Wall Street Republicans Prefer Hillary Clinton to Elizabeth Warren or Rand Paul

For Republican financiers, Hillary Clinton is apparently the next best thing to Jeb Bush and Chris Christie.

According to an informal survey of uncommitted donors and lobbyists, the Democrat is a known commodity to Wall Street types — someone with a “track record.”

Politico conducted “Two dozen interviews about the 2016 race with unaligned GOP donors, financial executives and their Washington lobbyists.”

Here’s a taste:

“If it turns out to be Jeb versus Hillary we would love that and either outcome would be fine,” one top Republican-leaning Wall Street lawyer said over lunch in midtown Manhattan last week. “We could live with either one. Jeb versus Joe Biden would also be fine. It’s Rand Paul or Ted Cruz versus someone like Elizabeth Warren that would be everybody’s worst nightmare.”

As the website points out, Clinton has a history of fundraising from the finance sector. Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, who held fundraisers for Clinton, would reportedly be happy with Christie, Bush or Clinton as president.

Were he to run, Jeb Bush would have to overcome his brother’s unpopular presidency and Chris Christie, previously thought of as the favorite, has already tasted scandal. Both men would likely have to contend with their party’s insurgent conservative populists, most notably Rand Paul.

Speaking of populists, there’s plenty of room to the left of Hillary Clinton, and if Elizabeth Warren decides not to run, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has said he would consider jumping in. Surely Sanders, a self-described social democrat, would be even less appealing to Wall Street.

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer