Answer: not all that super this time around. Or rather, a little more super than the last one and a lot less super than the one two elections ago. Here’s why.Read More »

If history is any guide, next week we should see a spate of polls released marking the presidential candidates’ standing in Iowa, in New Hampshire and nationally. January 4 marks the “4-week out” period from D-Day in Iowa. That is, it is T minus 28 days from the caucuses in that state, set this election for February 1. During corresponding periods in 2008 and 2012, there were at least five national polls released in each of those elections.

This is the first in a series of articles that will examine the 2016 race for president. Since, by far, the most interesting and convoluted contest lies on the R side of the fence, the Republican nomination free-for-all will be my initial and probably primary focus for these writings. I’ll be viewing a lot of this through an historical lens and examining factors shaping the outcome and candidates—in other words, a lot of compare and contrast.

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