2016 Presidential Election

Morgan Barbet and Zachary Mroz

 

Democratic presidential candidates

The presidential election of 2016 is over a year away and candidates are already preparing themselves for office. Who will be the next President of the United States? The democratic side has some extremely qualified individuals that are competing for the nomination. Currently, there are five candidates running, and one undecided.

The front runners are Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton has become a household name due to the positions she has held in the past. She has over two decades of experience in government, including her service as the 67th United States Secretary of State (under President Barack Obama) and eight years spent in the white house as first lady.  Also, The National Law Journal has listed her as one of the top one-hundred most influential lawyers in America.

Hillary’s main competition is Bernie Sanders, a walking history book. He has served as a mayor of the state of Vermont, a U.S. Senator, and a U.S congressman. Sanders has been involved in politics since the 1960’s (originally as a civil rights activist) and is the longest serving independent in congressional history. Bernie Sanders, has been dubbed the “amendment king” in the House of Representatives for passing more amendments than any other member of Congress. Fun fact: Sanders attended the iconic “I have a dream” speech way back in the 1960’s.

Who falls behind our front runners? The other candidates include Lincoln Chafee (the first Independent elected Governor of Rhode Island in over 150 years, and former co-chair of Independents and Republicans for Obama in 2008), Jim Webb (former senator, combat Marine, counsel in the Congress, and Secretary of the Navy), and Martin O’Malley (former Governor of Maryland, Mayor of Baltimore, and city councilor). Lastly, Joe Biden, the current Vice president  has announced that he is considering running for president but has not officially announced his candidacy.

You can find the list of both Republican and Democratic candidates at…

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/2016-presidential-candidates.html?

If you want to learn more about the views of the candidates, go to… http://presidential-candidates.insidegov.com

 

Republican presidential candidates

With the 2016 presidential election a year away, the candidates are flooding in to race for the position of President of the United States. The Republicans are currently fighting neck and neck with the other 16 Republican candidates running. This is a crucial race for the Republicans with a predominately Republican Congress. After Barack Obama’s reign as president, a lot of Republicans are upset with the way the country has been handled, and are ready to take charge.

In a recent poll by CNN, the frontrunner remains Donald Trump who has been receiving endless amounts of media attention. Trailing not too far behind him is the only African American republican candidate, Dr. Ben Carson. Falling into 3rd place is the only female candidate, Carly Fiorina. Behind those top three are Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Chris Christie, John Kasich, and RickSantroum, Jim Gilmore, Lindsey Graham, Bobby Jindal.There have been two GOP (Grand Old Party) / Republican primary debates since the election began. Due to the attacks, and harsh race involving Trump, Rick Perry and Scott Walker have already dropped out of the race. Walker has urged other candidates to follow suit so that voters can focus on important issues with higher rated candidates. With the mass amount of media attention being brought towards the Republican race, and with all of the personal attacks, the pool of candidates will shrink even farther.

Taking a look at the top two candidates even deeper, we have Donald Trump in first place by a landslide. Trump is one of the oldest candidates running in the election, being the second oldest Republican running. Trump is a well-known business executive, and televisionpersonality. Following behind, we have the retired neurosurgeon, Dr. Ben Carson. Carson is a Michigan native, who overcame poverty, racial oppression, and anger issues throughout his childhood. After overcoming all the obstacles, he went to school, and eventually became the Chief of Neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Unlike the Democratic presidential race, both top two republican candidates are males. This might turn away female voters.

One of the most interesting things about the Republican race, is that none of the top three contenders have any political experience, while the frontrunners of the democratic race have decades of experience. With a whole year left until the Republican nominee is chosen, there are many fights to be fought, debates to be held, and campaigning to do. With so much time left, we can expect certain candidates to drop out of the race. Until then, may the odds be ever in the candidates favor!

Source: realclearpolitics.com

Cbsnews.com