The Inconvenience of Conscience
And so it begins. The next episode of the Civics Reality Show that is the Republican presidential nomination was previewed last Thursday when the Republican National Convention floated a draft…
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Clint Cline
35 posts
Clint Cline is the president of Design4, a national media and messaging firm based in Florida.
The Great Paul Ryan Whisper
If timing is everything in politics, then Paul Ryan had a very, very bad day last Thursday as he endorsed — sort of — Donald Trump. Ryan’s editorial in his…
The Republican Dilemma of the Stingy Billionaire
With the release of Donald Trump’s FEC filing on his holdings claiming his net worth above $10 billion, the question arises once again: why won’t Donald Trump self-fund his campaign?…
Can Cruz Pull Off an Upset in Arizona?
While it appears Utah is Ted Cruz’s to lose today, Arizona presents a unique challenge to his winning a GOP Primary Daily Double. The weekend polling of likely primary voters…
Why Illinois and Missouri Matter Today
Florida and Ohio have carried much of the attention over Super Tuesday II because of their 165 winner-take-all delegates. But Illinois and Missouri, with 121 delegates between them, could turn…
Marco: Will He Drop or Won’t He?
This is not the narrative Marco Rubio anticipated he’d hear in the run-up to what was hoped would be one of the most significant moments in his young political career:…
Is South Carolina a Must-Win for Ted Cruz?
Must Ted Cruz win the February 20th South Carolina primary in order to have a clear path to the Republican nomination? In a word, no. While a distant second to…
N.H. Says Take Your Pick: Angry Populist or Angry Socialist?
So complete has the Washington political culture of both parties bred a climate that favors insider power structure and cronyism (both corporate and political), that it’s no longer able to…
Three Things to Watch For in N.H.
We correctly predicted the story out of Iowa would be Marco Rubio, as this Vox article details about his virtual tie with Donald Trump: What happened next? There was a…
Is Rubio’s Iowa Surge for Real?
Updating my earlier post, I would like to point out an article in today’s Washington Examiner explaining the most recent Iowa polling from Opinion Savvy and Emerson College and handicapping the reality…
What to Watch For in Iowa, And It’s Not What You Think…
I’ve been reading all manner of predictions that focus almost entirely on the horse race that is Donald Trump v. Ted Cruz. At this point, 27 hours from the Caucus…
In Iowa, It’s Time to Choose. But Whose Time Is It…?
Maggie, on the heels of your posting the Trump Twitter-rage against Iowa pastor Bob Vander Plaats, then his pointed rebuttal, I thought to add a bit of information Mr. Trump…
Can Trump Get an Iowa ‘Amen’ With His Liberty U. Performance?
Media coverage of Donald Trump’s recent address to Liberty University students has typically highlighted his “Two Corinthians” theological flub – as if it will mean something significant to voters in…
The Rubio Path to Victory: A Roadmap?
In light of the Rubio Nevada firewall strategy, I offer Dan McLaughlin’s (RedState) Rubio roadmap that seemingly validates it, though contrasting it with Cruz’s more viable path to the nomination.…
If Nevada Is Rubio’s Firewall, Will It Be Too Little Too Late?
There’s a chance the promising primary campaign of Marco Rubio and his “New American Century” may sputter before it ever ignites. Elaina Plott writes in National Review: Marco Rubio is…
The Smart Message Behind New Ted Cruz Ads
Maggie, there were two things I picked up on the first pass through the ad: He pointedly associated Marco Rubio with Mitch McConnell. He co-opted Rubio’s lower case man-of-the-people font…
Chris Christie’s Lack of Courage on Religious Liberty
Chris Christie appeared to get a boomlet from the Nevada debate this week. Why? For a hawkish foreign policy posture about Russians violating his proposed no-fly zone in Syria. Here’s some…
Frank Underwood for President?
Last night, many of us were surprised to see this ad from an apparently new contender for president, who fits right into the Washington establishment: “America, I am only getting…
Rubio Takes a Lesson from Trump’s Playbook
Maggie, this is essentially the same pitch that Donald Trump is making: “Trust me, I’ll have a plan for (insert issue). It’s gonna be great. It’ll be better than ever.”…
What Trump Must Do at Tuesday’s Debate
This will be the first debate without Donald Trump as “The Inevitable.” What the past few weeks have shown us is that Ted Cruz has built an impressively solid ground…
