The GOP Nominee: Another Point Of View

Blog readers know that I am intrigued and fascinated by the scramble currently underway by Republican politicians who want to be president. I've been reading, quoting and linking to two bloggers in particular: Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post, a political reporter, and Jonathan Bernstein at Bloomberg View, a political scientist. They're both keeping a close eye on the proceedings and periodically issue "who's up/who's down" lists of where the various politicians stand on any given day. Now I'm going to add a third opinion.

Charles Krauthammer is a columnist at the Washington Post and unlike Cillizza and Bernstein, who write from an objective point-of-view, he's a conservative and he writes as a conservative. In his column today he lays out his first look at what he calls the GOP racing form. All three of these observers have Bush, Rubio and Walker as their top three. From there they disagree somewhat about the viability and standing of the other potential candidates. Here's Krauthammer's full list, grouped into a first tier, second tier and longer shots and with odds of winning the nomination:

First Tier
Marco Rubio, 3-1
Jeb Bush 7-2
Scott Walker 4-1

Second Tier
Chris Christie 12-1
Ted Cruz 15-1
Mike Huckabee 15-1
Rand Paul 30-1

Longer Shots
Carly Fiorina 50-1
Dr. Ben Carson, odds of winning: none.

What about Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and John Kasich? Krauthammer says they're "still below the radar. If they surface, they'll be featured in the next racing form."

Read the entire article here.

Days until Election Day: 591