Can you hear it? Listen closely! There it is the motor of the GOP revving up for the big push in 2012….who will it be? Who will carry the standard of conservatism into the battle for the presidency?
The GOP is thumping its chest like a sex starved chimp at the wins in New Jersey and Virginia…..they are determined to make that the quintessential (not to be confused with Quintessential Havoc an avid reader…for that I thank you) indicator that they will take back the White House and the Congress. And some how they lost in NewYork 23 but they see that as a win in the end…..optimism is a good thing as long as it is not fed by delusion…..
Anyway….enough chit chat….The GOP has a rising number of wannabes for 2012 and I will talk about them endless, but not now….that is for a later post….I know you will be on the edge of your seat in anticipation……
The Chicago Sun-Times has a good look at the field coming:
A year before 2012 campaigning begins in earnest, here’s a look at the moves some are making:
• Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who resigned as governor of Alaska, is starting a national media tour to promote her book, Going Rogue: An American Life. Eager to show her conservative credentials, she recently endorsed grass-roots-backed conservative Doug Hoffman over the GOP-supported candidate in an upstate New York congressional race. Hoffman lost but Palin told conservative activists, “The cause goes on.”
• Pawlenty, a conservative who was on McCain’s vice presidential short list, decided not to run for a third term as governor. He has been building a political operation with Washington-based campaign veterans while working to raise his national profile and taking on Obama. He has tacked even further right recently, including backing Hoffman.
• Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, has kept a lower profile, but he has reappeared at key times to challenge Obama, primarily on economic policy.
• Barbour, Mississippi’s governor and former national GOP chairman, became chairman of the governors group this summer around the time he visited Iowa and New Hampshire.
• Gingrich, the former House speaker from Georgia, has been traveling the country talking up Republican rebirth. He has emerged as a critic of Obama’s health care and economic policy.
• Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, has been raising his national profile with a Fox News talk show and radio commentaries.
But these are not the only ones that are feeling out the field for a possible run for the roses…..Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum has fueled speculation with a visit to Iowa. South Dakota Sen. John Thune and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence also are trying to raise their national profiles.
These are the majors, for now, and it will be interesting to see who will pop out into the lead for the nomination…..
Correct me if I’m wrong, but under the strange American presidential voting system, doesn’t everyone (Republican, Democrat and whatever) get to vote in the “primaries”? I know it’s still an “indirect” election, but it still ultimately determines who the candidate will be.
Of course, I realise Republican supporters will be unlikely to vote Democrat and vice versa (or is there somehow a primary for each party?), but doesn’t the system normally favour the more “middle of the road” politicians who will appeal to the “floating voters” – the undecided?
I could have got this all back to front because, every time I try to figure your system out, I just end up thinking, “WTF!”
😈
You are completely correct….the problem is that in the primaries Dems appeal to the Left then move to the center….Repubs appeal to the middle and move then move Right…..very sophisticated….that is a lie….it is stupid because after an election the people have no recourse but to wait 4 yrs before they can change anything….WTF…is about the best I can say also…..
Yeah. Politics has never been particularly WYSIWYG, has it? (what you see is what you get) 😆
NEVER!