What a good field of candidates would look like for 2016

[dudeabides]

Republican
1. Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida
2. Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana
3. Carly Fiorina, Businesswoman
4. Pat Toomey, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania
5. John Thune, U.S. Senator from South Dakota
6. Susana Martinez, Governor of New Mexico
7. Paul Ryan, Congressman from Wisconsin 

Democratic
1. Kristen Gillibrand, U.S. Senator from New York
2. Mark Warner, U.S. Senator from Virginia
3. Russ Feingold, Former U.S. Senator from Wisconsin
4. Joe Manchin, U.S. Senator from West Virginia
5. Brian Schweitzer, Former Governor of Montana
6. Bill Bradley, Former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
7. Mike Bebe, Former Governor of Arkansas

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Republican
1. Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida
2. Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana
3. Carly Fiorina, Businesswoman

LOL! (And not cuz they are running  but because they are horrendous candidates.)

[Mister Mets]

Republican
1. Jeb Bush, Former Governor of Florida
2. Ben Carson
3. John Kasich, Governor of Ohio/ Former Congressman
4. Susanna Martinez, Governor of New Mexico
5. Rand Paul, Senator from Kentucky
6. Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida
7. Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin

The Republican problem is that there are too many candidates, not that there are too few.
Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, John Kasich, and Rand Paul would be part of a good field. Bush and Kasich have experience. Walker and Rubio have been in modern fights. Rand Paul offers an ideological alternative. Ben Carson's not going to be the nominee, but he offers an outlet for antiestablishment Republicans and adds diversity to the ticket.

Carly Fiorina's tenure in HP wasn't impressive enough. Bobby Jindal and Chris Christie flopped as Governors. Rick Perry bombed in the last presidential race. Ted Cruz has burned a lot of bridges. Donald Trump is a joke. Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee are theocrats.

It would be nice to have a woman on the debate stage, and Susanna Martinez is a popular swing-state Governor.

Democratic
1. Joe Biden, Vice President
2. Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey
3. Hillary Rodham Clinton, former Senator from NY/ Secretary of State
4. Amy Klobuchar, Senator from Minnesota
5. Bernie Sanders, Senator from Vermont

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton's a strong candidate but needs better opponents. Bernie Sanders is an old socialist, so it gives an ideological contrast especially since there isn't anyone to take his place. Webb and Chafee are too conservative for Democrats. O'Malley's work in Baltimore and Maryland isn't exactly inspiring.

Of sometimes mentioned potential alternatives, Warren doesn't seem to think she's ready. Patrick has an atrocious electoral history, and almost resigned his governorship because of the effect of it on his wife. Feingold lost in a swing state, and has a better shot of winning that race. Biden offers a contrast in terms of wealth, but he's old and dopey. Still, he's the best of the bunch.

Cory Booker seems like the guy who could best represent new ideas, so that could be a welcome addition. I'd add Klobuchar because it's good for the party to have two women on the debate stage. She's qualified on paper to be President, but this could also raise her profile for later. It was between her and Gilibrand, and in a race with Clinton and Booker, a midwesterner adds some geographic diversity.

I can't come up with an alternative for Sanders on the anti-Wall Street left. Chris Murphy's kinda busy as a new Senator. Sanders is old. Warren doesn't want it. De Blasio has his hands full as a new mayor. Donna Edwards is running for Senate. Loretta Sanchez isn't polling very well in her Senate primary. Al Franken's self-aware enough to stay in the Senate.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Each candidate represents a different wing of their party.


GOP:
John Kasich [establishment/beltway]
Rand Paul [old right/libertarian]
Scott Walker [generic conservative]
George Pataki [liberal]
Rick Santorum (or Huckabee, but I prefer Santorum) [christian conservative]
Lindsey Graham (John Bolton would have been preferable) [insane hawk]

Dems:
Hillary Clinton [progressive]
Bernie Sanders [socialist]
Jim Webb [populist]
Martin O'Malley [moderate/boring]

[WVdemocrat]

Each candidate represents a different wing of their party.

GOP:
John Kasich [establishment/beltway]
Rand Paul [old right/libertarian]
Scott Walker [generic conservative]
George Pataki [liberal]
Rick Santorum (or Huckabee, but I prefer Santorum) [christian conservative]
Lindsey Graham (John Bolton would have been preferable) [insane hawk]

Dems:
Hillary Clinton [progressive]
Bernie Sanders [socialist]
Jim Webb [populist]
Martin O'Malley [moderate/boring]

Hillary Clinton? A progressive?

Well that's news to me!

[VPH]

Just throwing some dream out there

Republicans
1. Jon Huntsman
2. John Kasich
3. Marco Rubio
4. Rand Paul
5. Ben Carson
6. Jeb Bush

Democrats
1. Bernie Sanders
2. Hillary Clinton
3. Steve Beshear
4. Martin O´Malley
5. Jim Webb
6. Tom Vilsack

Other
1. Buddy Roemer
2. Jesse Ventura
3. Donald Trump

[ViaActiva]

Republican:

1. John Kasich
2. Jon Huntsman
3. Rob Portman
4. Mitt Romney
5. Carly Fiorina
6. Susana Martinez
7. Rand Paul
8. Michael Bloomberg

Democrat:

1. Elizabeth Warren
2. Cory Booker
3. Sherrod Brown
4. Kamala Harris
5. Russ Feingold
6. Jerry Brown
7. Bernie Sanders
8. Jim Webb

[Famous Mortimer]

Each candidate represents a different wing of their party.


GOP:
John Kasich [establishment/beltway]
Rand Paul [old right/libertarian]
Scott Walker [generic conservative]
George Pataki [liberal]
Rick Santorum (or Huckabee, but I prefer Santorum) [christian conservative]
Lindsey Graham (John Bolton would have been preferable) [insane hawk]

Dems:
Hillary Clinton [progressive]
Bernie Sanders [socialist]
Jim Webb [populist]
Martin O'Malley [moderate/boring]

O'M is to the left of Hillary. This is common knowledge. You should feel bad for not knowing.

[Orthogonian Society Treasurer]

Each candidate represents a different wing of their party.


GOP:
John Kasich [establishment/beltway]
Rand Paul [old right/libertarian]
Scott Walker [generic conservative]
George Pataki [liberal]
Rick Santorum (or Huckabee, but I prefer Santorum) [christian conservative]
Lindsey Graham (John Bolton would have been preferable) [insane hawk]

Dems:
Hillary Clinton [progressive]
Bernie Sanders [socialist]
Jim Webb [populist]
Martin O'Malley [moderate/boring]

O'M is to the left of Hillary. This is common knowledge. You should feel bad for not knowing.

O'Malley:



Clinton:

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

John Kasich
Scott Walker


Dems
Hillary Rodham

[Blair]

who knows what O'Malley is-he endorsed Clinton in 08, governed as a moderate liberal and realized that he needed to oppose Hillary so he mentioned stuff about banks

[dudeabides]

Each candidate represents a different wing of their party.


GOP:
John Kasich [establishment/beltway]
Rand Paul [old right/libertarian]
Scott Walker [generic conservative]
George Pataki [liberal]
Rick Santorum (or Huckabee, but I prefer Santorum) [christian conservative]
Lindsey Graham (John Bolton would have been preferable) [insane hawk]

Dems:
Hillary Clinton [progressive]
Bernie Sanders [socialist]
Jim Webb [populist]
Martin O'Malley [moderate/boring]

O'M is to the left of Hillary. This is common knowledge. You should feel bad for not knowing.

O'malley is left of Clinton, but the Democratic Party has moved so far left since Bill Clinton left the white house that both are still on the far left in American politics.