How many tiers are there in the republican race and who is in which teir?

[Renew Deal]

Would you group the candidates somehow? How would you group them? I group them by the ability to win states, raise money and be competitive, and hangers on. First tier is likely to win. Second tier could win. Everyone else is just showing up. Here are my tiers:

Tier 1
Bush
Cruz
Rubio (barely)
Paul
Walker

Tier 2
Graham (could win SC)
Huckabee
Perry


Tier 3
Carson
Everson
Fiorina
Jindal
Pataki
Santorum
Trump

Looking at my top tier, they all represent a coalition of the republican base. This is coincidental.

Bush (neocons, establishment)
Cruz (fundies)
Rubio (younger voters, Cubans)
Paul (libertarians)
Walker (Big Business)

[NYC_SKP]

1. Well, wherever you are, Do NOT get in the tier under Santorum!!!11

Gravity and all, you can NOT get that out of your clothes no matter how hard you try.

[Renew Deal]

2. lol

[jberryhill]

3. Looks about right

I might swap Walker and Perry in your grouping.

IMHO what is going on is the type of strategy used in Russian elections. It is to Jeb Bush's advantage that there be as many right wingnuts in the field as possible. In the GOP primary base, there are a lot of nuts, but they all have their favorite nut candidate. So if you can split of the religious nuts among, say Huckabee/Santorum/Carson, and the oddball nuts among Paul/Perry/Cruz, then you might be able to reach a larger single candidate number by securing the minority of marginally sane GOP primary voters.

Where are you putting Christie?

[Orrex]

4. There will be more GOP tiers as election day approaches.

Wait. I meant "tears."

[Skidmore]

5. Not a single one of them

has anything to offer the nation as a whole.

[FSogol]

6. Current Fox "News" polling puts them in this order:

Jeb Bush
Ben Carson
Scott Walker
Mike Huckabee
Marco Rubio
Rand Paul

That would have to be Tier 1.

Tier two would be the remaining clowns that could enter the top 10 and be in the GOP debates:

Cruz, Graham, Perry, and Pataki or Fironio (just because she will attack HRC)

Tier 3 would be the clowns incapable of hitting the top 10:

Jindal (Haw-haw)
Trump
Santorum
Everson

BTW: They are losers, each and every one of them.