… While GOP apparatchiks are concerned about the consequences of the unprecedented size of the field of contenders, Republican voters are deliriously happy with the large and varied selection of candidates. …
There is nothing inherently wrong with starting out with a big field; typically, the Darwinian course of caucuses and primaries ultimately serves to winnow it. That natural-selection process was disrupted in 2012, when a couple of wealthy benefactors kept a few candidates on life support, allowing them to stick around longer than they would have otherwise. There’s no question that the extended nomination fight, which dragged well into April, made Mitt Romney’s odds even longer than they would have been. But in this cycle the party seems to have a greater awareness of that potential problem.
Then there is the matter of Donald Trump. CONT.
Charlie Cook