Donald Trump (center, flanked by Scott Walker, left, and Jeb Bush) garnered the lion’s share of media at- tention at last week’s initial Republican debate of the 2016 presidential sweepstakes in Cleveland. The top 10 GOP hopefuls participated, with the remaining seven squaring off in an earlier forum the same evening.

JEB BUSH PLAYING ‘NOT TO LOSE’:
AN UNCONVENTIONAL STRATEGY
WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE THE LEAD

GOP should utilize positive, unifying
presidential message delivered
by Ohio Gov. John Kasich

BABBLING BLOWHARDS STEEPED IN NEGATIVITY
 
By David Maril
 
While wondering if Donald Trump is trying to prove a Super Pac doesn’t need to support a candidate when it can run for office itself, we can note the following:

 I couldn’t help but wonder if Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan had his way, would he give the City of Baltimore the same treatment he’s applying to the Baltimore detention center he’s closing down?

Surely if he could make an executive decision without consulting Democrats and local officials, to shut down the city and make all the issues and problems he would prefer not to consider, disappear, it would make his day.

Hogan is making it clear the improving living conditions in Baltimore — where he doesn’t have much voter support — is not high on his agenda. If it wasn’t bad enough that he killed the plan for the much-needed Red Line Light Rail system, he insultingly used the leftover funds for road and bridge work outside of the city.

Closing the controversial jail is the right thing to do. But it should have been handled in a classier, more bipartisan way, which would have allowed city officials to publicly participate in the process.

 Speaking of transportation, there’s nothing wrong with expanding taxicab service options so there will be more competition, thereby helping consumers. However, Uber and other new modes of service should have to meet the same type of regulations and requirements with licensing and safety standards so everyone will be competing on a level driving field.

 Presidential behavior was in short supply throughout the telecast of the first Republican primetime showcase hosted by Fox News and Facebook in conjunction with the Ohio Republican Party.

The “amateur hour” unprofessional tone was established early on by two of the three moderators.

Fox News political commentator and pundit Megyn Kelly’s menstrual cycle caused her to be extra tough on Donald Trump at the Re- publican debate last week in Cleveland — at least according to The Donald, who drew heavy criticism in the days following for his disparaging remarks about women. Kelly was one of 3 debate moderators Thursday night.

Megyn Kelly, the news pundit and political commentator on the Fox News Channel, seemed to be auditioning to host either a fall reality program, game show, or a mid-afternoon gossip chitchat program.

Bret Baier, the chief political anchor for Fox, was earnest enough but seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve and resembled a training-camp football coach trying to whip the candidates into shape to be tough against the Democrats later in the season.

You almost expected him to announce cuts from the candidates’ roster as they were leaving the stage when the telecast ended.

Chris Wallace, who can grill a politician better than anyone except his late father, Mike, was the only one who gave this extravaganza a hint of being a debate of presidential hopefuls.

 To me, the big news from the debate was the exposure for Ohio Gov. John Kasich on one of cable television’s highest rated telecasts of all time.

In this unimpressive array of babbling blowhards steeped in negativity, Kasich offered a message of hope and bringing people from many sides together to get things done.

Kasich has an impressive track record in budget management at the state and federal levels and is a person of compassion, reason and common sense. If the Republican Party smartens up and realizes it can not win a national election with unreasonable and divisive leaders such as Ted Cruz, Kasich would be a terrific choice.

The Republicans need Ohio to win and he would get many centrist Democrat voters crossing over to defeat the wearisome and unprincipled Hillary Clinton.

It will be even more crucial for the GOP to expand its base into moderate territory if Trump runs as a third-party candidate and takes his block of malcontent voters with him.

 Jeb Bush has become obsessed with adhering to a treading-water mode. If he were playing basketball, he’d be running the old four-corner offense, eating up as much time on the clock as possible, holding on to the ball and avoiding mistakes.

The only problem is that while he’s secured significant campaign funding, he doesn’t have the lead and his prospects are far from certain.

So far, he has been unsuccessful in stepping out from the shadow of his brother George. Plus he still seems indecisive when asked questions he should be expecting.

One topic the Fox moderators didn’t explore was a remark he recently made promising he would cut back on the power of lobbyists: He proposed increasing the ban on former Members of Congress and government workers becoming lobbyists, from one year to 10.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, shown here at a town hall meeting in his home state, has an impressive track record in budget management at state & federal levels and is a person of compassion, reason and common sense.

This is an extremely admirable goal that would need bipartisan support; and it will be interesting to hear him elaborate on how he’d accomplish this.

 The only thing keeping bombastic Donald Trump in the GOP lead is that there are 16 other candidates. Once a bunch of them drop out and his percentage of support remains the same, the other candidates will surpass him.

Whether there are 17 in the race or just two others, Trump is not going to rise above the 17-20 percent level.

He has his base group of shallow-thinking malcontents who will stick with him no matter how big an embarrassment he becomes — however, the size of this group will not grow.

But if he runs as an Independent candidate, he will keep these “Archie Bunkers” from voting for the Republican nominee, thereby assuring a victory for Hillary and the Democrats.

 Dr. Ben Carson drew praise in the debate with some of his reflective and touching comments regarding race. However, it was downright frightening if you listened closely to his comments about foreign policy and the military.

Carson indicated complete trust and faith in military leadership and gave the impression that as president he would follow whatever the generals want because they know best.

That’s naïve, dangerous and hardly what the founders of this country were looking for.

 While Chris Christie is entertaining with his Don Rickles motormouth quips and insulting style, he’s not going to gain any traction.

His flare-up with the fast-sinking Rand Paul did little to enhance either candidate.

 Mike Huckabee knows how to get off a few decent lines in front of a camera — but his train has come and gone.

Although Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker are billed as future stars of the party, both have a long way to go to develop more comprehensive résumés to support their bluster.

Former HP CEO Carly Fiorina threw her hat into the presidential ring in May, four-and-a-half years after being trounced by retiring U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer when she tried and failed to unseat the California incum- bent in 2010. Fiorina earned an MBA in marketing at the University of Maryland, College Park, when she was 25. She did not make the top 10 for the first GOP debate, but participated in the 7 “ineligibles’ forum.”

 It will be interesting to see if Carly Fiorina’s star rises in the next several weeks. In the matinee showcase of the lower-rated candidates, the former business executive’s performance drew heavy praise.

However the ex-Hewlett-Packard (HP) CEO will have to prove this was due to more than a combination of her coming in prepared and viewers having low expectations for how she would do.
 
davidmaril@voiceofbaltimore.org
 
“Inside Pitch” is a weekly opinion column written for Voice of Baltimore by David Maril.
 
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