Opposing party: Who's nomination do you fear the most?

[Cryptic]

Right now. 

Electability: Chris Christie 
Ideology: Paul Ryan and Rand Paul 

[Maxwell]

I really fear Hillary, both for her ability to win and what she'd do in office. I'd probably fear President Warren too, if she wasn't unelectable.

How are you an independent? You sound like a right-wing extremist...or worse, a Libertarian...

he's too left-wing for libertarians, too right-wing to be a democrat.

[ReelectCarterMondale!]

I really fear Hillary, both for her ability to win and what she'd do in office. I'd probably fear President Warren too, if she wasn't unelectable.

How are you an independent? You sound like a right-wing extremist...or worse, a Libertarian...

he's too left-wing for libertarians, too right-wing to be a democrat.

so he's one of those awful moderate hero types...yuck...

[Simfan34]

Clinton is the obvious choice, but I must say I'm rather frightened by Schweitzer too. And if my life remains the same (which is very very much not for granted), Gillibrand will give me headaches.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Electability:
Chris Christie
Jon Huntsman
Brian Sandoval
Susana Martinez
Kelly Ayotte (she's a woman, all you need in a general)
Jeb Bush
Mitch Daniels
Mike Pence
Bob McDonnell

Ideology:
John Thune
Ted Cruz
Scott frickin' Walker
Kelly Ayotte (Neo-Con and her voice pisses me off)
Rand Paul
Marco Rubio
Bobby Jindal
Bob McDonnell(Pretty Conservative on Social Issues)
Paul Ryan
John Kasich

[Maxwell]

Electability:
Chris Christie
Jon Huntsman
Brian Sandoval
Susana Martinez
Kelly Ayotte (she's a woman, all you need in a general)
Jeb Bush
Mitch Daniels
Mike Pence
Bob McDonnell

Ideology:
John Thune
Ted Cruz
Scott frickin' Brown
Kelly Ayotte (Neo-Con and her voice pisses me off)
Rand Paul
Marco Rubio
Bobby Jindal
Bob McDonnell(Pretty Conservative on Social Issues)
Paul Ryan
John Kasich

I'm not a big Scott Brown fan, but why Scott Brown ideologically? Isn't he pretty moderate?

I totally agree on Ayotte, by the way.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Electability:
Chris Christie
Jon Huntsman
Brian Sandoval
Susana Martinez
Kelly Ayotte (she's a woman, all you need in a general)
Jeb Bush
Mitch Daniels
Mike Pence
Bob McDonnell

Ideology:
John Thune
Ted Cruz
Scott frickin' Brown
Kelly Ayotte (Neo-Con and her voice pisses me off)
Rand Paul
Marco Rubio
Bobby Jindal
Bob McDonnell(Pretty Conservative on Social Issues)
Paul Ryan
John Kasich

I'm not a big Scott Brown fan, but why Scott Brown ideologically? Isn't he pretty moderate?

I totally agree on Ayotte, by the way.

Oops, made a mistake. I meant Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker. He annoys the crap out of me, looks like a gopher, and has been buoyed by that recall win on the backs of Obama voters and now thinks he's a rock star.

[DC Al Fine]

I really fear Hillary, both for her ability to win and what she'd do in office. I'd probably fear President Warren too, if she wasn't unelectable.

How are you an independent? You sound like a right-wing extremist...or worse, a Libertarian...

You have <20 posts & SJoyceFla is a long time member. Pay attention to what he posts and stop calling members extremists as soon as you join a forum.

[CountryRoads]

Hillary, and Cuomo.

[ReelectCarterMondale!]

I really fear Hillary, both for her ability to win and what she'd do in office. I'd probably fear President Warren too, if she wasn't unelectable.

How are you an independent? You sound like a right-wing extremist...or worse, a Libertarian...

You have <20 posts & SJoyceFla is a long time member. Pay attention to what he posts and stop calling members extremists as soon as you join a forum.

My post was pretty obviously tongue-in-cheek...

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Jindal; extreme but polished.

[Mechaman]

I really fear Hillary, both for her ability to win and what she'd do in office. I'd probably fear President Warren too, if she wasn't unelectable.

How are you an independent? You sound like a right-wing extremist...or worse, a Libertarian...

You have <20 posts & SJoyceFla is a long time member. Pay attention to what he posts and stop calling members extremists as soon as you join a forum.

My post was pretty obviously tongue-in-cheek...

Sarcasm. . . . . .it's a foreign tongue on the internets.

[Simfan34]

Oh, and Andrew Cuomo, because I'd be inclined to vote for him...

[Sbane]

Chris Christie....though I would likely vote for him.

[traininthedistance]

I think Marco Rubio would be my pick.  Rubio and Christie are the two strongest choices on the R side, and both would likely win against Generic D (whereas Generic D could probably beat most other nominees IMO).  However, Christie has shown flashes of sanity and genuine concern for public service, whereas Rubio is pretty much a scary TP ideologue underneath it all.  I wouldn't be thrilled about a Christie presidency, but it probably wouldn't be a total disaster.  So, Rubio is the one candidate that seems to hit hard on both the ideology and electability fronts.

Mind you, these things change- four years ago, I would have said Jindal instead, but his star seems to have dimmed a bit.  The landscape may be totally different in 2016.

[RogueBeaver]

Electability: Schweitzer
Ideology: Warren

[Skill and Chance]

Mark Warner.

He turns a near-essential swing state into a likely Democratic victory. He's also rather competitive in North Carolina, where demographics are increasingly favorable to Democrats.

And he was born in Indiana, so he could do well in the Midwest.

He's a centrist, so he's more appealing to issues-oriented swing voters than Kerry and Gore (both of whom had narrow losses) and Obama.

He was by all accounts a good Governor of Virginia, and has amassed an understanding of Washington as Senator, so he would have a good chance of being reelected. And I think the New Republic folks would go nuts at the implications of Democrats holding the White House for four terms.

This is more plausible than a lot of people think if Obama is seen as having fixed the economy by 2016.  Obama being followed by a 2 term D would be more or less equivalent to FDR or the 16 years of Republican rule after the Panic of 1893.  Add to this that moderates will eventually figure out that a GOP House is statistically assured for the decade and will want to keep it balanced out.  The Supreme Court also gets really interesting if a D wins in 2016. 

[BM]

A Christie/Martinez ticket would be very formidable, though I don't know if he'd pick another governor with no foreign policy experience. Christie/Rice would be a great ticket if the base wasn't insane.

I think Rubio is a lightweight himbo right now, but he has some time to prepare.

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

Ideology: Santorum, Paul, and Ryan.
Electability: Christie.

[coloradocowboi]

Ideology: Rand Paul--he is a libertarian and a Christian extremist. Which should be an oxymoron but hey it's Kentucky.

Electability: Susana Martinez

[TomC]

Martinez

[paul718]

A Christie/Martinez ticket would be very formidable, though I don't know if he'd pick another governor with no foreign policy experience. Christie/Rice would be a great ticket if the base wasn't insane.

I don't think Christie/Rice would work because they're both former Bush appointees.  This is the same reason why I think an otherwise formidable ticket of Christie/Portman wouldn't work.

[BM]

Does anyone care that Christie was a Bush appointed US Attorney? It's not like he was in his cabinet.

[DC Al Fine]

Does anyone care that Christie was a Bush appointed US Attorney? It's not like he was in his cabinet.

Yeah, no one except us political junkies will even know about it, much less care.

[Illuminati Blood Drinker]

Does anyone care that Christie was a Bush appointed US Attorney? It's not like he was in his cabinet.

Yeah, no one except us political junkies will even know about it, much less care.

I didn't know that until just now and I'd consider myself a pretty hardcore political junkie.