Who has a better line-up of Possible Candidates for 2016?

[MrMittens]

If you look at the wiki page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_2016

I would say there is a slight Republican edge.

[Sol]

Probably the Republicans.

[This user has not been convicted of 34 felonies]

Republicans.

[Donerail]

Republicans.

[BlueSwan]

I don't think the GOP has any candidates as strong as Hillary Clinton.

I don't think the Dems have any candidates that are as big a joke as some on that GOP list (like Trump, Bachmann, Palin, etc).

However, I will concede that the GOP probably has the advantage in the broad field between those two extremes.

[TomC]

Republicans have the better line-up but Democrats have the best candidate.

[tmthforu94]

Republicans have the better line-up but Democrats have the best candidate.

^^^Ripped the words right out of my mouth. Barring "our world healing" under the Obama administration, I think Republicans have a significant edge in 2016 if Hillary doesn't run. I think we have a lot of very electable candidates, and we're almost certain to have a minority or female on the ticket.

[Mister Mets]

Republicans, mainly because of 2009 and 2010.

But there is the argument that the overall quality of the candidates doesn't matter as much as having one good candidate. And I admit that Hillary Clinton is impressive. As are Mark Warner, and Andrew Cuomo.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Us if Hillary runs. Otherwise it's fairly even.

[California8429]

Republicans outside of Hillary. Though there may be a repeated 08 where she falls to an unknown...as seems to happen for the democrats.

[BM]

There's a strong possibility the best Republicans don't run OR don't perform as well on the national stage as expected. I could see both of these events applying to Rice, Rubio, Christie, Martinez, Bush, Haley, Jindal, etc. Basically all of the "stars"

Democrats on the other hand have a candidate who has proven herself in battle and become a beloved icon in American politics.

But either way, you might get stuck with Ryan or Santorum in which case many of the Democrats listed would be favored. I'll admit the Republican field looks better as a whole right now, but if there's one thing that's true about longterm political predictions it's that they're usually wrong

[MrMittens]

There's a strong possibility the best Republicans don't run OR don't perform as well on the national stage as expected. I could see both of these events applying to Rice, Rubio, Christie, Martinez, Bush, Haley, Jindal, etc. Basically all of the "stars"

Democrats on the other hand have a candidate who has proven herself in battle and become a beloved icon in American politics.

But either way, you might get stuck with Ryan or Santorum in which case many of the Democrats listed would be favored. I'll admit the Republican field looks better as a whole right now, but if there's one thing that's true about longterm political predictions it's that they're usually wrong

Good point. Still I would say this must be the best prospective field for the GOP in a long time.

[BM]

I'll agree with that. 2008 and 2012 were abysmal for Republicans.

[Mister Mets]

There's a strong possibility the best Republicans don't run OR don't perform as well on the national stage as expected. I could see both of these events applying to Rice, Rubio, Christie, Martinez, Bush, Haley, Jindal, etc. Basically all of the "stars"

Democrats on the other hand have a candidate who has proven herself in battle and become a beloved icon in American politics.

But either way, you might get stuck with Ryan or Santorum in which case many of the Democrats listed would be favored. I'll admit the Republican field looks better as a whole right now, but if there's one thing that's true about longterm political predictions it's that they're usually wrong

One problem for beloved icons is that they lose much of their popularity when they become presidential contenders. See John McCain and Paul Ryan. At that point, they're standing in the way of the policy goals at least 45% of the population supports.

[dspNY]

GOP should have the edge, but if Hillary runs and is buoyed by a recovered or rapidly improving economy, the GOP candidate for 2016 will be a sacrificial lamb

[sentinel]

Hillary has to run like Arnold Vinick in the West Wing and hope to god her opponent isn't the Republican's Matt Santos.

[bedstuy]

For me, you're not a top-tier candidate at this point unless: you have a national following, net favorable approval ratings, Presidential gravitas/chops & you stand a good chance of being nominated if you ran.  People from that list that meet those criteria:

Republicans: Christie
Democrats: Clinton

Daniels, Jindal, Schweitzer, Warner, etc might grow into top-tier contenders as we get towards 2016.  But at this point, they just have potential. 

Also, the following people stand almost zero chance of becoming President:  Franken, Villaraigosa, Wasserman-Schultz, Bachmann, Brownback, Palin, Perry, Petraeus, Santorum, Trump.  Let's not kid ourselves. 

[Blue3]

Hillary>Republicans>Democrats

[Cryptic]

Overall, Republicans have a slight advantage in terms of the number of good candidates, but Democrats have some good candidates too and not just Hillary.  I think it's very likely the nominees on both sides will be strong candidates.  2016 should be an exciting election.   

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

If Hillary doesn't run, Republicans have the best field. Because of the 2010 midterms, they defeated a lot of our rising stars.

[Blue3]

If Hillary doesn't run, Republicans have the best field. Because of the 2010 midterms, they defeated a lot of our rising stars.

I honestly don't recall any of the Democrats' rising stars being defeated in Senate or Governor races, who do you mean?

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

If Hillary doesn't run, Republicans have the best field. Because of the 2010 midterms, they defeated a lot of our rising stars.

I honestly don't recall any of the Democrats' rising stars being defeated in Senate or Governor races, who do you mean?

Rand Paul beat Jack Conway in Kentucky.
Dan Coats beat Brad Ellsworth in Indiana.
Mark Kirk beat Alexi Giannoulias in Illinois.
Ron Jonson beat Russ Feingold in Wisconsin. (Not a rising star, but still awesome!)
Pat Toomey beat Joe Sestak in Pennsylvania.
Nikki Haley beat Vincent Sheheen in South Carolina.
Rick Scott beat Alex Sink in Florida.
Terry Branstad beat Chet Culver in Iowa.
Mark Schauer lost in Michigan.
Patrick Murohy lost in Pennsylvania.
Glenn Nye lost in Virginia.
Tom Perriello lost in Virginia.
Not to mention all the Congressmen we lost thanks to gerrymandering caused by the Tea Party Wave of 2010.