Why am I late this week?  Because I wanted to gauge the effects, if any, of the final Republican Debates of 2015.  Will next year’s contests be any different?  I surely hope so.  By then the field should definitely be thinned out.  Let’s face it, some of the Republican candidates, who may very well be qualified for the job, are so low in the poll returns regarding their popularity or standing among their brethren that nothing, not even a miracle, can save them.  Those at the very bottom of the totem pole should simply excuse themselves and drop out.  It’s not a disgrace.  In fact, it is an honor and an accomplishment to have come this far.

In my opinion, a Presidential election is no different than a gigantic popularity contest taking place on a national scale.  Many times a political party will either forget or most likely refuse to accept this concept.  Remember, no matter how good you are and no matter what talents you bring to the table, if they don’t know you, they simply will not vote for you, unless of course that you earnestly believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy.

Of the twelve projected Republican presidential debates, the first five have already taken place this year, the last of which was only a few days ago.  So what about the actual debaters?  Let’s take a look at them, one at a time.

In elementary school, the teacher would have you line up according to “size places”, otherwise known as your height, either from the right or to the left, or in “alphabetical order” according to your last name.  The top nine Republican candidates should not be lined up according to “size places” or “alphabetical order” but by their “percentages” in the polls, the latest of which show:
Trump at 38.1%, Cruz at 14.2%, Rubio at 11.1%, Carson at 9.9%, Bush at 5.1%, Christie at 3.2%, Paul at 2.3%, Fiorina at 2.2% and lastly Kasich at 2.1%.

The erstwhile wannabees, led by Huckabee, who by the way is an excellent speaker, but at a mere 2.0% and a half dozen others who are at less than 1/10th of 1%, have done the right thing by making a sensible decision when they came to the realization that they were not going to make it, no matter what.  When I think about the nine that are still in the race, I cannot help but to think about the “Ten Little Indians” and how they disappeared one at a time.

Kasich.  The man speaks well and means well, especially when he comes across like the working  man’s choice for President but I suspect that the only state that he can definitely count on is his home state of Ohio.

Fiorina.  In my opinion she would make a better President than Hillary Clinton but she would have a very rough time with the established establishment who would most likely excoriate her for eliminating thousands of jobs at Hewlitt-Packard in order to make the company profitable and then exporting those jobs to southeast Asia.

Paul.  He certainly means well but he seems to come across more like a Liberal than a die hard Republican giving the impression that he will be too soft when dealing with the lunatic jihadists.

Christie.  I like him for his directness and if given the chance I think he can do the job but for whatever reasons he doesn’t appear to be popular enough when he strays beyond the New York City metropolitan area.

Bush.  Once considered the fair haired boy and heir apparent but when challenged by Trump and the others who also want the job that he thought was wrapped up, he started to unravel and came across on the TV screen lake a deer caught in the headlights.  Or perhaps America is just not ready to embrace a political dynasty.

At this point there should be a clear demarcation line where the leaders in the polls, namely Carson, Rubio, Cruz and Trump should remain to duke it out and all of the others gracefully drop out because there is absolutely and positively no way that either of them could make it.  And if the Republican party insists on their usual intransigence and stupidity by thinking that anyone in the bottom half of the polls can beat Hillary Clinton, then Hillary Clinton will definitely, positively and without any question be the winner.