(10-09-2020 12:30 PM)Captain Bearcat Wrote: (10-09-2020 11:27 AM)BearcatMan Wrote: (10-09-2020 11:01 AM)UofMstateU Wrote: (10-09-2020 10:13 AM)BearcatMan Wrote: The Conversion Therapy and Religious Restriction stuff he promoted in Indiana would be messier to deal with than anything Trump threw out there given the underlying animosity both of those things bring out in crazies on both sides, but he is clearly a "politician" in a way that Trump isn't...for better or worse depending on your taste. His economic record in Indiana would be a bit of a speed bump too when comparing to other GOP options with stronger numbers.
How would his economic record be a speed bump? IN's gdp was the highest it had ever been under Pence, and unemployment dropped, despite living under an Obama stagnant recovery.
His economy grew at a significantly lower rate than those of many of his bordering states during his tenure and he lost a lot of jobs in the same span. People find things to pick at with any numbers from either side...you and I both know that.
Pence was governor from 2013-2017. Indiana's GDP/capita growth from 2014-2018 was 13thin the country. Its population growth (25th) was the fastest in the Midwest other than the shale boom states of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
If you rank total GDP growth while Pence was governor, Indiana finished 20th. The rest of the Midwest was between 15th and 30th, but Kansas and Kentucky were 36th and 37th. Illinois was 42nd.
Pence should WANT to talk about the stark contrast between Indiana's fiscal responsibility and the budget crisis in neighboring Illinois and Detroit.
I'm assuming that was a Freudian slip...many of us just assume Michigan and Detroit are the same thing at this point
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Please note in my initial comment that I was comparing his numbers to his contemporaries in the GOP. There are many GOP Governors who have much stronger economic records than he does. Ohio, in the same time Pence was governor, had a gross real GDP growth roughly double that of Pence and both Michigan and Ohio overperformed Indiana in real GPA growth from FY13-FY16. Hell, if we're looking at Red States during that period, Utah, Tennessee, Georgia, Texas, Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, and South Carolina all did better than Indiana in that time and in the Great Lakes Region, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio all had higher performing economies. Yes, part of that is due to social economies and the economy of scale in states being quite different, but again...not many people look at anything past face value in a political argument anymore.
Yes, I realize gross numbers and percentage growth are very different ways to assess...but the key is that there are many dummies who don't understand that, and that's my primary argument, up against other GOP Governors or major Senate faces, he doesn't have the personality, economic history, or lack of Liberal 'lynchpining' topics that they would.
I guess my point is, sure he could win the General, but I could see him not having a chance in a primary with all of the stuff he would have to deal with in and his lack of charisma in comparison to other potential candidates. Were I to be a betting man, I would guess Tom Cotton would have the best shot followed behind by Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley and Pence with a few oddities, names like Tucker Carlson or Josh Hawley maybe finding a way into the discussion.
