Sunday Open Thread [2.1.15]

IOWA–PRESIDENT–REPUBLICAN PRIMARY–Des Moines Register: Walker 16, Paul 15, Huckabee 13, Carson 10, Bush 9, Cruz 5, Christie 4, Santorum 4, Perry 3, Rubio 3.

IOWA–PRESIDENT–DEMOCRATICPRIMARY–Des Moines Register: Clinton 56, Warren 16, Biden 9, Sanders 5, Webb 3, O’Malley 1

Wall Street Journal: “Republican donors could finally exhale Friday, as onetime GOP nominee Mitt Romney told supporters he wouldn’t run for president in 2016, resolving a dilemma for fundraisers who gravitate toward the party’s so-called establishment wing.”

“The decision boosts the money-raising prospects for other pro-business Republicans weighing a presidential campaign, primarily former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie , donors said.”

Politico: “Romney’s exit from the 2016 presidential race sets up a critical challenge for Jeb Bush, top Republicans say: If the former Florida governor can scoop up many of Romney’s big donors, he would set himself up as the dominant front-runner in the establishment wing of the party — and make life much more difficult for New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.”

New York Times: “The news on Friday that Mr. Romney would opt out of the race revealed as much about the party in 2015 as it did about the former Massachusetts governor’s weaknesses as a candidate. Republican leaders, especially the party’s wealthiest donors, are in an impatient and determined mood. They are eager to turn to a new face they believe can defeat what they anticipate will be a strong, well-funded Democratic opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton.”

“The campaign to deny Mr. Romney another chance began almost immediately after he mused to donors at a Friday get-together in New York City on Jan. 9 that he was open to the possibility of another run. By that Sunday afternoon, William Oberndorf, a prominent California investor who supported Mr. Romney in both of his previous presidential campaigns, had emailed a group of 52 powerful Republicans, including former Secretary of State George Shultz, the investor Charles Schwab, Gov. Bruce Rauner of Illinois and the Michigan billionaire Betsy DeVos with a blunt message: we need to support someone else.”

A new New York Times/Stanford University poll finds an overwhelming majority of the American public, including nearly half of Republicans, support government action to curb global warming.

“In a finding that could have implications for the 2016 presidential campaign, the poll also found that two-thirds of Americans say they are more likely to vote for political candidates who campaign on fighting climate change. They are less likely to vote for candidates who question or deny the science of human-caused global warming.”

If you, like the GOP Establishment, think marriage equality will be over as an wedge issue against the GOP once the Supreme Court rules for it this coming June, you are sadly mistaken. At Iowa Rep. Steve King’s Iowa summit last weekend, conservative activists revealed it to be the next litmus test for their candidates:

“If you dodge the question, then it’s the kiss of death,” said social conservative Sam Clovis, who finished second behind Joni Ernst in last year’s Iowa GOP Senate primary. “Candidates have got to be declarative about where they stand. Period.”

“If you’re not vocally pro-life and pro-traditional marriage, I don’t think you can win here because you’re going to get hammered,” added Clovis.

So the GOP nominee will have to be violently anti-gay, anti-marriage equality, and anti-choice. Thus unelectable. I love it when wedge issues work for the good guys.