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General News Crazy American Primary Elections!

Discussion in 'Current Events, World News, & LGBT News' started by Robert, Feb 13, 2016.

  1. Robert

    Robert Guest

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    Sorry :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: ... but theres something I really dont understand about the Republican Primary race: Why aren't all of the candidates on the debate stage when they have a debate?
    I always hear about Trump, Cruz, Rubio, Bush, Carson and Christie but who the hell is John Kasich? It seems to me that he has suddenly come out of the blue and has come 2nd place in the New Hampshire Primary. How? I didnt even know this guy existed until the night of the result. I confess I havent actually watched a debate in full this election year but I'm sure I would have seen him SOMEWHERE as I have been following this race quite closely (or so I thought) since a week or so before the Iowa Caucus.

    Also, why does it say that all these people like Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee are running when I am pretty certain that they haven't been within half a mile of a Republican Primary debate stage this year? These two guys are supposed to be bigish names in the Republican Party, no? Then where are they? Are they just running to lose? Why are they still, apprently, in the race?

    Every time I think I have nailed it and that I understand all that there is to know about the Primaries in the USA something else comes along just to mess with me! You crazy people!!

    Please someone help :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
    #1 Robert, Feb 13, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
  2. BMC77

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    I'm not sure what is going on with Republican debates. But I do recall that at one point there were too many people running. So the front runners got the most visible debate, and there was a second debate for everyone else.

    Kasich is governor of Ohio. I don't think he's done too well in polls, thus not as well known as Trump.
     
  3. Robert

    Robert Guest

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    But no one even mentioned his name running up to New Hampshire and then I see the results and all the reporters are like "TRUMP WON AND RUBIO DIDNT DO AS WELL AS HE SHOULD HAVE. ........oh and by the way yeah John Kasich came second. AND BUSH AND RUBIO AND CRUZ ARE NECK AND NECK!"

    And I'm sitting here like :confused2: How come this guy who isn't being talked about at all is coming 2nd place in New Hampshire?

    ---------- Post added 13th Feb 2016 at 08:38 AM ----------

    I see. I didn't know that.
     
    #3 Robert, Feb 13, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
  4. Some Dude

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    Kasich actually was in the main group for all of the republican debates
     
  5. Browncoat

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    I'm not 100% sure on this, but I believe the debaters are decided by a combination decision of the RNC (Republican National Committee - essentially the Republican HQ) and the channel broadcasting the debate. An optimist could claim that these groups have best interests of the voters at heart and just cut down on the number of people debating because having too many people would be too hectic. I would personally suggest that both sides have agendas, the channel trying to get the best ratings possible and the RNC trying to push particular preferred candidates over others.


    Like others said, Governor of Ohio. I'm surprised you haven't heard of him actually. Odd man out I guess. Though some will claim he won because of his message, I would say he won the New Hampshire primary mostly because he spent a ton of time campaigning there, since he knew that out of the early states he'd have the best chance to kickstart his campaign there. And the gamble worked. Now he just has to hope the publicity can get his message out to other state primary voters, who much like you didn't know much about him before last week.

    Eh, their support has been almost nonexistent of late. Like 1% in the polls nonexistent. Their main claims to fame are winning the Iowa caucus in 2008 (Huckabee) and 2012 (Santorum), which gave them a few weeks of life in those presidential races, but it never really translated. Other than that they aren't that big in the Republican Party. They've both dropped out now - any votes they're getting are from the state primaries not taking off their names because there wasn't enough time to reprint all the ballots, or because they were written in by a voter.




    Just wait till somebody tries to explain delegates to you. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
    #5 Browncoat, Feb 13, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
  6. Robert

    Robert Guest

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    Thanks guys :slight_smile: Yeah, I dont know how I managed to miss him. I thought The programmes that I've been watching wouldve mentioned him at some point. Oh well :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
     
  7. Skaros

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    Well, in the beginning, they had two sets of debates for Republicans. One debate had all the higher polling candidates, and the other debate had the other lesser known people essentially. Carly Fiorina was in the lesser known debate but managed to get into the bigger debate because she was doing really good in the debates. Kasich was in the debates, but I guess you'd have to actually watch them to know him. The only reason I knew him was because he stood out from the other candidates in one debate by saying he'd love his children even if they were gay. There were a TON of candidates in the Republican party this year. They simply didn't have room to put them all on the same stage. The Democrats had very few candidates, and only 3 of them were at least somewhat known (Clinton, Sanders, O'Malley).


    Santorum and Huckabee were former Iowa caucus winners. They tried running again but their campaigns didn't really work this year.


    Understand this: It's not the US that runs primaries. The political parties themselves run the primaries and the debates and all that stuff. They are the ones to pick the candidates for their parties. The Democrats and Republicans have pretty different ways of running their candidacy race.

    And lastly, as my AP Gov teacher told me and the class, US elections and campaigns are by nature very very confusing to understand. Even people who know a lot about this can get confused. To put it simply, people elect delegates to represent them to vote for a candidate in the national convention for their party. Unlike the general election, the primaries are proportional representation so even those in second or third (or more) place will probably get some delegate votes. It's all a test to see how electable a candidate is. The political parties don't care about who is more honest or a better reflection of their party. They only care about winning office, so they will pick whoever they think will be most likely to win. I honestly am disgusted by how the Democratic National Committee handles their election process.
     
    #7 Skaros, Feb 13, 2016
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2016
  8. QueerTransEnby

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    Kasich was the only one to my knowledge that says he would uphold marriage equality in the 1st debate.
     
  9. Skaros

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    Trump also said he would (or at least something along those lines), but I'm honestly not sure what he thinks about LGBT rights at this point. I think he just wants to avoid talking about the issue altogether.
     
  10. sldanlm

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    Kasich came in #3 in NH primarily for two reasons.

    1. NH is one of the smaller states, and he spent a lot of time personally campaigning there, meeting with the people directly, even while many of the other candidates were in Iowa.

    2. While the other candidates went negative against each other, Kasich kept a positive message. Instead of trying to sling mud at the other people running, he stuck to what he accomplished and why he should be president, instead of why the others shouldn't be. Although verbal mud slinging makes for great TV, and is very entertaining, (even Kasich himself seemed amused when he watched Trump and someone else arguing during the debates) it turns some voters off to both people.

    3. Not everyone in the Republican party is an extreme right wing nutjob, particularly in NH. Also there are people in NH that think that Trump is basically not electable in the general election. I heard that even some moderate Democrats in NH crossed party lines and voted for Kasich.

    Although Kasich came in #2 in NH, I'm guessing he won't do well in the south, particularly in states that don't allow crossover voting. Kasich tends to concentrate on economic policy issues, but there's a lot of social conservatives in the bible thumping belt. My mother called him and Christie "Yankee RINO's" and thinks they're no different than Hillary Clinton. :dry: Her favorite was Huckabee, but he's suspended his campaign. She's even suggested that if Kasich becomes the nominee, she's going to not bother voting in the general election, because in her mind there's no difference. :rolle: I don't think she really means it though.

    My guess at this point will be Trump vs. Cruz in the Republican party.