A member of Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Tex.) family was in the news again Tuesday. Unfortunately for the senator, it was not his two adorable daughters, made famous when he read them a bedtime story during his anti-Obamacare filibusterlast fall. Instead, it was his father, Rafael.
The headline at BuzzFeed: "Ted Cruz's Dad: 'The Average Black Does Not' Understand The Minimum Wage Is Bad." The elder Cruz made the comments at a Republican meeting in Wisconsin last month. Nor was this the first time Rafael Cruz had said things that some (or most) Americans might find unappealing; he's reached the point of having his controversial remarks gathered into collections.
Happily for Ted Cruz, though, he's not the only one with a family member whomight not be an asset on the campaign trail. And with basically everything else about the 2016 field already on focus, we decided it was time to evaluate the extent to which each candidate's family might help or hinder his or her chances.
This couldn't be more subjective, so allow us to articulate the standards we applied. The first metric is how much of an asset or liability the member of the family is likely to be, on a scale of1 to 10. The second metric: The extent to which the candidate or his or her opponents are likely to employ the family member on the campaign trail. We tripled the asset/liability score (to give it more weight) and added in the likelihood, giving us our totals.
And here they are, from family as biggest liability to family as biggest asset...
Pro: His father, Ron Paul Asset: 4/10. Likelihood:10/10
Rand Paul owes his current position -- at least in some small measure -- to his father having gone before him. His initial campaign for the Senate, as we've mentioned before, leveraged Ron Paul's relationships and base of support. It's clear that Rand Paul will again hope to tap into that base for his presidential race. That base won't be quite as vehement and energized as it was for Ron Paul, it seems safe to assume, but it will still be a boost.
Con: His father, Ron Paul Liability: 9/10. Likelihood: 10/10
And then there's the flip side. Ron Paul's willingness to stand on the outer edge of political rhetoric is a key reason heearned that enthusiastic support, but it also means that he keeps saying things that his son might find embarrassing. For example, his proclamation recently that the government knew exactly what would happen on 9/11. Having himself run for president twice, Ron Paul is a pretty well-known name. That's not helpful for his son.
Pro: His daughters Asset: 5/10. Likelihood: 6/10
Read the original here:
Rand Paul has the biggest family problem of anyone in the 2016 field