ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE
JOHN KASICH
RAND PAUL
MARCO RUBIO
AGE: 63
AGE: 53
AGE: 44
FROM: McKees Rocks, a working-class city in western Pennsylvania.
FROM: Born in Pittsburgh; lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
FROM: Miami.
RÉSUMÉ: A libertarian-leaning ophthalmologist, Paul was elected as a U.S. senator from Kentucky in 2010. His dad, Ron Paul, a libertarian folk hero and former longtime Texas congressman, ran for president in 1988, 2008 and 2012.
RÉSUMÉ: Former West Miami city commissioner; former Florida House of Representatives majority leader and speaker of the house; U.S. senator.
RÉSUMÉ: At age 26, Kasich was elected to the Ohio legislature. From 1983 to 2001, he served in the U.S. House, representing part of Columbus. After stepping down, he worked as managing director for the Columbus branch of Lehman Brothers, an investment bank, and hosted a show on Fox News. In 2010, he was elected governor of Ohio, narrowly defeating the Democratic incumbent; he was re-elected easily in 2014. KNOWN FOR: In Congress, Kasich rankled both sides of the aisle with his fiscal conservatism, helping push cuts to the defense budget and social programs. He’s also known for more moderate stances. He’s acknowledged climate change, attended a gay wedding and expanded a federal health insurance program for low-income people in his state. INFAMOUS FOR: Kasich’s association with Lehman Brothers, which filed for the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history in 2008, has been used against him. He’s also made gaffes on the campaign trail, suggesting that teachers’ lounges should be abolished and making a clumsy remark about tipping his hotel maid in a failed attempt to commend Latinos.
KNOWN FOR: A desire to shrink the government. Paul really dislikes the National Security Agency — he led a 10½hour filibuster against government surveillance last May. He’s “skeptical” about the death penalty, but rather than abolish it completely, Paul believes it should be left up to the states. INFAMOUS FOR: Shortly after winning the Kentucky Republican primary, Paul was criticized after making controversial comments about parts of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 that place restrictions on discrimination in private businesses. Paul has since tried to defend himself, claiming that he abhors racism, but believes that it’s the job of communities, not the government, to stand up to discrimination in private places. CANDIDACY IN NINE WORDS: Not even the NSA wants to listen to him. (MITCH RYALS)
CANDIDACY IN SIX WORDS: Perhaps the least inflammatory Republican candidate. (JAKE THOMAS)
KNOWN FOR: In many ways, this son of a Cuban immigrant has the same attributes that made Barack Obama such a hit in 2008. The young, charismatic Cuban’s policy-packed debate answers have been a vivid contrast from the rest of the field. In a primary dominated by fear, Rubio is one of the few with the audacity to embed his rhetoric with hope. Here’s just how weird this primary season is: A senator who upset a GOP establishment figure in the 2010 Tea Party wave is perhaps left as the establishment’s last, best hope, standing in the way of a Trump or Cruz nomination. INFAMOUS FOR: After Mitt Romney’s defeat in 2012, Republican party leaders came together with a policy prescription for turning the party around: immigration reform. Rubio helped lead that effort in the Senate. But it was a failure, one that even Rubio now admits was a mistake. In the age of Trump, the party has veered in the opposite direction on immigration, and rivals have gleefully scrambled to make Rubio’s reform the cinder block that sinks him. CANDIDACY IN FIVE WORDS: The most conservative establishment moderate. (DANIEL WALTERS)
RICK SANTORUM
DONALD TRUMP
AGE: 57
AGE: 69
FROM: Born in northern Virginia to an Italian immigrant father, Santorum has lived most of his life in western Pennsylvania.
FROM: Born in Queens; made his name in Manhattan, then plastered it all over skyscrapers.
RÉSUMÉ: In 1990, Santorum upset a longtime Democratic incumbent in a Democratic district in suburban Pittsburgh to win a U.S. House seat. He served a second term before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1994, defeating another Democratic incumbent. After being re-elected, he was routed in his bid for a third term in 2006. He ran for president in 2012 as a more conservative alternative to Mitt Romney, the eventual Republican nominee. That year, Santorum narrowly won the Republican caucus in Iowa. He went on to win 10 more states, mostly in the South and Midwest, receiving nearly 4 million votes before his campaign ran out of steam. KNOWN FOR: A devout Catholic, Santorum is best known for his steadfast, outspoken social conservatism, vehemently opposing abortion and once likening homosexuality to beastiality and pedophilia (a comment he later said he regretted making). While in the Senate, Santorum largely supported the agenda of then-President George W. Bush, voting for tax cuts and the Iraq war. INFAMOUS FOR: Sex-advice columnist and gay rights activist Dan Savage set up a website in 2003 that defined “santorum” as the byproduct of a sexual act. After Santorum lost his Senate seat and took down his own websites, Savage’s neologism was featured more prominently in Google searches than references to the actual politician. CANDIDACY IN SIX WORDS: Holy roller takes one more roll. (JAKE THOMAS)
RÉSUMÉ: Billionaire real-estate developer; former host of The Celebrity Apprentice; briefly presidential candidate for the Reform Party in 2000. KNOWN FOR: Running, essentially, the first Internet troll campaign in history, the billionaire vaulted to frontrunner, riding the free media attention generated by every outrageous statement he made. Your hatred? Your condemnation? Your pathetic little fact-checks? They just make him stronger. Trump’s constituency, mostly economically insecure, non-college-educated whites, truly buy into his rhetoric: widespread deportations, a huge wall on the Mexican border, standing up to China, banning Muslims, and more. Through sheer brashness and crassness, they believe, Trump can restore the America they feel they’ve lost. Trump’s also won grudging praise from critics for being willing to directly condemn the influence the rich and powerful — like himself — has on the political system. INFAMOUS FOR: Trump’s widely condemned as a racist, a sexist, bigoted and a liar. He doesn’t seem to know — or care about learning — details of Iranian terror groups, the nuclear triad or the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal. With the exception of influential talk-radio hosts and a few anti-immigration bloggers, most conservative pundits are horrified by Trump, pointing to his history of praising Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and universal health care. They call his biggovernment solutions (Censor the internet! Start trade wars! Discriminate based on religion! Let the government seize private property!) about as far from conservatism as you can get. CANDIDACY IN EIGHT WORDS: Reality TV star isn’t here to make friends. (DANIEL WALTERS)
20 INLANDER JANUARY 7, 2016