GOP 2016, First Report Card

A follow to last week's post about the potential 2016 Republican Presidential Candidates.  I will post this chart from time to time, as candidates move up or down the rankings, or in and out of the announced field.

I haven't made any adjustments since the first post, but there are two developments worth mentioning.

1.  Paul Ryan has made some comments about how the GOP should reach out to minorities.  He seems destined to be the Jack Kemp of his generation: a Rust Belt House Member, with a reputation for being a fiscal policy wonk, and a one-time Vice-Presidential Candidate.  The other thing he is likely to have in common with Kemp is that he will never be President.  But a few years as HUD secretary might be in the cards one day.  (And I doubt he'll ever be a pro Quarterback either.)

2. The tentative deal with Iran will create the first possible rift among the field.  As I wrote in the previous post, this could be the first time in a generation that there are genuine foreign policy difference among the Republican presidential candidates.  Rand Paul, at least, might try to run as a libertarian alternative to the Neo-Con orthodoxy of the Republican party since 9/11.  The exact tenor of his response might reveal which camp he is more concerned with courting.  I suspect he will try to be both critical of the President while playing lip service to the value of diplomacy, blah blah bullshit.

The letter grades shown in the right-hand columns reflect my perception of how each candidate appeals to what I consider the major parts of the Republican primary voters: Bankers, (Religious) Zealots, (War) Hawks and Isolationists.