"All in The Game" - Traditional West Baltimore

The political bullshite game is ramping up for 2016. We all know the Dems have Hillary Clinton, a crazy looking socialist, Tommy Carcetti (Littlefinger aka Martin O'Malley), and Jim Webb. Looks like a coast to the nomination for Clinton, but still no certainty.

The GOP has a much more interesting and entertaining primary ahead. 16 different candidates have put their hat in the ring. Setting up in fighting for the fractions of groups infighting within the party.

Donald Trump has set the GOP primary on fire with his neo-nationalist agenda of "act right or get smacked right" foreign policy and the plan to have illegals build a giant border fence only to have Mexico pay for it. His real appeal is his willingness to fight back against the PC police. Tapping conservative anger over the direction of society.

He's got no chance at victory, but has given today's new addition Governor Scott Walker a game plan to be a formidable force in the nomination process. Walker has a lot of conservative support after busting up public sector unions in Wisconson. He'll play to get the conservative rage machine behind him imho, and just try to collect enough moderates to put him over the top. He has a real shot at winning imo.

Then there sit the other three hopefuls with a shot at winning: Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and John Kasich. All three have issues with having pure conservative bonafides. Bush is seen as a RINO, but had the corporate machine throwing him hundreds of millions of dollars.

Rubio is still fighting against his Gang of 6 immigration proposal, and we can clearly see this will be a difficulty based on the current strength of Trump's support. He's also fighting for the same money cascading toward Bush's PAC and campaign. That being said, he's the most natural politician of the bunch. He has positions with specifics. He's pragmatic. He's handsome with a pretty brownish family. He's probably the most likely to slay the Bush.

Then you have pragmatic John Kasich. Seems a natural Veep, but his age and message suggests he's in it to win it. He's very popular in Ohio, a purple state if there ever was one. He's vulnerable from taking the medicaid expansion money, but has a history of being an effective executive that should serve him well if he can survive to have a good showing in the early primaries.

Now to the rest of the three ring circus. Rand Paul has potential in a general from young voters but that appeal doesn't help him in a primary. His campaign has also been non existent in recent months. Maybe it's better to keep quiet for a while, but he risks hitting the gas too late.

Cruz is a firebrand who doesn't have institutional support after the debt ceiling debacle but has some pull with the base. Who he eventually throws his support behind could be critical for Scott Walker.

Ben Carson is still doing well in the polls. He too is a conservative favorite and too who he supports will be important for the candidates with a real shot.

Finally, I'm going to bitch about Bobby Jindal. Some fiscal conservative, he used a bunch of one time money to plug budget deficits in Louisiana, then tried to wash his hands of the impending disaster. He didn't wash his hands completely, as any tax increases had to be "revenue neutral". To the point he came up with the convoluted plan to raise the cigarette taxes and give students a tax credit that they never see and goes straight to the universities. Selling his soil for political gain and not gaining anything. His ties to Tony Perkins suggests he's a true believer in conservative Christianity and will be whoring himself out to capture the religious vote. I hope the religious right sees through his game.

So fine observers of the SECrOT, who do you see getting the nomination?

My money is on Rubio, but the campaign is long and full of pitfalls.