2012 Republican Presidential candidates

[vetalalumni]

Who might run? Who would debate well?

Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Haley Barbour, Mitch Daniels, John Thune, Jon Huntsman, Donald Trump, John "Jeb" Bush.

[Crumbled_pavement]

I hope a better field emerges, although there a quite a few on the list I'm not familiar with. Here's my initial feelings on these guys.

Tim Pawlenty - I'm not too familiar with his politics

Sarah Palin - She's just in it for the money, no way she runs

Newt Gingrich - Damaged goods. We haven't forgotten this hypocrite

Mike Huckabee - Potentially damaged goods. That guy he pardoned shot those cops. They're going to say he's soft on crime.

Mitt Romney - My favorite out the batch. Seems moderate enough. He'll have to get over the label of ObamaCare Jr.

Haley Barbour - My second favorite. From what I've seen he's not one for partisan politics and he can put his money where his mouth is. He did a good job of balancing Mississippi's budget.

Mitch Daniels - Not familiar with

John Thune - Not familiar with

Jon Huntsman - Not familiar with

Donald Trump - My stomach is hurting.

John "Jeb" Bush - Enough with the damn Bushes.

[oladub]

Ron Paul - Constitutional libertarian with a sterling record of opposing unconstitutional wars, corruption, government spending, and government growth while supporting individual liberty and privacy. Age and a lack of corporate support is a factor.

Mitch Daniels - More successful than any other governor at bringing jobs to his state. Increased health care benefits for the uninsured while balancing the State budget. Not good for state employee unions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Daniels

Gary Johnson - Former new Mexico Governor whose record of straightening out a messed up state budget is better than Daniels. He possesses a total lack of charisma. Sominex should hire him as it's ad spokesman. Good on the wallet though.

Jim DeMint - Brilliant strategist. Could get things done. Possibly the Republican who could deal best with international problems. Rides a fine line between conventional Republicans and Tea Partiers and appeals to both. He might not have much street appeal noth of the Mason-Dixon line.

Paul Ryan - More of a neocon and insider than most people think.

[firstandten]

I hope a better field emerges,
Mitt Romney - My favorite out the batch. Seems moderate enough. He'll have to get over the label of ObamaCare Jr.

Besides I don't know how being a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints will play on a national level

[Detroitej72]

"Paul Ryan - More of a neocon and insider than most people think."

You mean the clown who wants to raise taxes on anyone making less that $250,000/yr and lower it on anyone making more? Sounds like a real winner, at least he would drive the final nail into the coffin of the middle class.

[Gistok]

Besides I don't know how being a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints will play on a national level

Both Michigan and Massachusetts have elected Romney's as governor long ago... I guess the question then becomes since Mormon's have been elected in northern states... is the south ready for one [[on a national level)?

[vetalalumni]

Mitch Daniels, he may be another reluctant hero type personna, like Trump..

Daniels: I'd have cash, support to win
By: Jonathan Martin and Jim VandeHei
February 10, 2011 05:10 AM EST

INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels boasts that he would turn heads with his fundraising firepower and roster of big-name GOP supporters if he jumps into the 2012 presidential race.

“If I were to decide to do this, we would have an unbelievable letterhead,” Daniels predicted in a POLITICO interview Wednesday, lighting up as the hour-long conversation turned to why he could win.

“I don’t know if we’d raise the most, but for whatever reason, there are an awful lot of people standing by who I think know how to do this a lot better than I do,” he said, noting that he’s being pushed to run by an array of business types and political figures.

Daniels suggested three things could keep him from plunging in: his wife’s concerns, the calculation that his party or the country aren’t ready for his tough-love message or the emergence of another capable candidate.

People close to the governor say his wife, Cheri, is very cool to a run. It “would be safe to say” she is uneasy with a campaign, he said.

Just as concerned about the possibility are some high-profile social conservatives in the GOP who were upset with his call last year for a truce on cultural battles to focus on economic matters. They won’t be happy to learn that Daniels told POLITICO he stands by that message and won’t back down from it when he addresses the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday.

But the Hoosier said he has been heartened by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s blunt approach to his state’s fiscal difficulties and argued that such a take-your-medicine brand of governing shows that voters are further ahead of the political class in the difficult decisions they’ll swallow.

“It appears that it’s more in vogue these days than it may have been in the past,” Daniels said. “I don’t buy that, you know, it’s certain death to present these facts and some constructive suggestions for how we get out of this fix.”

He wouldn’t say it, but those who have spoken to him indicate Daniels doesn’t see anyone in the current GOP field focused on the fiscal issues that motivate him. If such a person doesn’t emerge — and Daniels said he’ll announce his decision “no later” than May and potentially in April — the chances of him running will increase. Daniels recounted that his close friend Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour indicated during a conversation a few weeks ago at the Alfalfa Dinner in Washington that he was seriously considering a presidential run. But Daniels declined to say whether the presence of Barbour in the field would dissuade him from mounting his own bid.

“It would be a richer race with him in it, and more options is better,” Daniels said.

The Daniels intrigue says much about the GOP establishment. Many top Republicans are not enthused about the candidates who are clearly running and are increasingly worried that President Barack Obama is headed for a second term. Such Republicans see Mitt Romney as stale and unable to get past his state health care law with the base, Newt Gingrich as erratic and too baggage-laden and others as lacking stature or even more deeply flawed than the big names. They want another option and believe that Daniels, Christie or — better yet, Jeb Bush — is the answer.

Christie and Bush, though, have repeatedly said they aren’t running, so it could be Daniels’s moment — and he said he has been thinking of late about the importance of transformational candidates striking at the right time.

“When a party’s moment arrives, it often is associated with some sort of change in the party’s posture that allows it to capture a broad majority and enough to go forward and act on,” he said, citing the examples of Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair.

The short and balding Daniels lacks the charisma of those three, but he’s racked up significant accomplishments during his two terms as governor here.

He’s cut spending in Indiana — a state Obama won in 2008 — but prospered politically, with favorable ratings in the 60s. And now Daniels is on the verge of enacting one of the most sweeping educational reforms in the country, boosting charter schools and private school choice, instituting merit pay and limiting the collective bargaining power of teachers unions. The legislation brought over a thousand angry teachers into the state Capitol this week and prompted a banner headline – “War Over Charters” – in the Indianapolis Star on Wednesday of the sort that will delight GOP primary voters. This, coupled with governmental reforms working their way through a legislature he helped turn heavily Republican last November, could serve as a powerful sendoff to the national stage.

Yet from there, things could get tricky. Daniels said he would carry a message many people might not want to hear.

Sitting next to the fireplace in his spacious Capitol office and looking fit for an L.L. Bean catalog in corduroys and a fleece vest over a flannel shirt, the governor talked at length with no staff present about what ails the country and his solutions for its problems.

Asked what worries him about his own party, Daniels turns to what for him is the central issue facing the country: “That we might continue procrastinating for fear of, you know, presenting a bold case to the American people for the kind of changes that will … restore us to fiscal and economic health.

“I’ve said that, you know, it wouldn’t avail us much to simply displace President Obama,” he continued. “We’re going to have to do some fundamental things. We’re going to have to make some fundamental change.”

And if that doesn’t happen?

“I’m not saying this is likely, but it is not impossible that the debt problem manifests itself as a long, slow erosion,” he explained. “There could be an inflection point in there, and a lot of people have pointed to this, you know, that loss of confidence, people start selling off our bonds. Things could go very bad very fast. So that’s one reason not to wait. Let’s don’t take that chance.”

That sounds familiar — lots of politicians want to get serious about fiscal issues.

But where Daniels goes his own way — and where he courts anger within his own party and among the broader electorate — is with the details.

On Social Security, he proposes for workers not currently in the system or nearing it a higher retirement age, means-testing and benefits that aren’t as “overprotected” for inflation as it is today.

Daniels would also means-test Medicare and make it a defined contribution system while doing away with what he called “the command-and-control” distribution of benefits.

And he wouldn’t spare the Pentagon, saying flatly that he’d make cuts there.

“I think you have to start by reviewing the missions that we’ve committed to,” he said. “Is every one of them essential?”

Such talk is often heard from the likes of House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan [[R-Wisc.) but it goes significantly further than many Republican leaders are comfortable with for fearing of handing Democrats ready-made attack fodder.

“We have to do a lot of things that all the political wise guys said were impossible, grab these third rails and so forth,” he argued. “I’m an optimist that people, that the American people will support doing what is necessary, once they understand the facts

As for Obama, Daniels offered a harsh verdict, dismissing the president’s recent moves to the center as mere tactics.

“He’s been what I was afraid he’d be, and that is, I think he’s a sincerely committed believer in a benevolent, powerful state,” said the governor.

And as Daniels sketches out what a presidential run may look like he clearly is enthused.

Leaning back in his chair, putting his feet up on a table and speaking with obvious relish, he said he’d attract support from “a broad spectrum” of people.

“Political figures and business people,” he said, “you know, thought leaders. Even at this late date, that would not be a stopper.”

Grinning, he said he’d enjoy the retail side of the campaign.

“If I do it, we’ll have some fun with it, and we know how to do it, he said.

So why not run?

“What kind of life is it?” Daniels shot back.

“You take yourself and your whole family for life into a very different sort of existence, and it’s nothing I’ve — some folks would do anything to get there but it’s nothing that I’ve ever thought about until last year or aspired to.

But, he added: “I’m very, very concerned about [seeing] the country deal effectively with the problems we’ve got.”

© 2011 Capitol News Company, LLC

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.c...4-80876379D43F

[lincoln8740]

Rubio would be awesome and very difficult to beat.
I think charlie crist in jersey would be another great choice
Too bad newt is damaged goods he would wipe the floor with Obama in a debate.

[vetalalumni]

Jon Huntsman has hired aides from the McCain 2008 Presidential campiagn.

Remember when Mr. Huntsman proclaimed they were "looking for Sarah?"

[Big Dog]

By the video, it looks like Sarah's a shoo in 2012.

[oladub]

CPAC straw vote results-

30% Ron Paul
23% Mitt Romney
6% Gary Johnson
6% Chris Christie
everyone else, including Palin received less than 6%.
Ron Paul Wins 2011 CPAC Straw Poll

Fox News made it clear, so it's viewers would know what to think, that the important thing to know was that Romney came in second for the second year in a row. Paul, Johnson, and Christie are the biggest tax cutters in this group, so collectively they took a large percentage of the total vote. Johnson even came out in support of marijuana. With attempts at shouting down Trump, Rumsfeld, and Cheney, calls for less military spending, and advocacy of marijuana, neocons will be going home with indigestion.

Tea Party declares war on military spending

[Crumbled_pavement]

Wait a minute now, did I hear Haley Barbour right on Fox News Sunday? Barbour and Romney are my two favorite Repubs right now, but this answer can't be correct. Did Barbour really say that he raised the cigarette tax in Mississippi because it was too low? I thought all conservatives considered the existence of a tax in and of itself to be by default too high. Why would any conservative think they needed to raise a tax to match neighboring states?

Not only that, but he followed up his answer to Chris Wallace with he raised the cigarette tax also for health reasons. Wait, I thought conservatives were for getting the government out of our lives. Here he is using the cost of a cigarette to discourage people from smoking. What happened to letting people make their own choice and live with the consequences good or bad? Is he admitting that sometimes the government needs to be involved for the safety of the citizens? Is he sure he's a conservative?

[gdogslim]

I'm wondering who will challenge Obama?
And Will the press cover for him like they did in 2008 over everything he said and did?

[Big Dog]

Yes, looks like he's a shoo-in.

[firstandten]

Wait a minute now, did I hear Haley Barbour right on Fox News Sunday? Barbour and Romney are my two favorite Repubs right now, but this answer can't be correct. Did Barbour really say that he raised the cigarette tax in Mississippi because it was too low? I thought all conservatives considered the existence of a tax in and of itself to be by default too high. Why would any conservative think they needed to raise a tax to match neighboring states?

Not only that, but he followed up his answer to Chris Wallace with he raised the cigarette tax also for health reasons. Wait, I thought conservatives were for getting the government out of our lives. Here he is using the cost of a cigarette to discourage people from smoking. What happened to letting people make their own choice and live with the consequences good or bad? Is he admitting that sometimes the government needs to be involved for the safety of the citizens? Is he sure he's a conservative?

Sure he's a conservative they all talk that tax cut, small government mantra, but the reality is when you govern if you don't move to the middle you are creating political suicide. Thats the problem with this current crop of Repubs they are so busy trying to cater to the tea party and other factions of the right wing of the party they are un-electable in a national election where independents play a big role. As with Dems the Repubs will play the "i'm more right wing than you" to win the support of the party , then they will need to show the nation that Obama is a radical while they are the voice of moderation in order to win the White House. Thats why Romney or Barbour [[don't know how his act will play outside the south) seems to be there best hope.

I don't see a Libertarian like Ron Paul winning a national election, but I could see him taking votes from a Repub like a third party candidate might.

[Papasito]

Mitt's Ok.

Sarah would be crushed by Obama.

Trump is a joke.

Jeb... He's a Bush, sure. But he's not really much like his brother at all. He has a latina wife and is fluent in Spanish, and has many ties across multicultural fronts. I would not vote for him, though, because I am from Florida where he governed. He campaigned TWICE on how great he would treat education. BOTH TIMES after he was elected, he slashed education by big bucks, and Florida stayed at the bottom of the nation in Education... usually between 46th and 49th of all the states. So F Jeb. He says one thing and does another.

Newt.... Too Much Baggage.

Marco Rubio... Probably the biggest threat to Obama if he runs and gains traction. A young, energetic minority voice with [[so far) a clean record. They say he doesn't have enough experience to run for President, but then again, that's what they said about Obama.

[vetalalumni]

2/22/11 - Senator John Thune Doesn't Plan to Run For President.

According to a post on his Facebook page, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., isn't jumping into the 2012 presidential race.

"There is a battle to be waged over what kind of country we are going to leave our children and grandchildren and that battle is happening now in Washington, not two years from now," Thune said in the statement. "So at this time, I feel that I am best positioned to fight for America's future here in the trenches of the United States Senate."

The South Dakota senator had been mentioned as a possible candidate to seek the 2012 Republican nomination but Tuesday, Thune said it isn't the right time for him to run.
"There is a battle to be waged over what kind of country we are going to leave our children and grandchildren and that battle is happening now in Washington, not two years from now," Thune continued.

Thune's responsibilities as Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee have kept him busy and he and was recently named to the powerful Senate Finance and Budget committees.

The decision isn't completely unexpected. Thune had done very little to lay the groundwork for a presidential campaign, ignoring Iowa and New Hampshire where the first presidential caucuses and primary election take place less than a year from now.

Fox News Correspondent Carl Cameron contributed to this report.

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/20...#ixzz1Ei5qu6wk

[Pam]

Palin, she would beat Obama.
Especially since the media and lib talking heads can't stop talking about her, I'm even more sure.
And at least she has some management and business experience coming into the job.

How do you know she won't quit halfway through her term?

[bailey]

]She stepped down because of the leftist ankle bitters suing Alaska at every turn and it was hurting the state.

and when "leftist ankle biters" continue their efforts if she were to be elected you'd be fine with her quitting halfway through her first term?

I do know she will uphold the Constitution, unlike Obama who is lawless and does not uphold the law of the land. Imagine if Bush decided he didn't want to uphold a Federal judges decision.

DOMA is still the law of the land. Don't get your gay hating panties all bunched up in your sandy vagina. the only part not being defended is section III. Michigan still isn't being forced to recognize equal rights for the gays. The only issue is denying federal benefits to those legally married in their states. It's clearly unconstitutional. It's stupid to defend it.

I do know that Obama is running this country into the ground as we speak.

For that to be true W would have to had not run it into the ground already.

I do know Palin won't appoint a bunch of radical leftists Czar's to circumvent the Constitution.

You mean like W did? He had 33. Obama has 37. ZOMG run for the hills the CZARS are coming to kill grandma.

I also know that she won't be a two faced loser like Obama and his wife who tell us to eat one thing then they eat another

oh did that one hit a little close to the diabetes there fatty?

It's really unfortunate stupid isn't painful.

[oladub]

I do know she will uphold the Constitution, unlike Obama who is lawless and does not uphold the law of the land. Imagine if Bush decided he didn't want to uphold a Federal judges decision.

I have Palin figured to be a bit of a neocon. She ran with McCain after all, supports congressionally undeclared wars, and the Patriot Act. She is not a constitutionalist any more than Obama is. Bush and Constitution aren't comfortable within the same sentence either.

[maxx]

I'm waiting for the Republicans to run someone even more ignorant than W. When corporations can saturate the media with their propaganda during elections, they could run someone's dog. Unfortunately, there haven't been a lot of movies with animal heroes that aren't animated. Maybe there's a descendent of Lassie or Rin Tin Tin to run. Rin Tin Tin was nominated for one of the first Oscars but there would have to be a pretty strong campaign to get him name recognition. Still he did better than Reagan who I don't think ever was nominated.

[barnesfoto]

Hard to say at this point, but whoever it is, he or she will surely be a Kochsucker.

[Pam]

She stepped down because of the leftist ankle bitters suing Alaska at every turn and it was hurting the state.

So when the going gets tough- quit? What happened to the so-called conservative value of personal responsibility?

[Big Dog]

Good post barnesfoto, and so true.

[vetalalumni]

Anyone think Huckabee has been doing well as a potential candidate as of late?