By Mark Rhoads -
It seems likely that former Gov. Jeb Bush, Gov. John Kasich, and Dr. Ben Carson will compete for last place in the South Carolina primary results tonight. We know that Donald Trump has support from about one-third of GOP voters and we also know that he has a ceiling of about one-third.
The delegate count and not opinion polls will decide who the convention nominates. The GOP primary voters in the remaining states deserve a smaller debate field to help clarify differences among the top three candidates. So the time has come for Carson, Kasich, and Bush to honorably retire their campaigns.
Both Senators Cruz and Rubio have similar but not identical main-stream conservative voting records and they agree on more issues than divide them.
Senator Cruz is very articulate on his devotion to the Constitution and the rule of law. But unfortunately Cruz has not been well-served by his reckless campaign staff. He should fire them because his supporters deserve a more ethical campaign that fits the core principles of their candidate.
Senator Rubio is articulate on his pro-life position and foreign policy and his personal vision but he needs to clarify his long-term ideas on immigration. Mr. Trump is a liberal Democrat pretending to be a conservative. The voters on Super Tuesday will sort it all out.
Bush has dropped out and Carson will not qualify for the next debate in Houston and perhaps Kasich might not qualify also so there would only be three debaters on the stage.
Mark,
Respectfully, only 4% of the delegates have been distributed. As you said the delegates will decide the elections. We have 4 people that should stay in the race. Kasich is 2nd in polling in Michigan and people still have to beat him in the winner take all Ohio. He is doing well in Massachusetts, Vermont, Tennessee and Virginia that have races coming up. I think it is a wee bit premature to write his obituary. Let’s check back after March 15th.
Kasich doesn’t have a snowball’s chance, he is staying in it only to do the bidding of the RNC and steal as many delegates from Trump as he can.
And if the RNC can force a brokered convention through splitting enough votes, both Mr Kasich and Mr Jeb Bush still have potential in their presidential / vice presidential aspirations.
It is a rare candidate that is willing to forgo his own chance of election in order to assure the election of another who shares similar views. I was very impressed with Jeb Bush and his willingness to sacrifice for the greater good. Carson and Kasich are both good men who will “eventually” arrive at the same conclusion that Bush did. It is always hard to throw in the cards even when you know that you are holding a bad hand. Trump will continue to do everything he can do to encourage Carson and Kasich to continue on with their fool’s errand.
LakeCoConserv supporting Trump is the pure definition of Oxymoron. No pun intended, really.
You can write all the limp-wristed, panty-waist attempts at insults you want, it doesn’t improve your candidate Kasich’s chances one little bit.
Kasich is done, you’re just attempting to grab onto some coattails to ride to the convention (as you overly-self-important, dont-know-when-to-hang it-up-lifetime-politicians are wont to do) as a delegate and none of the actually viable candidates want you anywhere near them.
Have fun at your “my name is John Kasich, and I’m dropping out of the race” party which will take place either tomorrow night or next week.