Washington Post rates GOP candidates conservativism

[eric82oslo]

The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2014/06/24/the-battle-to-be-the-conservative-in-the-republican-presidential-field-is-on-heres-whos-winning/) has rated each of 10 potential GOP 2016 candidates on 7 hardcore issues for grassroot tea party Republicans. Those 7 issues being immigration reform, Affordable Care Act repeal, Common Core, Balanced Budget Ammendment, raising of the debt ceiling, gay marriage and IRS. Here's how each candidate scored, going from most conservative (+) to most moderate (-) [maximum points scored were 16]:

1. Ted Cruz: 12 points (most conservative/tea party)
2. Rick Perry: 9 points
3. Marco Rubio: 7 points
4. Bobby Jindal: 6 points
5. Scott Walker: 3 points
5. Rand Paul: 3 points
7. Paul Ryan: 2 points
8. Mike Huckabee: -2 points
9. Chris Christie: -6 points
10. Jeb Bush: -11 points (most moderate/establishment)

Jeb got a negative/moderate score on everything except for balanced budget and IRS, where he got neutral scores (0 points). Ted Cruz got a positive/conservative maximum score on every issue, except for lack of support for a balanced budget ammendment.

PS: I see I got a little confused by the non-harmonization of the points table. Sorry about that. I guess their counting should be correct after all.

There are a couple of errors in their article however, as they give Cruz both 12 and 13 points, while Rubio receives both 4 and 7 points. The correct scores should be 12 and 7 points, as shown above.

[SPC]

Very sloppy, especially for subtracting points for support for a balanced budget amendment and for listing Perry as a opponent of immigration reform.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

Rand Paul at 3 points. List is trash

[eric82oslo]

Rand Paul at 3 points. List is trash

Paul is just very conservative on some issues, like very liberal on others (like civil liberties, military expenditure & foreign policy).

[Brewer]

Rand Paul at 3 points. List is trash

Paul is just very conservative on some issues, like very liberal on others (like civil liberties, military expenditure & foreign policy).

These calculations don't seem to take into account any of the issues you listed him as "very liberal" on, so that doesn't really matter. If this list rates Rand Paul as one of the lesser conservative candidates on Tea Party issues, then it obviously is trash.

[I Will Not Be Wrong]

Paul Ryan and Rick Perry's stances on immigration in that article should be switched.

[dmmidmi]

The Washington Post also gives Republicans a 56% chance of picking up the US Senate seat in Michigan, an 83% chance of them picking up Louisiana, and Democrats a 90% chance of holding North Carolina: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-tran/politics/election-lab-2014

In short, their "analysis" is terrible, and you shouldn't listen to the Washington Post for anything.

[SWE]

Rand Paul at 3 points. List is trash

Indeed, I was expecting him to shore lower