In this campaign off-year, we're watching a slew of potential 2016 candidates for their early moves and missteps.
In this campaign off-year, we’re watching a slew of potential 2016 candidates for their early moves and missteps.
This week, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie brushed off CPAC’s snub, Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell defended his transportation plan from conservative criticism, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker told Washington to get it together.
Two potential 2016 hopefuls in the Senate, Florida’s Marco Rubio and Kentucky’s Rand Paul, made foreign policy ripples. Rubio, back stateside after a five-day trip to the Mideast, worked to expand his foreign policy footprint, posting pictures and a video of himself with foreign leaders and calling on the administration to give ammunition, but not arms, to Syria. Paul scrambled to explain his vote for Chuck Hagel to Republicans who believe it’s a sign he’s cut from the same cloth as his non-interventionist dad.
On Friday morning, Politico reported that the Republican National Committee has recruited five top potential 2016 candidates–Christie, Rubio, Walker, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz–to talk to donors at its quarterly finance meeting next month. Cruz was born in Canada, but has argued he’s eligible to run because his mother was a U.S. citizen at the time of his birth.
On the Democratic side, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he would amend his assault weapons bill to explicitly exempt Hollywood, telling reporters, “Should you be able to use these types of guns in movies, the answer is yes.” Meanwhile, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren showed why she has a grassroots following, grilling Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke on subsidies to big banks.
Finally, in case you’re missing the 2012 campaign, former presidential candidate Mitt Romney is talking about what it feels like to step off the 2012 “rollercoaster.”
