There used to be. But then Citizens United opened the money floodgates.

So now there isn't one back room. There's a dozen. Each telling different candidates to drop out.

I also agree Walker looks like the front runner. He's still developing, but he starts from a very strong position. If he can avoid any major flubs that the media can run with, he has a real shot.

No, he really doesn't.

Add up all the "blue" states where no Republican that can survive the primary can win, and you get 254 electoral votes.

Add up all the "red" states where no Democrat that can survive the primary can win, and you get 149 electoral votes.

The Democratic candidate needs 1 large "toss-up" state, or two smaller "toss-up" states to win 270 votes. For example, VA will do it, and it's likely to go to the Democrat. Obama carried it twice and in the 2014 Republican wave election, the Democrat won the senate seat. (And governor, but the Republican candidate for governor had a pretty nasty scandal)

The Republican candidate needs every "toss-up" state, and needs to turn one "blue" state.

It's going to be extremely difficult for the Republican to win in 2016. Which is a big part of why the Republican primary race is such a clown car.

Pretty pictures and more analysis from right after the 2014 election: http://blog.chron.com/goplifer...

You're getting these states because of demographics.

The 2016 Democratic candidate will start with 257 electoral votes. No Republican that can survive the primary will win CA or NY or similar "blue" states.

The Republican will start with 149. No Democrat that can survive the primary will win TX or AL or similar "red" states.

The Democratic candidate will need to pick up 1 large or 2 small "toss-up" states. So, pick up VA or pick up CO and IA. That will give them 270 or move votes. Both are quite "gettable" - all 3 in that list went for Obama in 2012, and in 2014 the Democratic candidate won the VA senate seat despite it being a Republican wave election.

The Republican candidate will need to pick up every single "toss-up" state, and turn one of the "blue" states to reach 270.

You have a clown car of candidates because the Republicans who can count realize they can't win the White House in 2016.

Here's a post on it with pretty pictures: http://blog.chron.com/goplifer...

That's because in the "IRS Scandal", more liberal organizations faced extra scrutiny than conservative organizations. In other words, the exact opposite of the claims made by those pushing the scandal.

That keeps being a problem with getting more coverage of all these Obama scandals. They keep not quite turning out to be scandals.

That last sentence was supposed to be a hint to the fact that you don't know what you are talking about when you speak for "the liberals".

What you hear on Fox and talk radio is not what "the liberals" actually believe or want. It's a caricature that they can more easily attack.

No, you can thank increased tax receipts due to the dot-com boom. Government had damn near nothing to do with it.

No, he calls himself a democratic socialist. That isn't socialist. It's more-or-less the mainstream "left" party in most countries in Western Europe. And he'd fit well in those parties.

Nader got fewer votes from registered Democrats in Florida than Bush did. By an order of magnitude.

So no, Nader wasn't the cause of Bush's victory. Gore's terrible campaign was. According to Al Gore himself.

No, he calls himself a democratic socialist. Democratic socialists are not socialists.

H1B visas are not immigration visas. They are temporary.

But nice try speaking for "the liberals".

You think that because you think they actually are interested in you.

They aren't. They're interested in justifying an H1B visa. So they send out emails to people they know are not interested, and place conditions that they know will cause the "candidate" to reject them (ie. It's not where you live and they refuse to pay for travel to a required, on-site interview).

Do that to 100 people, and you can go claim you need an H1B because you could not find someone already in the US to take the job.

And that's why I finished my post with the following: "It's probably not a practical solution currently. But as efficiencies increase, it's at least feasible it may be at some point in the future."

Nope. There is a fixed amount of sunlight hitting the surface of the airplane. Well, more-or-less fixed - the sun's output varies slightly.

There is not enough energy in that sunlight to power a passenger/cargo airplane. Even with 100% efficient panels.

When you're talking about trains or earthmovers, there is no battery. It's generated as-needed.

When you're talking about all-electric cars, the battery hurts range. Whether or not that's a problem depends on your driving patterns. If you're a typical commute-to-work-and-a-few-errands urban/suburban driver, the range is likely well beyond what you would consume in a day. If you are not that kind of driver then the range may be a factor.

Nope. You forgot about the transmission. The diesel is most efficient in a narrow RPM range. When it's connected to a generator, it can remain in that RPM range. When it's attached to a transmission that is attached to the wheels, it can't. The worst is low-speed acceleration, where electric motors do quite well.

Since you're so new to the subject, you could start here: http://science.howstuffworks.c...

Electric traction motors are far more efficient than ICEs. That's why diesel locomotives don't actually connect the diesel engine to the wheels. The diesel engine generates electricity, which turns electric traction motors.

Same with the really big earthmoving equipment - those gigantic dump trucks down at the strip mine are using electric traction motors powered by diesel generators.

Why don't we do this in cars? Space and complexity.

So what's the point of all electric cars? It separates the energy generation from the energy consumption, allowing flexibility in the energy generation. That coal plant you decry is a lot more efficient than an ICE. And other electricity generation sources have other benefits. The problem has been getting the power from the power plant to the car so that you can use electric traction motors.