[SeekAndFind]

In 1996, we had the following candidates:

Steve Forbes, Richard Lugar, Pat Buchanan, Lamar Alexander and the doddering Washington insider Bob Dole.

Is the current bunch any better than the above?

[nonsporting]

Obama is no Bill Clinton.

[jmstein7]

Difference - Clinton “triangulated” - 0Bama did not.

[ilgipper]

It is possible, but not probable. The mood of the electorate is vastly different this time. 1996 things were ok. Plus, Obama moved left to find his lost base, while Clinton moved hard right to save his presidency. He signed on to tax cuts and welfare reform, co-opting some of the issues of the GOP. Obama has not done that. He’s fighting problems in his left flank as well as losing the independent voter. Unless there is a significant noticeable economic improvement, he has a tough battle to get back for four more years. It is possible, but not probable.

[Doogle]

I doubt it, the clintoons were favorites among the rats...they were “victimized” by a right wing conspiracy....
Dumbo on the other hand is taking their money too with no results and very little to call their own but 15 trillion in debt

[RIghtwardHo]

Interesting. But we’ll have a MUCH better feel in 8 months or so.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

ACORN is still out there.

They just changed their name.

Nothing else has changed.

[ken21]

the “professionals” and “established”

pubies

would have it that only romney can win.

i doubt it.

just the opposite.

cain could win.

[marty60]

BOB DOLE, that is the reason we lost.

People wanted that “young” fresh face lip biter. Not some tired establishment Republican.
Plus Clinton convinced everyone that he LOVED everyone.

I voted for Forbes, but then held my nose and voted for Dole.

No more nose holding or settling.
It’s like Republicans have been brainwashed. If they look good or feed some kind of leftist caused race guilt (where non is deserved). It’s time for Repubs to grow up. You woukd have thought that Christine O’Donnell and Sharon in NV would have provide a lesson. But apparently not. Repubs are getting ready to repeat the mistakes of 2010, but on the Presidential level.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

Obama is no Clinton.

But it’s worthwhile to be mindful of given the current GHOP field.

[freespirited]

A recent Bloomberg News article by Brian Falter stated that "a record 49% percent of Americans live in a household where someone receives at least one type of government benefit, according to the Census Bureau." Forty-nine percent! All Obama has to do is get another two percent, and he's in for a second term.

I can't buy this analysis. A large portion of this 49% are receiving Social Security. Yet Barry isn't all that popular among the older age group--why should he be, he's screwing around with Medicare. Then you have the lifers on welfare. They don't come out to vote the same way that Tea Partiers do.

This is not to say that the welfare class is not a problem for the GOP candidate. But the idea that the O needs only 2% of the self-supporting is just plain wrong.

[xkaydet65]

Given the candidates, the state of the GOP, the take my ball and go home attitude if my guy doesn’t get the nod, I am predicting here and now an Obama victory in the range of 274-290 EVs. The GOP keeps the House but loses a third of the Tea Party freshmen, and they get to 49 in the Senate.

[IMR 4350]

The OKC bombing saved Bill Clinton.

[moehoward]

SCOTUS and obamacare. That’s the wild card.

[Skip Ripley]

Dole hit the spending limits early in 1996 so he coudn’t run ads until the convention was done. Clinton didn’t face a primary challenge and had all those chinese $$$ flowing in. Clinton was able to advertise nd hd th bully pulpit. Dole was tapped out and had to work against Senate Democrats which made it difficult to get any kind of message out.

Plus...Dole was a gazillion years old when he ran and has an odd manner of speech. He was satirized to the point he became more of a joke than a candidate

But...the nail in the cofin was welfare reform. Once that was passed and Clinton bowed to pressure and finally signed it, Dole had no real issue to work with domestically. He was toast.

[meowmeow]

In 2008, our neighborhood was Politburo Central. Our young, white, lawyer neighbors were the lead cheerleaders, holding cookouts (I loved to listen over the fence - the conversations of these young elites was fascinating in its banality and cluelessness...I felt like Jane Goodall except I didn't care if they all went extinct), passing out yard signs and bumper stickers to shiny happy liberals of all ethnic and financial persuasions.

Somehow I think Summer 2012 will be much quieter. Doesn't mean he won't win again, but the enthusiasm and excitement will be notably absent.

[TexasCajun]

If the Democrats and MSM didn't like the TEA Party's influence in the 2008 elections, they're heads are going to explode after the results on the 2012 elections.

The formal and informal TEA Party organizations haven't even gotten started.

And the Obamah & Democrat supported OWS Movement has been an eye-opener to many uninformed Americans.

[VanDeKoik]

“Conservatives were in shock. How could this happen? “

We ran Bob Dole, Clinton didnt run as a hard leftist, we had no huge international crisis, and the economy was not in the toilet.

How hard was that to figure out?

[utahagen]

I do not believe that Obama will be reelected. Blue-collar whites are worse off than they were four years ago, as are middle class, upper middle class, and even many rich whites. Only the politically liberal diehards in these groups will vote for Obama again; the rest will vote Republican.

(If I'm wrong, I'll console myself that the next four years will destroy as many liberals as it does conservatives!)

[murron]

Wasn’t the economy doing better?