Hilary Clinton Trump’s GOP Field in Bloomberg Politics Poll – Analysis

Bloomberg Politics commissioned a poll on 2016 Presidential match-up’s between multiple GOP contenders, the Vice President, Joe Biden and former Democrat Presidential Candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. In the Poll, Clinton leads all potential GOP candidates by several points, and the strongest contender appears to be Joe Biden.(Bloomberg) The Pollster, Selzer & Co out of Des Moine Iowa conducted the poll based on 1001 individuals 18 years of age or older (poll PDF here), however gives no clue as to the demographic and political affiliation makeup of those polled, of those polled, 753 are likely voters. When looking at the grouping for favorability we find Hillary Clinton, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Rand Paul, Mitt Romney, Ted Cruz, and Joe Biden as choices. Polling strongest behind Clinton is Biden, followed by Romney, Christie, Rand Paul and Jeb Bush (tied), and then Ted Cruz. Of course, one must factor in that key element – Don’t know enough to form a decision, which those who score highest as unknown are: Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, those who score highest are Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and then Mitt Romney. Further in the matchup with Clinton against the aforementioned GOP candidates only, those candidates group tightly, with Mitt Romney leading the field, and Jeb Bush and Rand Paul, tied for second. (Business week)

There are several questions regarding the poll, or more to the point, popularity and familiarity poll so early in the game with not one candidate announced that it is truly a non poll. Additionally, when Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden score highest in any group, one must trust that there is a larger percentage of Democrats and or Democrat leaning independents participating, than say GOP or GOP leaning independents.

What does surprise is the strength of Rand Paul in this non-poll, as he ties with Jeb Bush, in all instances, while having less name recognition with the sample. Not included are more likely to run Rick Perry and soon to be unemployed Governor of Maryland, O’Malley, nor the heavyweight progressive, Senator Elizabeth Warren. If one is playing fantasy politics one should have a full team.

Additionally, inserting “Hope the run’s”, rather than those who may have indicated they might run, is also a non-starter. (That would, of course, remove both Mitt Romney and Elizabeth Warren, who one suspects the later would have done screamingly well in this poll. Leading one to believe that this poll was produced by a big fan of Hillary Clinton, or to shore up the point that Hillary is a real threat to the GOP field (send your $$ now!).

Analysis: nothing to see here, move along folks.

Internet addiction - only saying this once

A personal perspective.

Although one might love to write, or analyze, or crochet or play the piano (badly), if one is invested in a game here, a social network there, or more specifically the games in the social network one might just abandon the other pastimes one enjoys.

I’ve been missing for over a week – lost in Candy Crush, Word Wizards and yes, briefly in Lumosity. The realization that I was spending far too much time playing games (while fine-tuning my mind – the excuse) dawned on me early last week, yet I was compelled to keep going back for one more game.

There are many types of addictions, or some would categorize as mental illnesses – alcohol, drugs being dangerous, shopping, still an addiction, and finding one cannot move away from the computer without some distress - they all are addictions. Having no specific training in the field of psychology, rather being a mere subject, does not allow for any true scientific discourse. However, finding oneself so invested in a machine, not in the pursuit of knowledge, but in “entertainment”, brings up the question of when to stop and smell the proverbial roses.

Having far too many unfinished projects (again, enjoyable pastimes), may be a clue, especially if one finds oneself with their tablet, iphone or pc, more often than one’s family. Therefore, I believe I may be addicted, and in the true spirit of destining anything that may have an upper hand over the mind, I’m curtailing, rationing, and realistically picking up that crochet hook that is wielded with little grace and less knowledge, and finishing that God-awful purple throw.

2016 GOP Update – Rand Paul and Jeb Bush

Potential GOP Presidential Candidate for 2016, Rand Paul, has come under some fire for a statement he made regarding the fact that a New York City Cigarette Tax might be responsible for the death of Garner, who died while in a police chokehold – the reason, selling a single cigarette, which is against the law. The Opinion piece in the Journal Sentinel, suggest that the bombastic Chris Matthews of MSNBC, who went off the rails when Paul made this statement, apparently misunderstood Paul’s suggestion that the concept of a tax placed on cigarettes, with the law stating single cigarettes can’t be sold (due to loss of revenue), was ultimately a factor – the arrest would not have taken place if that particular tax law was not in place. (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). Once might want to watch the feigned horror ensue from the left the further Paul gets into the 2016 arena. This is due to several factors, not least among them is his outreach to traditionally “owned by Democrats demographics groups”, the fact that he closes on the Top Democrat 2016 contender(s), and generally derails them due to his ability to take an issue both Democrats and republicans can agree on, and run with it.

Oh well. Also of note: Rand Paul’s interview with WHAS, where he note’s he may have made a mistake while in college, re: smoking marijuana. Paul has long championed lessened penalties on drug possession, for those who are either underage and or have such small amounts that it makes no sense to prosecute. That’s a liberty stance and once that is also fiscally conservative - savings from imprisonment and prosecution for a minor offence, while allowing the individual to become more fully a taxpayer without the burden of a criminal complaint. (WHAS).

Paul has suggested that he will make the final decision to move forward with a campaign in the late spring of this year, however, it appears that he Senator has already laid the groundwork for a campaign.

Meanwhile, the other Bush, Jeb made the odd statement that one must be prepared to lose the primary in order to win the general election – the Washington Post analyses his statement, which is not in the least odd. Presumably, the former Governor, hamstrung due to Dynasty and non-conservative ideals regarding immigration and the loathed common core education, suggests that being true to oneself and holding one’s convictions is far more important that actually winning the primary.That said, looking back at the 2012 cycle, one notes that most if not all of the candidates who ran, regardless of which side of the political fence they sat, did just that. The exceptions were those that won the contest, by changing positions to be more moderate in tone. Thus appealing to the right, middle and or left as the case may be. Lovely sentiment, however, one wonders which bushel the man has been under, considering his family ties and close proximity to many a national race.