Here is your Morning Brief for February 4, 2015.

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2016

Nate Cohn of the New York Times believes the path to victory for Chris Christie and Marco Rubio in 2016 is pretty tough. That due in large part to Jeb Bush and that the main opponent of Bush would likely come from the Republican's further right movement.

Their central problem is that Mr. Bush, with all of his apparent support from the G.O.P. elite, now occupies a large space in the center-left of his party. He has already earned the support of top political operatives, his strength having stopped Mr. Romney's candidacy. The likeliest formidable challenger would come from his right, from a candidate who can consolidate the conservative opposition to him and marginalize the further-right factions of the party, represented by candidates like Ted Cruz or Mike Huckabee.

For the most part, I think Cohn is right. I don't see Chris Christie or Marco Rubio getting the nomination this time. For Christie I think his time has passed. For Rubio, I don't think his time has come yet. I wouldn't could Rubio out of the discussion for VP though.

I still think Scott Walker, Rick Perry, Ted Cruz, and Rand Paul can all give Bush a run and could find themselves on the path to victory. However, I think it is clear that Jeb Bush is the early favorite with Scott Walker trailing.

Cruz and Perry on Vaccinations

POLITICO set out to ask as many of the 2016ers as possible their thoughts on vaccines. As expected, Cruz and Perry agreed with most of America on vaccines. In fact, Cruz said this whole debate is just being played up by the media.

Sen. Ted Cruz
Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday that “of course” children should be vaccinated, but added that whether such vaccines should be legally mandated was a decision best left to the states.
“We’ve got two little girls, we’ve vaccinated both our girls and would encourage people to do the same,” the Republican told POLITICO in an interview.
Cruz called the sudden controversy surrounding vaccinations “largely silliness stirred up by the media.”
“Nobody reasonably thinks Chris Christie is opposed to vaccinating kids other than a bunch of reporters who want to write headlines,” Cruz said.
Cruz said vaccination requirements should be decided at the state level, noting that some had “appropriate” exceptions for “good faith, religious convictions.” Cruz offered his own state of Texas as an example of a state that mandates vaccinations for children.
Still, he added: “But on the question of whether kids should be vaccinated, the answer is obvious and there’s widespread agreement – of course they should.”
Former Gov. Rick Perry
Perry’s spokesman, Travis Considine, said in a statement that the former governor “strongly believes in protecting life and has sought to improve the health and well-being of Texans in a variety of ways, including increased immunization rates.”

Can we move on now?

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