DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Everything Else... Presidential Hopefuls

so you were the one wrong.

it's ok. you are a lot.

anyway, Rand Paul definitely stepped his game up. This is a walk the walk kinda deal. he's saying he's about less government, and he's showing it. good stuff.

Stop.
You just don't get it.

Here, I will read it for you...

Congress enacted the Patriot Act by overwhelming, bipartisan margins

the Patriot act was introduced by a Republican, passed in a republican majority, and signed into law by a republican president. doesn't matter if the democrats supported it or not, especially with the "if you don't support us, you're against America" stuff that was going on right after 9/11.

just stop it.

Anybody remember the Freedom Fries nonsense? yea.....

Stop it. The Democrats controlled the Senate in 2001!

The One Hundred Seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from January 3, 2001 to January 3, 2003, during the final weeks of the Clinton presidency and the first two years of the George W. Bush presidency. The apportionment of seats in this House of Representatives was based on the Twenty-first Census of the United States in 1990. The House of Representatives had a Republican majority, and the Senate switched majorities from Democratic to Republican and back to Democratic.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/107th_United_States_Congress

So they swapped back and forth.

the House was republican.

and once again, the Bill was introduced by a republican, passed by republicans, signed by a republican president.

anyways, presidential hopefuls.

When is Jeb Bush gonna officially declare?

So they swapped back and forth.

And they voted 98 to 1 for the Patriot act!

If jeb got elected I would view it as broken as hilary getting elected. We need new blood with fresh ideas in the presidential office.

Bah! New blood and fresh ideas are of the Debil!
They might lead to change!

I love conservative boogeymen!

Tell Carl I said Hi!

that made my day....

jc

Judges Considering Criminal Probe Into Scott Walker May Be Implicated In Same Offense

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/06...icated-offense/


Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker is facing an investigation into whether his 2012 recall campaign illegally coordinated with nonprofit groups that spent money to support him. Campaign finance laws prohibit “coordination” because they would allow candidates to run shadow campaigns outside of campaign finance law. The Center for Media & Democracy’s PRWatch said, “Prosecutors gathered evidence of Walker secretly raising millions of dollars for the supposedly ‘independent’ nonprofit Wisconsin Club for Growth (WiCFG), with the express purpose of bypassing campaign finance disclosure laws.” The secret donations were revealed to include money from a mining company that received permission to open a mine soon after Walker won reelection.
The investigation is at a preliminary stage, called a John Doe proceeding under Wisconsin law, which determines whether charges are filed. PRWatch said that “Walker and his allies have fought the probe not by denying coordination, but by claiming the rules don’t apply to so-called ‘issue ads’ that stop short of expressly telling viewers how to vote.” The Wisconsin Supreme Court is considering one of the many lawsuits filed to stop the investigation.
In a newly released court filing, the prosecutor in the case raised the question of whether one or two of the justices hearing the case are implicated in the same kind of scheme. Two groups suspected of coordinating with Walker’s campaign have also spent $10 million to elect the four-justice conservative majority. The prosecutor’s heavily redacted brief also suggests that two justices, or, at least, their campaigns, may have committed the same offense that is at the heart of the Walker investigation—coordinating with dark money groups to get reelected.
Special prosecutor Francis Schmitz—a Republican who voted for Walker in 2012—noted that the groups “had significant involvement in the election of particular justices,” though the document redacts the names of the justices and the groups. (The suspects in a grand jury or John Doe proceeding remain anonymous, unless and until charges are filed.) While the justices are not named, the brief refers to the justices benefitting from money spent by John Doe groups to support the reelection of the justices, and the groups have spent money to support the election of all four members of the court’s conservative majority.
Schmitz’s brief also referred to a “history of control, collaboration and coordination” between the groups and “political campaign committees that may potentially include judicial candidates.” The brief describes persons who worked for both a supreme court campaign and the John Doe groups. A redacted portion quotes an email that seems to provide evidence that a group was “actively involved” in a justice’s reelection campaign. Other redacted portions seem to describe contacts and “close connections” between the justice’s campaign and John Doe groups, before concluding:
billy screenshot
Justice David Prosser was up for reelection in 2011, when Walker faced a recall election. At the time, the Wisconsin Supreme Court was hearing a legal challenge to Walker’s controversial law restricting collective bargaining rights. Both sides in the debate—unions and big business—spent big in the supreme court election. Two of the John Doe groups spent around $2.5 million to reelect Justice Prosser—much more than the justice’s own campaign.
Schmitz’s brief asked two of the justices to recuse themselves. One of the groups, Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, also helped to write the court’s rule on conflicts of interest, which says that campaign cash does not in and of itself justify recusal. The four conservative justices have given no indication that they will not participateing in the case will rulinge on the case., which could be issueddecided any day now.
The court could throw out the investigation based on a technicality under state law—likely ending the investigation—or it could issue a much broader ruling that the First Amendment forbids bans on coordination between candidates and nonprofit groups. (A federal judge accepted this argument, but a higher court reversed this decision.) If the court rules broadly, then the U.S. Supreme Court could review the case.
Even if the court rules solely based on state law, there is still a chance that a federal court could find that the conflict of interest is similar to the issue in the 2004 Caperton v. Massey Coal case, in which a CEO spent $3 million to elect a West Virginia Supreme Court justice. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the justice’s failure to recuse himself in a $50 million lawsuit against the CEO’s company violated the other party’s right to Due Process.
Barring review by the U.S. Supreme Court, the four conservative Wisconsin justices can shut down this criminal investigation into groups that spent $10 million to elect them. It’s also possible that at least one of them could halt a criminal probe into their own campaign activities. Schmitz argued that “the Justices will be deciding issues that may well reflect back on their own campaign committees,” and he said that the extent of the justices’ coordination would remain “unknown, possibly forever if the investigation is not allowed to continue.”

_____________

As a human being, i hope he didn't do anything wrong. i HOPE, because if he did, then the hammer needs to drop. but i don't wish ill on people like that.

However, y'all can't tell me the state of Wisconsin looks like a hot mess since he's been in charge. just doesn't look good.

Washington (CNN)More people have an unfavorable view of Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton now than at any time since 2001, according to a new CNN/ORC poll on the 2016 race.

While Clinton remains strikingly dominant in the Democratic field, the poll shows that her numbers have dropped significantly across several key indicators since she launched her campaign in April.

A growing number of people say she is not honest and trustworthy (57%, up from 49% in March), less than half feel she cares about people like them (47%, down from 53% last July) and more now feel she does not inspire confidence (50%, up from 42% last March).


In head-to-head match-ups against top Republicans, her margin is tighter than it has been at any point in CNN/ORC's polling on the contest.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/06/02/politics/hillary-clinton-2016-poll-gop-field-close/

UPDATE...

State House to the White House? How the governors stack up...


Seventeen U.S. presidents previously served as governors—from Thomas Jefferson of Virginia to George W. Bush of Texas. All of them had to run on their record to some degree. But not one of them—not Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio, Calvin Coolidge of Massachusetts, nor Ronald Reagan of California—faced the rigors of our America's Top States for Business study, which began in 2007.

Fortunately in 2016, with as many as nine current or former governors looking to the White House, we have a treasure trove of data to judge their performance—at least when it comes to business. Some will welcome the scrutiny. Others, not so much.



Here's how some of the leading candidates and potential candidates did at the state level.

-Rick Perry—Texas

Rick Perry's second run for the White House—perhaps even more so than his first campaign in 2012—is certain to lean heavily on his economic record in Texas. It's hard to blame him, at least based on our rankings.

Texas was America's Top State for Business three times during Perry's governorship—2008, 2010 and 2012—and never finished below second place while he was in office. When it comes to consistently solid performance year after year, no state has come close to Rick Perry's Texas.

Of course, Texas has some built-in advantages that would benefit any governor. It is a big state with a big economy that until recently benefited from huge demand and rising prices for oil and natural gas. It has a highly developed infrastructure, including two of the nation's busiest airports and a vital seaport. In short, Texas is a state no business can afford to ignore, no matter who is in the governor's mansion.

But give Perry credit—not just for not screwing things up but also for leveraging those built-in advantages and aggressively marketing his state, often to the annoyance of his fellow governors. Under Perry, Texas was a perennial leader in job creation.

Our studies also expose some weaknesses under his administration, however. The state typically finished in the middle of the pack in education, with an average rank of 26th place. It is a relatively expensive state despite having no income tax, averaging a 30th place ranking under Perry for cost of doing business. And Texas averaged 32nd place for quality of life, in large part because of the state's dismal record on health insurance coverage.


-Jeb Bush—Florida

Jeb Bush left office in Florida a few months before we published our first Top States rankings, but that 2007 study is largely based on data from his final year as governor. That means it shows what he left behind after two terms in Tallahassee.

Florida tied with Minnesota for 8th place overall that year—a respectable performance, and a rank the state has not matched since (Florida finished 20th in 2014).

Florida took the top spot in our Infrastructure category that year, thanks in part to a near doubling of the state infrastructure budget during Bush's governorship and a surge in shipments bound for Latin America. Florida's economy was booming as Bush left office, helping the state capture 4th place in our Economy category in 2007. But a major factor in the state's explosive growth was housing, which turned out to be a huge and ultimately devastating bubble.

Bush also left behind one of the most expensive states in which to do business, with expensive rents and utility bill- and high worker compensation costs. And in education, a perennial weak spot for the state, Jeb Bush left Florida in 37th place.


-Chris Christie—New Jersey

The 55th governor of New Jersey points with pride to his business record.

"After years of decline, New Jersey's economy has turned around," Chris Christie's official biography declares.

But the numbers—including our America's Top States for Business rankings—tell a much different story.

New Jersey finished 43rd overall in 2014, with the 4th worst economy in the nation. The state has suffered nine credit downgrades during Christie's administration, when Moody's downgraded the state's bond rating to A2 from A1—and warned the worst may not be over.

"Without meaningful structural changes to the state's budget, such as pension reform that dramatically improves pension affordability, the state's structural imbalance will continue to grow, and the state's rating will continue to fall," the agency wrote on April 16.

New Jersey has also suffered nearly nonstop downgrades in our rankings since Christie took office in 2010. The year before, in 2009, the state had finished 24th overall.
In fairness, many of New Jersey's problems were not of Christie's doing. The state was still mired in the Great Recession when he took office, particularly tough on a state so closely tied to the financial services industry. The state's pension woes long predate the governor, as does New Jersey's crumbling infrastructure.
Read MoreCivil war in the American workplace

Nonetheless, the fact that New Jersey's ranking declined in six of our 10 categories of competitiveness during the governor's first five years in office likely will not make it into a Christie for President campaign commercial.


-Scott Walker—Wisconsin

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker took office in 2011 with a pledge to revitalize the state's business climate, and he has been using some of the same rhetoric to lay the groundwork for a White House run.

How did he do in Wisconsin?

He certainly made waves, pushing through a ban on collective bargaining by most state employee unions—and surviving the resulting recall attempt—as well as making Wisconsin the nation's 25th right-to-work state. In our rankings, Wisconsin improved to 17th place overall in 2014 from 29th in 2010, the year before Walker took office.

But despite the outward signs of improvement, Wisconsin's fortunes—like so much else under Scott Walker—are not cut-and-dried.

The governor had promised his business reforms would add 250,000 jobs in Wisconsin by the end of his first term, but the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel found the governor missed that target by a mile—or about 105,000 jobs. While job growth has accelerated in the past year, Wisconsin ranked near the bottom among its Midwest neighbors for job creation when voters went to the polls last fall. Year-over-year job growth at the time was just over 1 percent, roughly half the rate in Michigan and a quarter of the rate in booming North Dakota.

While Wisconsin has improved in six of our 10 Top States categories since Walker took office, the state has grown more expensive—dropping in rank in both our Cost of Doing Business and Cost of Living categories.

State legislators have had to struggle to close a projected $1.8 billion two-year budget gap, due in large part to Walker's business tax credits that did not pay off and revenues falling short of expectations. Walker has championed substantial cuts in education funding at a time when workforce has become a key battleground among the states.


-Bobby Jindal—Louisiana

Given the challenges Louisiana faced after Bobby Jindal took office as the state's 55th governor at the start of 2008, it's a small wonder the state didn't fall in our Top States rankings.

Then again, the state didn't have much room to drop. It had finished 47th overall in 2007.

By the time Jindal took office, appealing to business in his inaugural address—"If you want to grow your company, Louisiana wants to grow with you"—the state was still reeling from Hurricane Katrina just over two years earlier. Another hurricane, Gustav, would follow later that year, with the global financial crisis immediately after that. In 2010 the Deepwater Horizon oil spill fouled the Louisiana coastline and crippled the state's petroleum, fishing and tourism industries.

Perhaps it is no surprise, then, that Louisiana has struggled to climb out of the 40s in our rankings. But it has not been for lack of trying.

Jindal's economic development strategy has largely consisted of badly needed ethics reform, tax reform, generous—some say too generous—incentive programs and lots and lots of public relations.

Practically every plant opening or expansion, no matter how small, seems to warrant a press release from the state's hyper-aggressive Louisiana Economic Development office.

And the governor's office is happy to tell anyone who will listen that "since 2008, the Jindal administration has secured projects that are resulting in more than 91,000 new direct and indirect jobs and $62 billion in new capital investment across Louisiana."

The effort has dramatically improved Louisiana's standing in some opinion surveys of the state's business climate. But in Top States, which relies on hard performance data, traction has been much harder to come by.

No question there has been improvement under Jindal, most notably in Cost of Doing Business and Cost of Living. But the state continues to struggle in other areas, including quality of life, education and access to capital, keeping Louisiana stuck in the bottom tier.


-Mike Huckabee—Arkansas

Mike Huckabee left office in January of 2007, so like Jeb Bush in Florida, our Top States rankings capture only a parting snapshot of his administration. But by then, Huckabee had 11 years to put his mark on Arkansas, and the final picture of what he left behind is not flattering.

Huckabee's campaign website proclaims, "He left a legacy of tax cuts, job creation, the reconstruction of his state's road system (and) K-16 education reform." Our numbers tell a different story.

Arkansas finished 36th overall in 2007, with the 41st-ranked economy and a tie for 40th (with Alaska) for education. The state's infrastructure ranked 44th, including one of the worst road systems in the country.


-George Pataki—New York

The most recent Republican former governor to throw his hat into the ring, George Pataki left office on the last day of 2006. A few months later the state he left behind tied with Washington for 21st in our inaugural 2007 rankings.

New York was the most expensive state for business that year, and its heavily unionized labor force finished at the bottom of our Workforce category. But New York was tops in education as Pataki left office, and with the global financial crisis still more than a year away, New York came in 2nd in economy, just behind 2007's overall winner, Texas.


-Martin O'Malley—Maryland

Two-term former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley faces the daunting task of taking on Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton. He may also find it challenging to explain his state's performance year after year in our Top States rankings.

O'Malley is the only candidate whose entire tenure as governor is measured by our study. He took office at the start of 2007 and stepped down this past January.

Maryland ranked 35th overall in 2014 and averaged a 32nd-place ranking during O'Malley's eight years in office. Even when neighboring Virginia was leveraging its proximity to the nation's capital and an expanding federal government to capture our top honors in 2007, 2009 and 2011, Maryland finished near the middle of the pack—which O'Malley's critics often pointed out.

With one of the heaviest tax burdens in the nation, the state was consistently among the most expensive for businesses and individuals under O'Malley. It also ranked in the bottom 10 for business friendliness, which deteriorated during O'Malley's administration, according to our data.

But there were some notable bright spots. In education, Maryland is now a perennial top 10 finisher, including second place in 2013; the state had finished 26th in the category the year O'Malley took office. Maryland is also a leader year after year in our Technology and Innovation category, which plays into a central theme of his campaign.

And after years of lagging behind, Maryland has tied or outpaced Virginia for job creation three years in a row.


-Lincoln Chafee—Rhode Island

Lincoln Chafee's party affiliation requires some explaining. He was a Republican until 2007, served as an Independent as Rhode Island governor from 2011 until this year, and will run for president as a Democrat. He may have an even harder time explaining his state's showing in our Top States rankings. Rhode Island finished dead last every year he was in office except 2013, when it managed to surge … all the way to 49th.

With high taxes and utility bills, Rhode Island is consistently among the most expensive states. Its economy has struggled, and its infrastructure is perennially poor.

Reacting to Rhode Island's last-place finish in 2014, Chafee insisted to CNBC, "We're on the rebound."

It may not be the most effective presidential campaign slogan.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102718445

here's the average household income since Scott walker took office:

2013 $52,250 $51,467
2012 $52,117 $51,801
2011 $52,306 $52,195


dunno about you guys, but salary going down isn't exactly a good thing.

here's their neighbor state, Minnesota, in the same time frame:

2013 $52,250 $60,702
2012 $52,117 $59,762
2011 $52,306 $58,988

http://www.deptofnumbers.com/income/minnesota/

please republicans, pick a different candidate to get behind.

jc

you know you're a joke when Fox News doesn't even have your back:

Rick Santorum Tries To Explain Why He Can Weigh In On Climate Change But Pope Shouldn't

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/07/rick-santorum-pope_n_7529166.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

WASHINGTON -- Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) attempted to argue Sunday that it's more appropriate for him to be weighing in on climate change than it is for Pope Francis, who is not only a religious leader but also a chemist.

In the coming weeks, the pope is expected to release a groundbreaking encyclical -- a papal letter sent to all the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church -- making the case that addressing climate change and its effects on the poor is a moral and religious imperative.

Santorum, a potential GOP presidential candidate and a practicing Catholic, criticized the pope last week surrounding the news.

"I think that we probably are better off leaving science to the scientists and focusing on what we're really good at, which is theology and morality," he said.

In an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Santorum attempted to defend his remarks. Host Chris Wallace pointed out that Santorum talks plenty about climate change, even though he doesn't even have a background in science, like the pope does.

"I guess the question would be, if he shouldn't talk about it, should you?" Wallace asked.

Santorum argued that politicians "have to make decision with respect to our public policy that affect American workers." He added that the pope "can talk about whatever he wants," but it might not be the best issue for him to "use his moral authority for."

"He would say he's protecting the earth," Wallace replied.

"I would say that that's important thing to do, but I think there are more pressing problems confronting the earth than climate change," Santorum said, adding that he is "someone who's trying to go out there and make sure we have a revitalization in manufacturing and energy production, things to create jobs and opportunities."

Many Republican politicians have tried to use the excuse that they are "not a scientist" to get out of answering questions about man-made climate change, which scientists overwhelmingly believe is real and a problem that needs to be addressed.

The pope has already been outspoken on the need to address climate change, but his encyclical is expected to elevate the issue far further around the world. According to The New York Times, the encyclical's release "will be accompanied by a 12-week campaign, now being prepared with the participation of some Catholic bishops, to raise the issue of climate change and environmental stewardship in sermons, homilies, news media interviews and letters to newspaper editors."

Santorum continues to prove that he is an idiot.

I know I'm an Atheist, but I REALLY like Pope Francis! Finally a religious leader that cares about REAL issues. We don't see eye to eye on everything, but he is leaps and bounds more progressive and aware than ANY religious leader that I've encountered in my life time.

I don't know that I'd consider an institution known for covering up widespread acts of pedophilia as being "good at morality", there, Rick.

When you guys stop attacking and start using what brains God gave you,
You would realize this is a Presidential Horse race and the biggest race of their careers.

Santorum is a Catholic candidate who has just separated himself from the
Popes influence to anyone who is concerned that he may be influenced. Kennedy had to do the same thing back when he ran.

Standing with the pope would've been smarter for his run, especially with regards to this issue.

Santorum has absolutely no shot at the Republican nomination.

He's not electable in a general election, and he's a niche candidate who can't even win in his niche. He currently polls around 2% of the Catholic vote.

I wanna know how the GOP keeps ending up with these super extreme christians.

most christians just wanna live their life like everybody else in this country. But why are the people representing them so far right/religious? what's going on?

Yea, that's what everyone was saying in 2012 when he won the Iowa caucus, beating Mit.

And they were correct.

Was anyone worried about this?

The same people worried that the chain mails they read about Obama buy into the same baloney.

Jeb Bush to take GOP nomination, predicts CFO Survey


Among voters, the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination may be anyone's game. But a key group of business leaders is pretty clear about who they think will come out on top, according to the latest CNBC Global CFO Council survey.

The CFO Council represents some of the largest public and private companies in the world and collectively manages more than $2 trillion in market capitalization across a wide variety of sectors. Of the 34 council members, 19 (or 56 percent) of the council responded to this quarter's survey.
More than 72 percent of members of the council surveyed earlier this month say Jeb Bush will in fact win the Republican nomination.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102748686

Bush will have a great deal of money behind him, which is the language of politics. He also happens to have his last name, which will work against him. I would say he or Rubio will get the nod.

I looked into my crystal ball and thought I spotted a
Bush/Rubio ticket in my future. It has a crack but that's
what I think I saw.

just when we thought they couldn't fit anymore clowns in the car:

Real estate mogul Trump says he is running for president

http://news.yahoo.com/real-estate-mogul-trump-says-running-president-2016-153025838.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Real estate mogul and TV personality Donald Trump said on Tuesday he is a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

"I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created," Trump said in a launch speech at his Trump Tower skyscraper in Manhattan.

The outspoken billionaire, widely seen as having little chance of winning the nomination, will certainly enliven proceedings as he joins an unusually large group of Republicans vying for the presidency.

Eleven Republicans have announced they are running for next November's election, the latest being former Florida Governor Jeb Bush who launched his candidacy on Monday.

Trump, 69, who owns several hotels and hosts the reality show "The Celebrity Apprentice" on NBC, toyed with running in past elections but decided against doing so.

Trump features 12th in a Reuters/Ipsos online poll of 13 Republicans who have either declared their candidacies or are likely to. Bush led the poll.

In other surveys, Trump has high negative ratings, with more than 50 percent of Americans saying they will never consider voting for him.

(Additional reporting by Emily Stephenson Wise; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by James Dalgleish)

Outspoken billionaire Donald Trump remained true to form during his presidential announcement speech Tuesday, delivering a rambling talk of 30-plus minutes that touched on a multitude of subjects, including jobs, immigration and wealth — but mostly China and Mexico.

"I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created."

"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best. They're sending people who have lots of problems (which include) drugs and being rapists.”

"I'm not using donors. I don't care. I'm really rich."

"I like China. I just sold an apartment for $15 million to someone from China. Am I supposed to dislike them?"

“Saudi Arabia without us is gone. They’re gone.”

“I will build a great, great wall on our southern border and I will make Mexico pay for that wall.”

"Obama's going to be out playing golf. He might even be on one of my courses."

“People say you don’t like China. No, I love them.”

"I beat China all the time.”

“People say, Mr. Trump, you’re not a nice person. But actually I am.”

Link

the way he talks about china makes me think about that movie "Serenity", where everybody on the planet only spoke english and chinese.

Oh PLEASE.. Not again..

lol bro, i thought Trump was your boy!!

Snow Job



And business owners hire them to save money



Yeah we know. And we also know after your casino operations filed bankruptcy for the second time this past November costing tax payers billions. You still remain as chairman and CEO and continue to collect a $2 million dollar paycheck.




They where here 3000 years before "US"(A).



They will borrow the money from China and China will force us to pay it back.



Obama doesn't play Put Put golf like you do.



Not at ping pong.

Love that movie!

It's about time. I've been waiting for what seems like forever to hear about the "amazing" things his private investigators found in Hawaii. And the country will most likely benefit from his secret, foolproof plan to take down ISIS. In all seriousness, though, the GOP needs to learn from their mistakes and say "thanks, but no thanks" to these types of candidates. The Trumps, Santorums, Herman Cains, Michele Bachmanns, the ones who are seeking publicity or a job with FOX. It puts their candidates who go onto the general election behind in the strike count.

All we need is Ann coulter to declare,

and my life will be complete. get your popcorn ready guys, when the republican debates start, the entertainment really begins.

I don't think the GOP has any control over who throws their hat into the ring.

And on a side note, I give it 6 months or less until Trump drops out of the race.

They wield influence over who is allowed on their debate stage. And I agree with you, Trump will look to participate in the debates for publicity, and then bow out, claiming he would've won, but he just couldn't walk away from his private empire.