GOP donors pushing Condoleezza Rice to run independent campaign

[Lorien]

TALLAHASSEE — A group of Republican donors and strategists has been working to persuade former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to make an independent bid for president, according to a memo outlining the plan obtained by POLITICO Florida.

The group has grown increasingly dissatisfied with New York billionaire Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner who has roiled the party’s establishment as he has surged ahead in the polls.

“The reality of the matter is that we will have President Trump or President Clinton — if we don’t have President Rice,” read the memo, which was written by Joel Searby, a consultant with Florida-based GOP firm Data Targeting.

POLITICO reported last month about a memo that a group of donors was working on with Data Targeting to look at the viability of a third-party run amid Trump’s ascent. The newest memo, sent Thursday, is an update on the firm’s work.

More: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/florida/2016/03/8593476/gop-donors-pushing-condoleezza-rice-run-independent-campaign

[Fairgo]

1. Now, that's someone who could actually threaten the democrats in the GE.

Be careful not to get caught out with the race-bait and switch

[Xipe Totec]

12. Yea, that will work - not.

First, an independent race would split the Republican vote more so than the Democratic vote.

Secondly, Trump would utterly destroy her on her record in 9/11.

It would guarantee a landslide victory for the Democrats, even if HRC is nominated.

[Fairgo]

13. Interesting theory

Let's watch what happens, maybe we will get to test this out.

[Xipe Totec]

20. Hopefully, we don't get to test the HRC part

I would rather be proven wrong than have Bernie lose the nomination.

[Fairgo]

21. I am definitely with you...

I'd rather wager on sea gull scrums.

[beam me up scottie]

2. Wow, they are really in a panic.

Does she still have time to get in the race?

[Betty Karlson]

4. "Trump or Clinton." - Let's give them someone to really fear: Sanders!

Sanders against Rice would be a sandstorm against rice paper: she'd be shredded to pieces then buried in a landslide.

Ooh, and I can't wait for any debate regarding 9/11 and Iraq. We all know that Sanders has been holding back against Clinton for the sake of the Democratic Party, but against a Republican candidate, he wuld unload in no uncertain terms. We are talking about swing-state West-Virginia territory here.

[beam me up scottie]

5. Oh yeah, he's been keeping his powder dry.

Against a Bush crony whose hands are still bloody, look the hell out.

[billhicks76]

3. And Bring Up 9-11 Cover Up?

They aren't that stupid.

[Firebrand Gary]

6. We would run against the Bush presidency, YES GOP DO IT!

Because the last time we did that, we beat the republican party by TEN MILLION VOTES.

[Aerows]

7. Oh boy.

Good luck with that.

That sounds like a Monty Python skit where absurdity goes to die.

[Peace Patriot]

8. How can they be so utterly clueless as to...

...propose anyone associated with the Bush Junta as viable in this most anti-establishment of political atmospheres in the country--like nothing we've seen in 50 years (Vietnam War), maybe even 80 years (Great Depression)--and in both the Republican and Democratic parties?

Further, how can they be so clueless as to presume that “The reality of the matter is that we will have President Trump or President Clinton...".

The cluelessness and arrogance are epic. They have no idea what is happening in the Democratic Party, where, win or lose the nomination, the Bernie Sanders campaign is already changing the party in fundamental ways, and if Clinton is the nominee and loses to Trump--which is quite likely, given her negatives in the polls--will see ever more radical change for the better, but with long term rather than short term effects. And if Sanders is the nominee, he will bury Trump--according to all national poll matchups--and will trample on both Republicans if the Republicans split into to two factions.

Their presumption that Clinton will be the nominee is wa-a-a-a-y premature, with most blue states yet to vote in the primaries. Her position is deteriorating with every week that goes by. In theory, she should have wrapped up the nomination by now, and in no way is that happening. If Sanders wins a couple of the big states this week--Illinois and Ohio, for instance, which have tightened dramatically (one poll has Sanders ahead now in Illinois, and neck and neck in Ohio) and Missouri (Sanders ahead), and does better than expected in Florida (quite possible), this will catapult him into the blue states with possibly unstoppable momentum.

Clinton has been losing momentum since New Hampshire and is only still viable because she won the "red" states in the South which will go Republican in November anyway. She seems to be just hanging on by tooth and claw in states that are more representative of the country's population. And she has been making gaffe after gaffe after gaffe this week, from alienating gays to alienating workers and others with her lie about Sanders and the auto bailout.

Really, the only things she has going for her are her undemocratic lock on the DNC and bought and paid for establishment types among the undemocratic superdelegates who may or may not stick with her if she continues her miserable campaign as it is.

They're going to put Condi Rice up against the Sanders juggernaut? Gawd. I think Clinton would even trounce Rice, even with all Clinton's negatives. The Iraq War is not that long ago. Condi Rice's role as Bush Jr.'s "wife" is still raw in most memories. It would be ironic as Hell if we end up with TWO women running against each other, both of whom supported that horrible war. Ye gods!

Anyway, these "Data Targeting" assholes are living in a very small and unreal world. They seem to have no idea of Condi Rice's negatives, which I'm sure outweigh even Clinton's.

[jfern]

9. Proof that people just have more power/money than intellect/sense

[ladjf]

10. Another terrible idea from the Republicans. nt

[deepestblue]

11. Bernie

The Sanders Revolution is poised to CRUSH any Republican rival in the electoral college. His opponent, not so much.

[restorefreedom]

14. lets be clear.. this is not designed to get rice in

its designed to keep trump out. the gop elite would rather have clinton than trump because she will play ball with moneyed interests and is controllable, where he is a wild card.

if the ge is trump v sanders, expect full on panic from both sides of the establishment.

[mazzarro]

15. Trumpf v Sanders, my friend, is the contest I am gearing to see!

It will be so sweet to behold the panic spewing from the establishment of both sides of the political divide.

[restorefreedom]

16. oh, you know it! we will be seeing lots of this....

heads of establishment cronies....





and how sweet it will be!

[PowerToThePeople]

17. War criminal for President!

Oh yea!



Well, it would split the R vote and then the Democratic nominee would walk into the Whitehouse easily.

Go for it Condi!

[Punkingal]

18. OMG!

It's not like she even has Charisma to overcome all her lies. I say bring her on!

[Garrett78]

19. So, GOP donors wish to guarantee the Democratic nominee becomes POTUS?

Whether Trump runs as an independent (after getting ticked off by not being nominated at the convention) or a prominent 3rd party right winger runs for POTUS, Clinton would win in an electoral college landslide. She'd get a plurality in nearly every state.