By Elliott Brack, editor and publisher | The national Republican Party ought to be glad that the next presidential election is now at nearly a year away. The convention will be in Cleveland on July 18-21, 2016.
With 17 candidates in the field, each thinking this is their big change to be elected president, by the time of the national convention, most of these hopefuls will have fallen by the wayside, for one reason or another.
And given more time, we also expect that Donald Trump won’t be shaking the political rafters with his outrageous remarks, and therefore, not affecting the outcome of the presidential race.
Unless of course, Trump gets so desperate for attention that he does the GOP an injustice and mounts a third party candidacy. For the party’s sake, we hope that doesn’t happen. For if Trump remains “in the race to the end,” that would mean that the Democrats and Republicans would not have a comparable up-or-down fight for votes. We would prefer for either of these two parties to face each other without a third party distraction, so that the voters of the country could straight-forwardly register the political direction of this country, and bring our nation back to more sanity. Yes, you might say, vote a mandate.
A conservative third party (Trump or whoever) in the race would probably siphon off enough Republican voters to ensure the election of a Democrat. That would make both the Third Partyers and the GOP rattled, thinking that neither had a fair chance for the people to register their sentiment.
Right now pollsters say that the country is leaning more and more toward the Democratic side. After all, it appears that the country is becoming more liberal, and expected to be more-so because of the growing diverse population in our nation.
Not only that, but with 17 Republican candidates, each with their own agenda, the divisions within the Republican Party seem to grow. That makes coming together and winning an election even harder, with little party unity. With a third party in the race, those diehards in the GOP who do not approve of the nominee would either vote Democratic, or stay home. Either way, the GOP is weaker.
Of course, the Democrats can have their own problems, mainly because of the force of Hillary Clinton. Before the nomination period is over, we suspect that in some way that Mrs. Clinton may be derailed from gaining the nomination. There is a lot of negative sentiment around her. We just don’t think she will make it. Who will? We wonder.
Even a new Democratic face, going up against the splintered party of 17 current candidates, does not bode well for the GOP either, even without a third party in the race.
These days are the formative times for the next presidential race. Watching the Republicans rumble and fight, debase and cause one another problems, quarreling for the nomination, we feel won’t serve to strengthen the Grand Old Party.
The Democrats, it now appears, could be stronger because they don’t fight one another as much, except all ganging up now against Hillary. That might even help to bring them together more.
In 11 months, with 17 candidates, it is hard to fathom what will happen in the Republican race. But it’ll be fascinating to watch.
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