Why Hollywood Republicans Are Still Flirting With Wide GOP Field

As GOP presidential candidates take the stage for the third Republican debate in Boulder, Colorado, on Wednesday, Hollywood conservatives say they’ll be glued to their TV sets in the hope of getting one step closer to picking their candidate for the 2016 presidential race.

While most are leaning toward a specific presidential hopeful, many say they haven’t made up their mind yet, insisting it’s still anyone’s game.

“I’m supporting Ted Cruz,” Lionel Chetwynd, an Academy-Award nominee and member of leading conservative Hollywood group Friends of Abe, told TheWrap. “I think he’s very smart, articulate and he has a lot to say.”

Also Read: Donald Trump to Address Hollywood Conservative Group

Chetwynd says many people at FOA are also warming up to retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who’s seen his numbers skyrocket lately, surpassing GOP frontrunner Donald Trump in recent Iowa polls.

Dave Berg, another FOA member and former co-producer of “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” told TheWrap he likes former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina but is now considering getting behind Florida Senator Marco Rubio. He’s going to be keeping a close eye on both candidates on Wednesday.

“I was so impressed with Carly Fiorina last time,” Berg said. “She did great and she shows she has great communication skills. But I’m a little concerned that she hasn’t been able to capitalize on her strong performance during the last debate. I’m just not sure she has staying power.”

Michael Ramirez, a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning political cartoonist told TheWrap that while Donald Trump has presented an “excellent opportunity” in terms of his career, he’s leaning towards Rubio.

“He’s very articulate and has a firm conservative foundation,” Ramirez told TheWrap. “All the things that he’s saying seem to resonate. I think he has a good chance going up against Hillary Clinton.”

Also Read: Inside the GOP's Plan to Tap Into Hollywood's Big Dollars

A lot has changed since the last time the GOP field faced off at Simi Valley, California last month. Donald Trump has continued to surge in the polls, challenging the notion that he’s a flash-in-the-pan candidate. Carson has further cemented himself as a leading candidate. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, who entered the primary in July as a front-runner in Iowa, dropped out of the race. Carly Fiorina, who surged in the polls following the second GOP debate, has seen her numbers all but evaporate. And Jeb Bush, who was largely considered the establishment nominee by many in the Republican Party, is struggling to stay afloat.

Hollywood Republicans say that while many conservative industry insiders have a candidate they’re eyeing, no single presidential hopeful has managed to fire up the group as a whole.

“The views in conservative Hollywood reflect the views of conservatives in general,” said Berg. “There is no one voice or unified agreement as of yet.”

Also Read: Donald Trump Admits He's Got Weaknesses at 'Today' Show Town Hall, But 'Doesn't Wanna Give It Up' (Video)

While Hollywood is predominantly a Democratic turf, there are plenty of Republicans in the entertainment industry, albeit much less visible than their Democratic counterparts.

Founded by actor Gary Sinise in 2004, Friends of Abe is the leading conservative Hollywood group with a reported 2,200 members.

But FOA has kept a deliberately low profile over the years for fear that members might be blacklisted in an overwhelmingly liberal industry. Even so, some big Hollywood names, like Jon Voight, Pat Boone and Kelsey Grammer have stated publicly that they are members.

The group has already met with several 2016 GOP hopefuls including Carly Fiorina, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Carson, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and Donald Trump.

If there is any consensus among Hollywood Republicans, it’s that Donald Trump will likely not win the nomination when it’s all said and done. But if he does, they will rally around him.

Also Read: Ben Carson Says He Won't Do 'SNL' Because Running for President 'Is a Very Serious Thing' (Video)

When asked whether he could see himself voting for Trump should he win the Republican nomination, Ramirez said, “The simple answer is yes. And the reason being, it comes down to what the alternative is.”

The Republican debate airs Wednesday, October 28 at 8 p.m. on CNBC.

15 Most Cringe-Worthy Gaffes From Presidential Debates

1960: During the first televised presidential debate, Richard Nixon refused to wear stage makeup, revealing his sweaty forehead under the hot TV lights. This made the younger John F. Kennedy look much more confident.
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1976: Gerald Ford claimed that he didn't believe that Eastern Europe was under "Soviet domain," which proved to be an unpopular opinion, as the moderator repeated the question in bewilderment.
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1980: When the moderator tried to silence Ronald Reagan's microphone during a Republican primary debate, Reagan shouted: "I am paying for this microphone!" The line became a "political home run" for Reagan. It was also borrowed it from the 1948 film "State of the Union."
1980: In a general-election debate between incumbent president Jimmy Carter and Reagan, Carter said, “I had a discussion with my daughter Amy the other day before I came here to ask her what the most important issue was. She said she thought the control of nuclear weaponry.” Carter was mocked for taking policy advice from his 13-year-old daughter, helping Reagan to win the election.
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1988: Michael Dukakis may have lost the election when he said he would still oppose the death penalty even if the killer raped and murdered his wife, Kitty.
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1988: Vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle compared himself to Jack Kennedy and got hammered by Democratic rival Lloyd Bentsen: "Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy, I knew Jack Kennedy, Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy."
1992: George H.W. Bush checked his watch and tucked in his shirt during his debate with future president Bill Clinton, looking impatient when asked about the economy.
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2000: Al Gore sighed during a debate with George W. Bush, which was widely perceived as condescending. It was so bad, aides made him watch the "SNL" parody of the gaffe before the next debate.
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2008: Hillary Clinton attacked Barack Obama for allegedly lifting lines from the speeches of Massachusetts politician Duval Patrick. She had a good zinger... that didn't quite have the effect she was hoping for. "Lifting whole passages from someone else's speeches is not change you can believe in, it's change you can Xerox," Clinton said -- but the audience booed.
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2008: When a moderator asked Hillary Clinton if she had the personal appeal to overtake Barack Obama, the future president interjected that Clinton was "likable enough."
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2008: While illustrating a point about a Bush/Cheney energy bill that Obama had signed, Arizona Senator John McCain referred to the future president as "that one."
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2011: Texas Gov. Rick Perry shifted his reputation from budget-slasher to bungler when he blanked on the names of all three federal agencies he proposed to eliminate as president: "I can’t, the third one. I can’t. Sorry. Oops."
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2012: Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney claimed that Obama didn’t call Benghazi a terrorist attack. Obama confidently asked Candy Crowley to clear up the charge, which she does, pointing out Romney's mistake.
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2016: When asked during an interview in September what he would do about Aleppo, the epicenter of the Syrian refugee crisis, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson asked, "And what is Aleppo?" That line became a viral sensation, even earning some rather funny spoofs. Johnson then made things worse when later that month he couldn't name a single world leader -- dead or alive -- during a town hall with Chris Matthews. And just to be sure this second flub would get some traction, Johnson told Matthews he was having an "Aleppo moment." Talk about about a triple whammy.
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2016: Green Party presidential candidate JillS Stein was hoping to be the answer to Bernie Sanders after he dropped out of the primary race. But answer she gave during an AMA reddit sesh put a damper on her plans. Stein, a Harvard Medical School graduate, raised some eyebrows when she took a decidedly anti-vaxxer stance: "As a medical doctor, there was a time where I looked very closely at those issues, and not all those issues were completely resolved. There were concerns among physicians about what the vaccination schedule meant, the toxic substances like mercury which used to be rampant in vaccines. There were real questions that needed to be addressed." Stein later clarified that she was not, in fact, an opponent of vaccines.
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From Richard Nixon’s flop sweat to Rick Perry’s ”Sorry oops,“ candidates have often stumbled at the podium

1960: During the first televised presidential debate, Richard Nixon refused to wear stage makeup, revealing his sweaty forehead under the hot TV lights. This made the younger John F. Kennedy look much more confident.

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15 Most Cringe-Worthy Gaffes From Presidential Debates

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