There´s things to like about Rubio but if going to win it´ll have to be on conservative bedrock issues,not bringing latino voters in. 2nd,3rd generation Cubans are throwing in with the mainstream anti-republican latino crowd.Castro and communist hating of the 50´s and 60´s is fading from these people´s heritage.

Being Catholic isn´t a big winner either as liberal Catholics have overtaken the religion.Latinos are supposedly mostly Catholics but somehow they got a different version of the 10 commandments than everybody else.Thou shall not covet thy neighbor´s goods? Does that include welfare benefits?

Rubio´s dream act light isn´t a winner when Obama´s for whole hog amnesty under any conditions.How is going to college make you a better candidate for citizenship when they´re studying useless college courses while student loan debt passes a trillion dollars?

You have people in other countries waiting for years to come in here legitimately,when all these people have to do is walk across the border.Yet republicans seem to be saying there´s nothing wrong with this.

The biggest reason republicans are stuck right now is they keep applying Reagan era solutions to modern day problems.In the absence of new solutions,we´re going to keep getting ran over by the left.

Why anyone would waste 4 years of their life attempting to become president on the republican ticket is a mystery to me. There is no way that you can beat the Dem machine. Please, politicians, just GO AWAY and leave me alone for many, many years!

So-- who will it be? Ryan, Rubio, Jindal, Santorum, Palin, or someone else-- you have four years to make your case, fellas. Oppose Obama daily, vigorously, with brains and principles for the base and folksy emotional connections for the non-base. Show us you are a leader.

Gowdy.

I don´t think Immigration is going to be an issue in 2016. I think by then Obama will have let all the Illegals in and given those who are already here some kind of legal status. I like Rubio, always have. I think he´s very smart and would do a good job as President. I´m not sure Ryan could win, but I do like him a lot. I guess we should just sit back and watch what unfolds in the next three plus years. Our world is definitely going to change...big time!

Let´s not forget that in 2006, hardly anyone knew who Barack Obama was. He started his rise in 2007, and by November of 2008, he had won the biggest prize this country awards.

The point is that there could likely be someone out there, not on our horizon yet. What´s important is to stick to our nerve, stay cohesive, and the right person will rise up for us.

(Or go underground, like the pro-regressives have done, and infiltrate the opposition ranks and sabotage everything they do and believe in from within. I´m thinking of reregistering as a Democrat, and let the games begin.)

We won´t win in 2016 or any year if we cannot find a way to not only welcome, but to celebrate many of the groups who are afraid of our rhetoric. Hispanics, single women, Catholics, young people are groups who can be part of us. Ryan and Rubio are off to a good start. President George W. Bush has gone public with a lot of the right ideas, too. We don´t have to destroy what we stand for, but we certainly have to retool and focus our message.

I really don´t care -- right now....

For NOW -- I´m going to practice my traditional conservative values -- enjoy my family -- go to Mass -- and enjoy my life....

Sooooooo --- all you DC pundits can razzle/dazzle your reporting -- I´m unplugging....

Merry Christmas everyone.....

LZK

We haven´t even made it through Obamas first term yet.

So how do we appeal to those groups who are afraid of our rhetoric? So two Senate
candidates say stupid things and we all are to suffer?

Immigration - well, according to Haley Barbour - we or rather Colonel Sanders needs those illegals...The only reason George W Bush and Congress caved a few years back (the good ol days) is becuase the we the people voiced our opinion. "Cause this country needs more people to mow our lawns, slaughter our farm food animals, clean our houses. Let´s not reform our immigration system to allow more professional and skilled people in - no let´s cave in to an ethnic mix hyped as one large homogenous group who we are always being told are "natural Republicans."

If the only way the Republican party is going to win is to become even more Democrat (out bribe the bribers) than the Democrats, then count me out.

#7 we will never get those groups.How about why 3 million people stayed home? This 3 mill would have given the reps a sweep. Stop pushing moderate weird religion guys and the full rep electorate will show up.

Maybe it´s this: You can´t win if you´re part of the white minority.

I listen to Mark Levin all the time, and I think he has it right. Stick to bedrock conservative values, but MAKE THE CASE. We need a candidate who can explain about these values, why they are important, and why they work for everyone. I never hear this!

Even now, with this fiscal cliff mess, I never hear Republicans in power explaining why they don´t want taxes raised on the rich. I hear on the news they won´t, but the impression people get is Republicans protecting their rich buddies.

Why can´t they, as Mark says, puy some TV time, and every month or so, have a half hour where they explain conservative views? Or have their own cable channel, run it over and over. Advertise it on billboards so people will know it´s there. Try more creative things, for pete´s sake!

They don´t want to win badly enough, that´s obvious. Just watch Boehner. The establishment ones are too much like Dems.

If taxing and spending is the road to ruin, as Conservatives believe, then the U.S., after another four years under the destructive policies of Obama and Harry Reid, will be ruined, and there will be no problem electing a Republican president in 2016.

The reason our economy hasn´t collapsed yet is because Obama and the Democrats postponed eliminating the Bush tax cuts when the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, and then were unable to do so after the Republicans won the House in 2010.

But now, thanks to the 2011 debt-ceiling agreement´s expiration on January 1st, taxes will be raised, and the private sector will inevitably suffer.

The Democrats also postponed the implementation of ObamaCare until next year, which means that the dire economic consequences for employers of complying with it will further cripple our economy.

By 2016, we´ll be in extremely serious trouble, primarily because the Democrats have adamantly refused to support the Simpson-Bowles-Ryan budget proposals.

So who would make a better Republican spokesperson to explain to Americans why their country is collapsing than Paul Ryan himself? Let´s hope he continues to speak out as often as possible.

#13 is right, and excuse my obsession with this, but the Republicans need to get across, constantly and clearly, why they don´t want to tax the rich. It is insane that they have not done this and apparently don´t even have a clue that they need to do it. Forget about candidates for now (certainly forget about Ryan; as he has ´accountant´ written all over him will never win) -- the Republicans need to launch a campaign to educate the public on the principles.

We need to turn around the association of the Republicans with the rich. And this may need to start by being willing to tax at least the top one percent.

To ´raise the taxes´ on the top one percent, that is....

"We won´t win in 2016 or any year if we cannot find a way to not only welcome, but to celebrate many of the groups who are afraid of our rhetoric."

And what "rhetoric" would that be? That America is the greatest country in the history of the world? That we believe in hard work and not hand-outs? That you must transfer your loyalties when you become an American citizen? That if you come to live here your new country is now the United States of America and not Mexico, El Salvador, Egypt, Iraq, or Pakistan? That once you become an American citizen your "heritage" becomes that of the Pilgrims and Puritans?

Neither of Rubio´s parents was an American citizen at birth- he is not a Natural Born Citizen. You can be sure this would be used against him. Ryan´s brand is ruined both by being Romney´s second, and because Boehner is going full Republicat on us. As we are now seeing, the Rebups are racing to the left. They are confused how large parts of their base sat out? Maybe it´s because everyday they look and act more like Dems while doing everything to disintermediation their base. 2016 will be the birth of a third party.

Part of ´Spidey´s´ comment nailed it

"Being Catholic isn´t a big winner either as liberal Catholics have overtaken the religion.Latinos are supposedly mostly Catholics but somehow they got a different version of the 10 commandments than everybody else.Thou shall not covet thy neighbor´s goods? Does that include welfare benefits?"

What happens when you insist on continuing to do what has always been done, but it doesn´t work?

Yeah.

Butts in the pews Catholics (BIP)s, came out at almost 80% for Romney.

Onliest advice to the Republicans. Do not have press conferences called debates. Do not permit more than 3 candidates on stage together in a press conference called a debate.

#23, I don´t think anyone said a thing about "standing with illegals". But we should reach out to those legal Hispanics who are our friends and neighbors and who don´t understand why the GOP speaks of them in the same breath as the river-swimmers. The words have to be softened so that those good folks know we want them on our side. Rick Perry says that Hispanics become Republicans as they move from lower income to middle and upper income. He gets about 45 percent of the Texas Hispanic vote.

Wow #7, I thought I was alone. For the longest I have been sharing with Ldotters on the need to bring in more minorities into the party. I knew this before the 2012 elections and knew we were going to get hammered for allowing the marxist re-define Republicans.

Instead, Romney failed to capitalized and refused to fight BO the way he did Paul and Gingrich. There is also a prevalent attitude that Hispanics are dirty and some come to this very site to express it. Assuming this is a tiny winy microcosm of conservatives/republicans, I predicted the Hispanic vote for BO. In fact, this attitude is one of the reason they voted for BO. The sad truth is that BO could care less for Hispanics.

As a Conservative and Independent, I am done with the Republicans. I see them only as a means to the end of a dem´s run to a seat anywhere. But the future lays in the Constitutional Party (yea, my dream) which I hope guys like Rubio and Ryan can make happen. The repubs have no use for conservatives and in 2014 Boehner will get fire for being an ingrate. I predict no more wins for the R´s unless a substantial political chage happens.

Hint: There are lots of disenfranchise people from unexpected places, minorities, even dems. I think the reps have become too stupid to find them.

Rubio is up for reelection in the senate in 2016. He can`t run for both offices.

Will he risk his senate seat?

At this point, I`m with #2. The Dems have cheating and fraud down to a science. With no GOP voter fraud opposition how can a republican ever win back the WH. A GOP candidate would have to have a 65-35 lead going into election day to even have a longshot chance of winning.

Good luck with that. It`s probably Hillary in 2016.

I agree with #7 and #25. If we don´t try to be more attractive to all people, the GOP will become extinct. We need to be the party of those who pay taxes and want to leave their children a bright and exciting future.

When Bush ran in 2004, they knew in order to win he had to get 40% of the Hispanic vote. He got 43% and he won. They had their strategy figured out and it worked.

Right now the Republicans should focus on rebranding and retooling themselves, but also, developing a strategy of doing whatever it takes to win. The good news is we have a bevy of shining stars coming up the pike. The Dems have Hillary.

We may actually have faced the crossing of the break even point in the fight to preserve freedom. The battle was lost in the class rooms of public schools. The left took over the elections no one thought mattered; the elections of our School Board members. That was begun only 40 years ago- we lost those elections in setting our sights constantly too high in the national elections. Now, the left has raised up their crop of useful little idiots in the useful adult voting idiots. That´s where the battle for the nations future was lost- in the hearts and minds of our very own children.

It will not matter one whit what candidte we choose to run for President. It will matter who we chose to run in the communities and towns of our smallest elections- and now, even that battle front may be too left oriented to even try.

Until we have voters that actually use the brains the good lord provided them with and even an ounce of common sense....we will continue to lose. Until the GOP gets it´s crap together in all of the states and we have voter ID in every state,closed primaries and put a stop to this early voting nonsense we will continue to lose. Until the RNC and the teaparty figure out a way to work together instead of attacking each other we will continue to lose. Until we as a party learn to rally around our candidate and quit throwing fits because our ideal isn´t the nominee and stop all this 3rd party nonsense we will continue to lose.

The only trouble (for Rubio and Ryan et al) now...the dim presidential candidate continue to define their republican opponent before the repub opponent is smart enough to do it first, the msm parrots the dim talking points and manufactures the reasons to marginalize the repub candidate, the repub candidates destroy each other in the primary process, the sheep get politically informed via their community organizers and the msm,the religious right sits out future presidential elections to make their statement (nope, couldn´t wake up and vote for a mormon last month), then women, hispanics, and the illegals lapping up their government handouts and goodies so Obie-like presidents are good for them.

Now that the dims know how to steal elections, how do we break from this ugly picture?