GOVT 2305 11 week students might find this useful for addressing this week's written assignment asking who is in charge of the major parties - either one, your choice.
This focuses on the Republican Party and the process the Republican National Committee - and what is also loosely referred to as the Republican establishment - is going through to determine which of the announced candidates they will likely rally behind. Usually this is done early in the process. The large number of candidates this time makes it less likely they will be able to do so.
Remember that one doesn't have to have the backing of the "official" party in order to announce a run for the presidency. Ronald Reagan didn't. The candidate just needs a reliable source of funding and enough support from primary voters.
- Click here for the article.
This focuses on the Republican Party and the process the Republican National Committee - and what is also loosely referred to as the Republican establishment - is going through to determine which of the announced candidates they will likely rally behind. Usually this is done early in the process. The large number of candidates this time makes it less likely they will be able to do so.
Remember that one doesn't have to have the backing of the "official" party in order to announce a run for the presidency. Ronald Reagan didn't. The candidate just needs a reliable source of funding and enough support from primary voters.
- Click here for the article.
These findings, and dozens of conversations with senior party officials, demonstrate a deep-rooted disagreement within the GOP's governing body that hasn't been visible in decades. A few outliers aside, RNC members overwhelmingly supported Mitt Romney in the 2012 primary. Several even formally advised his White House campaigns. The opinions of RNC members, which were collected anonymously to allow for candor, are instructive because they come from those individuals who literally write the GOP's rules and collectively embody a party establishment that prioritizes order and electability.
They are part of Republican tradition that has since 1980 promoted a "next-in-line" approach. From Ronald Reagan (lost the previous primary to Gerald Ford) to George H.W. Bush (Reagan's VP after losing the 1980 primary) to Bob Dole (lost to Bush) to George W. Bush (the former president's son) to John McCain (lost to Bush) to Romney (lost to McCain), the GOP has a definitive recent history of elevating those who have paid dues or are products of the D.C. Republican machine—or both.
That candidate was supposed to be Jeb Bush in 2016. A son and brother of the two most recent Republican presidents, Bush is armed with a dynasty-driven political network, an attendant behemoth fundraising operation, and restrained rhetoric aimed at appealing to the broadest possible cross-section of voters. Yet Bush clearly has not distinguished himself amid a talented field of Republicans, several of whom, including Walker and Rubio, are competing for those right-of-center supporters while simultaneously courting conservatives.
