Thread: 2012 Republican Presidential Contenders

I don't ever see Paul Ryan on this list?
From what I understand, he is considered by many as a leader within the GOP caucus in Congress.
Donald Trump? Really?

^^^That is just so sad.........I mean really pathetic.

Palin for President, Gingrich for VP.

^I would leave America - if I already hadn't.

I thought I'd take a look at what points Palin will campaign on,
so I Googled "Palin's presidential platform"



I'm convinced

Not much too choose from in the OP. Maybe the GOP will enlist Michael Bloomberg. He was once a member so could fit right back in.

OP,

It's a good thread to speculate.

But for any serious discussion the process is simply too far away.

I'll say now (and I stand to be corrected) that Palin will not run. And if she does run, she will not get the nomination. Her negatives are too high statistically, she's too divisive for the Independents - and the independents WILL swing the next election,

whether BO is re-elected or a GOP nominee is wins.

And there may be a names or names for the nomination of the GOP that we are not even discussing.

Less likely for the GOP, which seems to annoint the nominee, but we may see new names.

I thought Bush's brother would be on the list, should be a shoe in.........

Originally Posted by Davis Knowlton

^^^That is just so sad.........I mean really pathetic.

There is still time, lets hope they put someone forward to challenge Obama.

Originally Posted by Norton

Maybe the GOP will enlist Michael Bloomberg. He was once a member so could fit right back in.

From wikipedia

Bloomberg supports abortion rights, stating: "Reproductive choice is a fundamental human right and we can never take it for granted. On this issue, you're either with us or against us." He has criticized pro-choice politicians who support pro-life candidates.[73]

Bloomberg supports governmental funding for embryonic stem cell research, calling the Republican position on the issue "insanity."[74] He also supports same-sex marriage with the rationale that “I think anybody should be allowed to marry anybody".[75]

I don’t think that will go over well with those rethugs in the Midwest and the Southern states which the Republicans control.

Originally Posted by buriramboy

I thought Bush's brother would be on the list, should be a shoe in.........

I had mentioned Jeb in the first post, but as I understand and have read, he is not in the least bit interested in the 2012 election.

I think the GOP's best hope is to find an outsider- the only one of that motley bunch I would rate as having any chance is Pawlenty.

Republican hopefuls, a FOX poll (released Feb 11, 2011):

The list of potential Republican presidential candidates now ranges from former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney to real estate developer and television personality Donald Trump.

Who among them do voters think would make a good president?

A Fox News poll released Friday asked that simple question.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (55 percent) and Romney (54 percent) alone receive a thumbs-up from at least half of Republican voters. They also garner the most support among voters overall (34 percent and 33 percent respectively).

About four in 10 Republicans think former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (43 percent), former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (40 percent) and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (39 percent) would make good presidents -- however, less than one in four voters overall thinks so.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he’s not running, yet 29 percent of Republicans say he would be a good president. That trumps Trump at 23 percent.

Trump was one of several possible 2012 candidates who spoke at CPAC, the Conservative Political Action Conference on Thursday. He said he would announce his presidential plans in June.

This early in the election cycle, name recognition plays a large part in the support candidates receive. That may be what boosts Trump over lesser-known potential contenders such as former Minn. Gov. Tim Pawlenty (21 percent support among Republicans), Minn. Rep. Michele Bachmann (16 percent), Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour (16 percent) and former Penn. Sen. Rick Santorum (15 percent).

Meanwhile, the most well-known candidates are also the most likely to be viewed as not good presidential material. Three out of four voters (75 percent) say Trump would not make a good president, including 71 percent of Republicans. Seventy-two percent overall and 56 percent of Republicans say the same about Palin.

Gov. Mitch Daniels (49 percent), Santorum (46 percent), Pawlenty (45 percent), Barbour (42 percent) and Bachmann (41 percent).

Potential 2012 Head-to-Head Matchups

The poll asked about several hypothetical head-to-head matchups, and President Obama bests each Republican tested.

Romney comes closest to Obama, trailing by 7 points (48-41 percent). Last fall Romney was just 1-point back (41-40 percent, September 2010). A year ago, Obama lead Romney by 12 points (47-35 percent).

The president has an 8-point advantage over Huckabee (49-41 percent), up from a 3-point edge in September (43-40 percent).

Obama has even wider advantages over Palin (56-35 percent), Gingrich (55-35 percent), and Jeb Bush (54-34 percent).

Even as White House staffers depart to work on the 2012 campaign, 53 percent of voters think Obama is still focused on his job as president, rather than turning his attention to his re-election (33 percent).

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cell phone interviews with 911 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from Feb. 7 to Feb. 9. For the total sample, it has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Link: FoxNews.com - Fox News Poll: Trump for President?

I want Donald Trump to run.

Originally Posted by sabang

I think the GOP's best hope is to find an outsider- the only one of that motley bunch I would rate as having any chance is Pawlenty.

Pawlenty is a very sharp guy but I'm not sure how much of an outsider he really is. Last week he gave a very mainstream Republican speech, the same old drivel about the USA needing a stronger military. The real outsider is New Mexico's ex-governor Gary Johnson. He wants to legalize prostitution, end the 'War on Drugs' and bring home the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. He's a younger and more appealing version of Ron Paul. Johnson will have crossover appeal from independent voters and Democrats who are disilluisioned with Obama. Of course Johnson has almost no real chance of getting elected. Some corporate hack like Mitt Romney will have lots of money to play with. The mainstream media will ridicule and dismiss Johnson from the onset, making his probable failure a self-fulfilling prophesy. But Gary Johnson might make a splash if he uses the Internet as creatively as Ron Paul did in 2008.

Seems like they’re gonna have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to save them the embarrassment of losing so badly to Obama, because their (Republicans) line up just ain’t doing it.

From a PPP poll:

Obama in the swing states

In 2008 Barack Obama won nine states and one electoral vote giving Congressional district that had gone to George W. Bush in 2004. We've now polled every single one of those over the last three months except for Indiana, where we can't do one because of restrictions on automated polling in the state. Across 36 horse race match ups against Newt Gingrich, Mike Huckabee, Sarah Palin, and Mitt Romney in Florida, Ohio, North Carolina, Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Iowa, Nevada, and Nebraska's 2nd Congressional District Obama is 36 for 36. If he stood for reelection today against one of the current Republican front runners Obama would almost certainly win the same number of electoral votes he did in 2008, if not more.

Obama won these nine places by an average of seven points in 2008. Only Romney improves on that, trailing by an average of six points in them. Huckabee is down by an average of eight, Gingrich by 12, and Palin by 16. Gingrich does worse than McCain did in 8 of 9 places, improving only in Nevada. Huckabee does worse than McCain did in 4 of the states, better than McCain did in 4 of the states, and the same as McCain did in one of them. Palin does worse than McCain did in every single one of them. Romney does better than McCain did in 6 and worse in 3- North Carolina, Nebraska's 2nd District, and New Mexico.

More bad news for Republicans: http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2011/02/obama-in-swing-states.html

I even see where the Queen of Mean put her two cents in and said that, “If we don’t run Chris Christie, Romney will be the nominee — and he’ll lose” at the CPAC convention.

About 10 weeks from now will be the first Republican presidential debate. As I understand, there’s only one guy who has formally announced to run. I think he’s some grocery store owner. Not sure.

Anyway it should be something to see,………..just like a train wreck.


DATE ANNOUNCED FOR FIRST GOP PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE OF THE 2012 SEASON REAGAN "CENTENNIAL" DEBATE TO BE TELEVISED ON MSNBC, TELEMUNDO, CNBC, AND LIVESTREAMED ON POLITICO

NBC NEWS' BRIAN WILLIAMS AND POLITICO'S JOHN F. HARRIS TO CO-MODERATE

Simi Valley, CA – The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation announced today that May 2, 2011 is thedate for the Republican presidential candidates’ debate being held at the Reagan Library. The Reagan Foundation also announced a host of details about the first Republican debate of the 2012 campaign season, including a roster of some of the nation's top journalists from NBC News, POLITICO and Telemundo to take part in the questioning.

Link:Date set for first GOP 2012 debate - On Media - POLITICO.com

General information about the primary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party_(United_States)_presidential_prim aries,_2012

A Newsweek poll just released and it asked the Republican and Independent voters who they would vote for in the upcoming presidential election.

Here is how they stand:
21) [Ask of Republican and Independent voters] In thinking about the 2012 Republican primary for President, supposed you had a choice between Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty, Hailey Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, Mitch Daniels Newt Gingrich and Jon Huntsman. If the election were held today, who would you vote for?

Sarah Palin 10%
Tim Pawlenty 5%
Hailey Barbour 1%
Mike Huckabee 18%
Mitt Romney 19%
Mitch Daniels 1%
Jon Huntsman 1%
Donald Trump 8%
Newt Gingrich 7%
Not sure 31%


Link: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/docs/2011/Newsweek_DailyBeast_0222.htm

I think Huckabee was giving hints recently that he wouldn’t be running.

Gov. Mitch Daniels, Indiana, gets a big plug here from David Brooks of the NY Times- he's a moderate conservative, and so is Daniels it would seem. Problem is, he's reluctant to run. And who can blame him.


Run Mitch, Run
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/25/op...me&ref=general

The Teabaggers will no doubt describe him as a Rino.

This is just wonderful. The first high profile Rethug (Newt, I am not a hypocrite) is launching a presidential exploratory campaign.

From Firedoglake,……..

Oh thank goodness, finally the GOP Presidential field is not just one Sarah Palin joke after another.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will launch a presidential “exploratory” campaign this week, becoming the first big-name GOP candidate to take a formal step toward a White House bid.

Ultimately the ol’ bag o’ gas will not run in my opinion because it will be a lot of this:

“You adamantly oppose gay rights . . . but you’ve also been married three times and admitted to having an affair with your current wife while you were still married to your second,” said Isabel Friedman, president of the Penn Democrats…how do you reconcile this hypocritical interpretation of the religious values that you so vigorously defend?”

Of course, maybe he will run because as his second wife knows, he’s just that deluded:

“It doesn’t matter what I do,” he answered. “People need to hear what I have to say. There’s no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn’t matter what I live.”

Link: http://firedoglake.com/2011/03/02/family-devalued/

Originally Posted by sabang

he's reluctant to run. And who can blame him.

And this is why IMO, the candidate pool will be bad (as it usually it).

Any one, single candidate that will run, impressive?

Not that I care honestly. I'd rather have Obama than run the risk of a moderate being pushed and pulled by the religious rights, and the Palin base.

Hard to say if that is the way it would be though....but there is a chance.

Obama 2012.

Not lessor of the two evils, just lessor of the two bad.

Some interesting reading from AP about the Republicans who might be running and when they will step up to the plate.

Gingrich drew the national press to Atlanta last week for his announcement of a website to explore a bid, the most high-profile move so far.

Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Rick Santorum and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour are quietly preparing for possible candidacies with visits to would-be donors, calls to potential supporters and interviews with future hires.

"Things have picked up dramatically in the last couple weeks," said Matthew Strawn, the chairman of the Iowa Republican Party.

Putting together the early nuts-and-bolts of a campaign is a delicate balance between persuading staff and donors that the candidate is serious while telling the public that a bid is being weighed.

"I haven't made a decision yet as to what we're going to do," Romney often demurs even as his advisers are reviewing resumes.

Campaigns are expensive and the sooner a candidate working with a small group of advisers formally declares, the faster the organization grows and the bills flood in. Being a formally declared candidate also brings an intense level of scrutiny and pressure.

"The day you announce and start a campaign, you create the demand for an infrastructure. Your clock starts, but your burn rate starts on your money immediately," Mike Huckabee, a 2008 candidate and possible 2012 candidate, said in an interview. "However many staffers, and however many trips you take, and the phone lines and the computer lines and the office equipment and everything it takes to gin up a campaign — I'm not speaking from the idealistic, I'm speaking of the harsh realities of what it costs."

Snip

Romney announced last week that Andrea Saul, a veteran of McCain's presidential campaign and most recently a spokeswoman for Carly Fiorina's failed Senate bid in California, will serve as a communications adviser. And former spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom will remain in the fold.

Pawlenty is preparing for an announcement tour in the next six weeks. Many of his advisers from his political action committee are expected to be part of his White House bid, including: Phil Musser, a former adviser to Romney and former head of the Republican Governors Association; former Bush campaign officials Terry Nelson and Sara Taylor; and Alex Conant, a former RNC press secretary.

Romney and Pawlenty both are expected to take their own official steps in early spring, likely after April 1.

On and on: http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/out-of-spotlight-gop-865123.html

Something I found amusing on the net recently,….

Although I am no Republican, I honestly like Gingrich and his views, for the most part.

Is he electable? I'm not sure.

The newt thinks he can run for Pres . Fine- match him up with sarah.
Somewhere in GOP ranks, someone is actually doing some thinking I assume.
Shame we can't read about it in the Press.

Remember Ross Perot ?

Guess who's thinking of running in 2012?

Donald Trump

Wanna know why someone like that never wins?

Because you will have someone who knows how to run a business and be successful. Plus, knows what the F*&k they are doing!

'Bamma will never get it again! One time wonder boy