Seventeen republican candidates, five democratic candidates and the possibility of a third party candidate if a certain republican candidate chooses to run that way. The news media are having the time of their lives following a candidate who has never held public office but through their reporting has made that one candidate dominate the republican campaign. Of course I am speaking of Donald Trump.
Of the 17 republican candidates, eight are presently holding office; four are governors; four are U.S. Senators and five are former governors. One is a former member of congress. Those are the people who say they are best qualified to run the country but there is Donald Trump leading them all by a wide margin.
On the democratic side only two candidates are actively being looked at seriously at the present time. One is a U.S. Senator, and one is a former U.S. Senator and former Secretary of State. There is no domination on the democratic side at the present time. The democratic candidates are more on the road campaigning than they are in the news media except when Fox and the republicans talk about them.
When Trump first entered the race the news media paid little attention to him and then gave him top billing following his Mexico remarks. Cable news outlets still say they do not understand what is driving his numbers. Commentary by newspaper journalists has been off the wall and off base. What is going on here? Would the same thing be happening if Trump was running as a democrat?
The answer can be found in the republican party. Their voters are looking for a new leader because the majority of Trump's republican opponents have been there and done that and have no accomplishments to show for it. The party is at war with itself. The tea party, the conservatives, the ultra conservatives, the right wingers and the evangelicals. They do not represent the values of America, they represent their own individual ideology.
Never mind that Trump represents a little bit of all the republican party's ideology and that he represents corporate America and the wealthy who by his own admission lavishes campaign contributions on elected officials for special favors. The party's base could care less at this particular time, they just want some one else.
Could it happen if Trump ran as a democratic candidate? Not likely, the democratic base is not ideology but broad based and concerned with policy matters. There is no dominate religion that controls the party and the democratic record of accomplishments is much better than the republican party. The democratic party has also controlled so called big government better than the republic party. Its a fact.
President Harry Truman said "A President Needs Political Understanding To Run Government, But He May Be Elected Without It." The voting public holds the key to the type of individual they want to run government and it does not always turn out to be the best choice. That is free speech by the voters. And in many elections the victor does not possess the political understanding Truman spoke about.
Will the voters elect a President in 2016 that has the political understanding President Truman spoke about to lead the country forward and put the many problems behind us.? In due time we will find out.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
