2013 in Review: The Struggles of the GOP 2016 Field

From: Michael Czin, DNC Press Secretary

To: Interested Parties

Date: December 18, 2013

Re: 2013 in Review: The Struggles of the GOP 2016 Field

The field of potential Republican candidates exploring 2016 runs is off to a rocky start – and we’re still more than two years away from the first caucuses and primaries and nearly three years away from the general election.
 
There are many contenders in the Republican field already, but the primary electorate remains unsatisfied with their choices. Both 2008 and 2012 Iowa Caucus winners Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorumare actively exploring a run, and even former Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown has spent his fair share of time with Iowa and New Hampshire voters.
 
Over the last year, Republicans exploring Presidential runs have endlessly sniped at one another, trying to jockey for position. But the fact is that their sniping and infighting is the least of the field’s problems – their biggest challenges are simply their own actions and shortcomings.
 
Chris Christie won reelection last month and today is embroiled in a scandal that has triggered subpoenas, multiple resignations and a potential congressional investigation. Marco Rubio was touted as the savior of the Republican Partyearlier this year and todayfights for relevance. The rest of the candidates’ stories are just as bad – a string of flashes in the pan followed by broken promises, failed policies and worse.
 
Here’s a brief rundown:
 
Chris Christie has been off to a rocky start since his reelection in November. First it was his flip flop on the New Jersey Dream Act – almost immediately backing away from his campaign pledge to support in-state college tuition for undocumented students.  And now the revelation that close allies of Christie inexplicably closed multiples lanes leading to the busiest bridge in the world, possibly as political retribution. The lane closures caused almost a week of traffic jams that brought surrounding communities to their knees and they've also earned the brash governor bad headlines back home andnationally with no end in sight. Faced with scandal and disingenuous flip-flopping Chris Christie's decision to put politics over the people of New Jersey has created a very rocky start to his second term.
 
Rand Paul spent his fall supporting the GOP's shutdown that cost the economy $24 billion. Paul later tried to distance himself from his shutdown with the ridiculous statement, "Even though it did appear as if I was participating in it, I said it was a dumb idea." Just as Paul was working past controversy over his decision to stand by a senior aide with a history of inappropriate and racially charged remarks, he was caught  repeatedly plagiarizing portions of his book and several speeches, taking another hit to his credibility.
 
Ted Cruz has managed to make enemies on all sides of the aislethis year and became most known for unapologetically leading his party to shut down the government, causing major internal party divisions and helping the GOP hit all time low favorability ratings. What's worse, he's expressed interest in doing it all again.
 
Marco Rubio started off the year as TIME Magazine put it, the “Republican Savior” but is rounding out the year as a political lightweight who’s accomplished very little and who will say anything to stay in the good graces of the GOP far right base. Instead of being the savior, he's been busy trying to play catch-up to his far right colleagues like Cruz and Paul. Like the time he wrote and passed an immigration bill, only to walk away from it and then announced his intention to sponsor arestrictive abortion bill trying to woo far-right activists. In short, instead of leading the GOP to appeal to more American communities, he's just become a "me too" follower of far right extremists.
 
Scott Walker revived an oldie but a goodie of the GOP playbook - signing legislation that will severely limit women’s access to reproductive health services and require mandatory ultrasounds on the Friday of Fourth of July weekend, hoping no one would notice.  He also attempted to walk back a campaign promise to create 250,000 jobs – as the numbers show he’s nowhere close to reaching his goal – and then tried to cover up his changing rhetoric by asking a news outlet not to run the story showing the flip flop. It’s no surprise Walker is scrambling, the jobs agency he created and leads has been plagued with mismanagement and resignations. Walker’s year of restricting access to women's health, failing to meet jobs promises, and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars—not exactly a winning message. 
 
Bobby Jindal managed to earn himself the title of the most unpopular GOP governor in America. His education plan was nearly unanimously struck down by the state’s Supreme Court. He was forced to retreat from his signature tax plan— that he tried to sell as essential for the state’s success but would have crushed poor Louisianans while slashing taxes for the wealthy—after his fellow Republicans turned against him. Luckily for Louisianans Jindal also had to back down from his unpopular plan to end hospice care for Medicaid recipients. Jindal has a record and it's nothing to brag about.
 
Jeb Bush has tried to keep a low profile but still managed to undermine his “strengths” with a high profile flip flop on where he stands on a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, Bush’s signature education reforms have come under attack by members of his own party and a close ally of Bush who was trying to implement his reforms resigned after allegations of grade-fixing to benefit a wealthy donorwere reported. To top it off, his own mother said he shouldn’t run for president.
 
Rick Perry has continued his tradition of unfortunate, but telling gaffes like when he mistook Lebanon for Libya at a conference this summer. He called the Texas legislature in for special sessions to push through extreme legislation to restrict women’s access to health care—galvanizing Democrats and women in Texas and across the country’s commitment to turning Texas blue. He’s also made enemies by telling businesses to leave their states and relocate to Texas. Perry seems focused of undoing the damage he did to his reputation during his 2012 run— but instead of learning from his mistakes, he's repeating them...oops.