in the tens of trillions, it ain't going to be pretty.

Yea, blame TV. It's not about a lack of ideas or collaborative spirit…it's about biased TV coverage

Keep beating that paper tiger.

Check you calendars...before 2016, is 2014. There is a reason why Spence wants to leapfrog past 2014 and talk about 2016. Republicans will continue to do well in midterms, because the media can't effectively demonize hundreds of Republicans running for Congress across the country. In 2010, when Obamacare was just a theory, the Democrats took a drubbing. Now it's real, and it's a disaster.

Who's leapfrogging anything? The GOP has a chance of picking up Senate seats primarily because so many blue states are up for grabs.

Ultimately it comes down to who shows up to vote, and the divisions within the GOP will likely keep many voters at home.

Yesterday in Florida, a special election was held to fill a vacant house seat. This was a district that Obama carried in 2012. The Republican candidate was out-spent by his opponent, who was a well-known Democrat in FL. The Republican candidate beat the Obamacare drum. He won. That is sending shivers down the spine of every Democrat who will be seriously contested in November.

Yes, the bellwether. Give me a break. For all your whining about the quality of news you sure are easily suckered into it.

This district was owned by a single republican for the past 4 decades. Jolly worked for Bill Young and ran as his successor. He was getting beat until outside cash helped him outspend the dem and eek out a narrow victory…that's going to be up for grabs again in November.

Really shivery stuff here.

The Democrats are really going to get their asses kicked in 2014. Those running in blue states will say of Obamacare, "mend it don't end it". Democrats running in purple and red states will say of Obamacare, "never heard of it". It's not going to work.

The GOP will pick up seats in both the House and Senate, not sure if they'll take the Senate, that's a tall order. But if you look at who's up for re-election (way more Dems than Republicans), it just couldn't be better timing for the people Spence dismisses as "the crackpots".

The message and tone of the Tea Party darlings is out of step with most of America. They are offensive to many Republicans. If I was making the odds I'd be looking at how the TP will divide the GOP...

What is an honest summary of the tea party agenda...fiscal responsibility, small federal government, individual liberty, free market capitalism, strong national defense, sanctity of human life. I don't see why any of that is controversial. Now, the tea party has produced some god-awful candidates, and they need to figure that out.

You left out the Tea Party's inability to process things like facts or reason. It's infatuation with contradiction and incoherence. That it's largely a corporate marketing phenomenon seeking not the best ideas but the most disruptive personalities.

The success of Tea Party candidates will likely be the primary factor if Hillary really is beatable or not.

-spence