Finchley 1959 - Explore new Perspectives

Iowa and New Hampshire have done their job again. The field is narrowing down, as New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has become the latest candidate to drop out of the Republican race. The outspoken governor was an early frontrunner in this race, however he was hurt by the Bridgegate scandal back home, and was overshadowed in the crowded Establishment/Governor lane and by the rise of political outsiders like Donald Trump. After coming in at 6th place in the Granite State, Christie didn't believe in the race anymore, as he put all his eggs in one basket. It worked for Kasich, not for Christie, and that is why we are saying bye to him now. In the run-up to the 2012 election, Chris Christie was widely favored in the party, and thought of as a potential candidate. He was however not yet ready and did not join, despite the fact that Romney received a surprisingly strong challenge from Rick Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. He did however went on to campaign heavily for Romney la...

Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum has also dropped out of the Presidential Race, just after Rand Paul has done the same. In 2012 Santorum was the surprise candidate of the year, as he won Iowa and became the main challenger to Mitt Romney. Santorum had high early hopes for the 2016 race, but unlike last time around, he never managed to connect with the voters. The lack of support led to low levels of fundraising and polling, and constant relegation to the second tier debates. With Santorum out of the race, only 9 candidates remain in the Republican race, and will try to get the most votes in New Hampshire on the 9th of February. While four years ago he was a champion of the workers and the people who saw Mitt Romney as just another rich man lying to them, this time around he campaigned for Christian vote and made family values a key focus in his strategy. He tried to reform his Evangelical coalition from four years ago and build on it, but he too was surprised by the rise...

Today, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul became the latest Republican presidential candidate to suspend his campaign. The Senator finished 5th in Iowa, and had a good forecast for New Hampshire. But beyond that, his chances looked grim, as he faced fundraising shortages and a challenger back home. He was the only libertarian candidate and thus his presence greatly widened the debate, but he too was swept away by the rise of political outsiders as Donald Trump and Ted Cruz. With his exit, 10 candidates remain in the race to battle it out for the party's ticket. Rand Paul 5th place finish in Iowa was seen as a positive surprise by many, as he managed to defeat the "establishment" governors of Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and John Kasich. But many people who understand how voters think, weren't surprised by Paul's results. Paul's libertarian message is particularly popular among college and young voters. Paul is against big government, and is a firm defendant of pri...

Politico The 2016 Iowa Caucus results turned out great for Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. People like Ben Carson, Donald Trump and Rand Paul also felt ok about their numbers. They could have been better, but could have been worse. Then there is Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Chris Christie who officially didn't really care about what they got here, as they focused on New Hampshire. But it must have hurt them. And then there is Jim Gilmore, Martin O'Malley, Carly Fiorina, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee. They were demolished, and for Huckabee and O'Malley it was a knockout. Huckabee's exit leaves the race with 11 Republicans, if you can count Gilmore at all, while O'Malley's exit leaves just Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders on the side of the Democrats.  Huckabee's poor results were expected, and thus his exit is not a big surprise. What is a surprise is that Rick Santorum didn't go down with him, even though he had an e...

Chris Carlson/AP After months of campaigning, Iowa finally voted yesterday! On the Republican side of the Iowa Caucus, Texas Senator surprised Donald Trump. While the Democrats pretty much tied, as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders only received slightly less support than former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, but it is still unclear who won, as a recount is very much possible. All the latest polls, even by Anne Selzer, predicted a Donald Trump victory, even though they all acknowledged that Ted Cruz was not far behind. But in real life, not many people expected Cruz to win, even though if there were serious questions of whether or not Trump supporters are real and if they will actually turn out to vote. Well they were real, but Cruz had more of them. Trump almost even slipped down to 3rd place, as it was confirmed that Rubio's late surge was real. His 23.1% is an extremely good show in a state like Iowa. This was a huge loss for Trump. More precisely his ego. For mo...

PDA America Finchley 1959 has been covering the 2016 US Presidential Election since the candidates have been announcing their intentions from early last year onwards. Now, as the final 24 hours of campaigning takes place across the state of Iowa before voting, we are ready to make our predictions. On the Republican side, we are ready to call Iowa for Donald Trump over Texas Senator Ted Cruz. The Hawkeye State's Democrats though, are more likely to choose Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as their nominee.  Here's why. Donald Trump seems to be a sure bet. Ted Cruz was ahead in December, but by now he has slipped. He even has to worry about Rubio now, as the Florida Senator is surging in Iowa. But Cruz is still likely to have a safe second place, at least. His supporters are more reliable than Trump, so they will probably turn out in higher numbers. Nevertheless, while we are calling Iowa for Trump, Cruz is still within ...

AP Photo 2016 Republican Presidential candidate, and frontrunner (by a lot, as he would say), Donald Trump had a great night last night. He held a huge rally at Iowa's Drake University, as he comfortably awaits the next ten days where he has every chance to win the first two states that are voting: Iowa and New Hampshire. Oh, that's right. There was also a GOP Debate going on at the same time, accordingly without Mr. Trump. Everyone was calling Trump out for being scared of Megyn Kelly. Not True. For risking his future as he is neck-and-neck with Ted Cruz. Not True. Trump simply had a problem with the moderators, so he decided to stay away. Rand Paul did the same thing for the last debate, when he had a problem with the criteria. And it looked like Paul made a good choice then, but Trump seems to have made an even better one this time around. People should really be used to this by now. If you disagree with Trump, it means that he is doing the right thing, while also ...

Daily Mail New York City is a great city. In several ways it is perhaps the greatest city in the world. Everyone must go there at least once in their lives. New York is also big and very diverse. That is how it is possible that four of the main (if not all) candidates for President are from New York. On the Republican side, Donald Trump is the epicentre of everything New York. No question about that. On the other side, Hillary Clinton was a Senator from New York while Bernie Sanders was born in Brooklyn, and he couldn't deny it. And now that it seems that Michael Bloomberg could join the race as an Independent, it can be declared that all the main candidates in 2016 are from New York. This is crazy, a country of 323 million people, will all choose their next president from one city. It's like a local election. So what makes New York the perfect place for a candidate? We are not sure. It may be the money and the winning atmosphere. Or all the famous and influential ...

The First Republican Debate of the Year happened last night. It was all about Trump vs. Cruz, Rubio vs. Cruz and Cruz vs. everyone. Ted Cruz was the ultimate winner though. Cruz spoke the most and was the most talked about as well, together with Trump. Earlier this week Trump narrowly retook Iowa from Cruz, but now it really will be a 50/50 race in the first voting state. They used to be on pretty good terms, but as Iowa votes in just over two weeks time, on February 1st, gloves are off and it is all about blood now. Trump and Cruz had several big battles last night. Trump again attacked Cruz on him being born in Canada. It probably doesn't really matter, cause he does seem to be qualified, but some Cruz voters might stay away from him, and in a close race like this, that could decide everything. And by everything we don't only mean Iowa. If Trump wins in Iowa, and then in New Hampshire too, he could have enough of a momentum to go all the way. Yeah, it is scary. So someon...

Is he, or is he not? That is the current question on the Republican side. At least to Donald Trump. And he seems to think that Ted Cruz is not a real American, and should not be eligible to be the President. How is this possible? Well Cruz was born to an American mother, but in Canada. Donald Trump keep questioning if Ted Cruz can legally be elected as President. Cruz is technically a full righted American, so there should be no reason why he couldn't be President. He wouldn't waste all this money on the campaign if he would knew that legally he is not eligible. The whole thing is a total nonsense, and Mitt Romney seems to think so too. A vast array of establishment Republicans have come out to support Cruz on this issue. It seems like they are even keen to support him, in fact anyone, just not Trump. But Trump being Trump keeps bringing it up, and it seems like it may work. Some people may question their support for Cruz, and may switch back to Trump. The candidate with...

Former President Bill Clinton began campaigning for Hillary Clinton this week. With less than four weeks before the first votes are cast, many campaigns are shaking up their tactics. Hillary is now enlisting Bill, Trump has ads and Christie is heading to Iowa. But will these new methods work? Just like Joe Biden though, Bill Clinton is known for his gaffes. In 2008 too, he made some controversial and unfortunate statements, and many saw him as a liability to his wife's campaign. This time around, he has been noticeably missing from the campaign trail, only appearing in some family gatherings with Chelsea Clinton too. However as 2016 arrives, Bill Clinton, one of America's most loved politicians, will start to heavily campaign for Hillary in both Iowa and New Hampshire. This is a change of direction for the campaign as they hope to solidify their lead in Iowa, and fight back in New Hampshire. Bill Clinton though seems to be tightly monitored and censored t...