The Republicans made a wise choice in choosing Cleveland to host their 2016 national convention. They seem to at least understand that all their efforts need to be going to winning swing states that voted for President Obama. They need Ohio and they need it desperately. Having their convention in Cleveland with be an economic boon for the region and could allow them to move some votes in their direction. However, regardless of where they hold their convention, if it’s a freak show, it’s going to be counterproductive.
So, they’ve made a good start, but their real challenge is that they have collectively gone insane, and giving a major multi-day advertisement of their insanity is going to bite them in the ass. Under the circumstances, their best bet would be to just cancel their convention completely and have the delegates vote by mail.
Or maybe by email? The candidate who generates the biggest circulation for a chain email crackpot conspiracy theory WINS!
Having their convention in Cleveland with be an economic boon for the region and could allow them to move some votes in their direction.
How much evidence is there of this claim? Especially the first part.
Follow links, Calvin, and you will have fewer questions.
It is sure to be a boon to the “hookers and blow” elements of the Cleveland economy.
Holding it in June a problem? Will anyone be paying attention?
No problem. The World Cup proves America will in fact drop everything and watch a bunch of strangely-dressed people basically mill around for a couple hours on a June weekday or early evening.
Based solely on my anecdotal information, there is not much crossover, at least in Ohio, between those watching the World Cup and those who will watch the GOP clown show. One thing is for certain, the diversity of the World Cup will be several light years removed from anything we will see in Cleveland.
They must not have any worries about collecting sufficient monies to cover a four month general election campaign.
Let the Koch flow! Everything goes better with Koch!
There’s a box of big air filters near my workbench. I’m irked every time I look up and read “Koch Industries” in huge letters.
Technically, Gore was the last candidate to win the WH without Ohio.
Wasn’t Ohio where the Republican SoS was the head of Bush’s campaign? And the beginning of the Diebold controversy because the Diebold CEO swore that he would do anything to deliver the State? If so, probably Gore did win Ohio.
iirc, that was in 2004. Pre-election polling in 2000 had GWB ahead in OH (and my local OH source told me that Gore pulled resources early from OH to concentrate on FL); and while there could have been some GOP “ballot box stuffing,” it would only have changed the margin and not the winner.
Yeah, I didn’t remember which election. They were so depressingly similar.
I can see it now: “Ok, now don’t anyone say anything you’re thinking out loud. Don’t talk about rape. Don’t talk about the 47%. Don’t talk about ‘the negro’ or ‘the latino’ or ‘the red man’ or anyone else. Don’t say anything else not in your talking points and don’t use them as a jumping off point to anywhere!”
So basically have Clint Eastwood’s chair on stage, alone, for the entire three to four nights?
I like the idea of the GOP convention slipping ever closer to outright performance art.
Better Marcel Marceau. Is he a Republican?
Better than that; he is dead. The only thing that can be done with him now is to send him to Mississippi to vote for Chris McDaniel.
I really question the logic of choosing Cleveland for the GOP if only because the republican economic platform runs anethema to the realities faced by Clevelanders. It’s a rust belt city with a strong history of auto manufacturing, pro-unions, whereas the GOP’s corporate first, outsourcing, and union busting seems to really be at odds. Not to mention that Cleveland’s demos run askew with the party of the stale, pale males.
I like to think that the GOP was going to select Dallas but when the Dems floated possibly going to Columbus then the R’s overreacted and picked a place where their antiquated message will bring resounding boos outside of their bubble.
They’re going to roll out their bold new plan to get America working again, and make those industries competitive again in a global market.
They’re going to call for a repeal of the 13th Amendment.
In all seriousness, the GOP will try to pin all economic woes on Obama and the Dems, but their alternative (lower wages, no job security, no public safety net, etc…) will fall on deaf ears outside of the republican bubble.
I honestly think the GOP picked an Ohio location because the Dems were contemplating an Ohio location…but the fact is that the Dems were never going to select Columbus.
You only need voters outside the bubble to win the White House.
Congress, the state houses – hell, half of Congress — if your intent is to not-govern, to do the opposite of running the country, that’s all you need.
And you can get that with just the denizens of the bubble.
No, if the GOP were smart, they would have held their convention here in Cincinnati, since Hamilton County basically decides the state of Ohio these days.
Cincy got cut in the second round because we didn’t have enough luxury skyboxes in US Bank Arena.
This is pretty much everything you need to know about why Republicans won’t win Ohio in a presidential year again.
But birth year might be:
NYTimes How the year you were born influences your politics might be the best presentation of quality data ever by the Gray Lady. A bit simplistic on ascribing causal variables to factors present at age eighteen. For example why would those that were eighteen in 1973 and 1974 at the height of Watergate be significantly more Republican than those born in the prior five years?
Other than the fact that the delegates have to spend a few days in Cleveland, you’re right.
I’ve become convinced that the Republicans are going to nominate Ted Cruz. It will be a suicidal choice, but to know that they would have to have a sense of reality, which they don’t. I think they will go for the person who most successfully pushes their tea-party buttons, which is Cruz. It’s going to be quite a show.
As for Ohio, they are sensible to pick the state, but I don’t know why they are going into the most Democratic portion of it. Cincinnati would have been a better choice for them, as would Columbus.
I think there’s a really good chance you’re right. Of course the big money will be against Cruz. But the TPers may not sit down and STFU this time. They got McCain and then they got Romney. Both times they folded their hands and rode quietly in the back seat. I’m not sure they’ll do it again, particularly with the array of candidates they may be asked to support. Bush? I don’t think so. Christy? No. Romney II? Don’t make me laugh.
So, the recent release of “I miss W” t-shirts is just a spontaneous activity among those in the GOP who are perpetually nostalgic for bad GOP Presidents?
Can’t wait to hear how this cycle’s equivalent(-s there will be more than one) to Pat Buchanan (and who you know will make crazy old Pat seem sane) go down in Ohio.
Also, I wonder if the attendees will wave purple fingers again or maybe wave AK-47 squirt guns – it’s 2016 after all.
Note to self: by an interest in AK-47 squirt guns.
Hey, Boo, look what 538 found when they looked at the actual numbers. Oddly enough, Dems do slightly better in states they visit, but the GOP does worse. http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/republicans-choice-to-hold-2016-convention-in-cleveland-probably-
wont-help-them-in-ohio/