The Marco Rubio-Carly Fiorina Option

Democrats have historically liked presidential nominees they can go gaga for, even if they lack experience: Barack Obama, Bill Clinton and John F. Kennedy. Republicans on the other hand like to nominate the guy who’s paid his dues and already lost a presidential run: Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney.

So far this year, the parties have switched love languages. Democratic voters have become responsible and middle-aged, telling pollsters they want experienced pols who can work within the system. Republicans are embracing their inner adolescent.

.. Many Republicans show little interest in candidates who offer proposals, but flock to the ones who offer outrageous self-expression.

.. This is no longer Bob Dole’s or George H.W. Bush’s G.O.P. But it’s not going to completely lose its mind, either.

It’s going to be somewhat the same, but edgier and more renegade. Right now, Rubio, Fiorina and maybe Chris Christie are best positioned to occupy that space.

The Atlantic’s Liveblog of the Republican Presidential Debate

The more I watch Trump debate, the more fascinated I get by his obsession with polling. He’s the perfect pop-art reflection of the Nate Silver age, where quantification is what matters most. Trump’s answer to everything: ​_Hey, this is where I am in the polls; this is where you are. Need I say more? —David Graham​

.. The more time that Donald Trump spends on debate stages, the more the novelty of his bombastic charisma will wear off, and the more his recourse to insults will wear thin. He can’t help himself but to be baited into pettiness. I don’t know that Rand Paul’s attack on him helped the Kentucky Senator, but Trump’s response—to mock Paul’s appearance—is the kind of thing that will cause him to lose in the end. —Conor Friedersdorf

.. Tapper keeps asking candidates whether they’d be comfortable with Trump’s “finger on the nuclear codes.” Even leaving aside the bungled metaphor, it’s an oddly out-of-place question. It helped sink the presidential aspirations of Arizona’s Barry Goldwater half a century ago; it took a Californian to combine Goldwater’s conservative faith with a less aggressive demeanor to capture the White House. The risk of Trump shooting off nuclear missiles isn’t what gives most skeptical voters pause. But the query raises another question: Is there a candidate on the stage who can sell Trump’s positions less bluntly, the Reagan to his Goldwater? And even if there is, that actually what people want? —Yoni Appelbaum

 

With Donald Trump’s Rise, Fox News Reaps What It Sows

because he has demonstrated no firm grasp of public policy in any area; and because his boastfulness, bombast, and petty insults are signs of insecurity, not confidence. It would be dangerous to put such an apparently insecure man in a position of power.

.. But if he doesn’t implode and GOP elites want to keep him from becoming their nominee or a third-party spoiler, they’ll need to offer winning arguments as to why he’s unqualified to a base that they’ve trained to be immune to media persuasion.