Coburn critiques 2016 GOP presidential field

By Philip Klein, Philip Klein

Published December 20, 2015

Former Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn offered a blunt assessment of the 2016 Republican presidential field in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

Though he had words of praise for Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee and Carly Fiorina, beyond that, he said, "The others are either too political, too polarizing, or not ready for prime time."

Coburn cautioned that it was a "wasted effort" to focus on the 2016 election a year and a half in advance, because it was a distraction from the problems facing the country. But, in response to the Examiner, he offered the following evaluations of the field.

On Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker: