Thursday, June 25, 2009

Revised GOP power ranking for '12

Thursday, June 25, 2009 | Posted by Fredo | | Edit Post
That thud you heard was Sanford's political life leaping off a cliff and making impact below.
Hope his personal life meets a better fate, for his wife and kids if nothing else.

Anyway, with one of my favorites scratched, here's my preference list for '12 as of June '09:

1. Romney
2. Pawlenty
3. Gingrich
4. Huckabee
5. Palin

Others who could possibly earn my support: Thune, Jindal, Huntsman, Barbour, Cantor

Who's best positioned to win the nomination:

1. Romney
2. Palin
3. Crist
4. Jindal
5. Huckabee
6. Barbour
7. Pawlenty
8. Gingrich
9. Huntsman

Biggest X-Factors: Jeb, Petraeus
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2 comments:

SheaHeyKid said...

I'll have to take a closer look at Pawlenty, I didn't really pay much attention to him in the '08 race.

Mitt is definitely still my clear #1. I like Newt a lot as well, but am concerned about his "electability." On specific policy issues, and his ability to outdebate anyone from either party, he's outstanding though.

Jeb Bush would also be interesting but seems like anything sooner than 2016 would be too soon for "another Bush."

Too early for Jindal, he could use more experience, but I look forward to seeing him as a VP or presidential candidate in 2016. I like his stand on most fiscal and social policy issues, and once he's more seasoned could easily rally around him.

Palin is no good. While I appreciate her stand on social issues, she is unelectable and quite frankly not who I want in charge given the gravity of global instabilities. I just don't think she has what it takes to formulate a sophisticated strategy and set of tactics to deal with Iran, N. Korea, Pakistan, etc.

6/26/2009 1:18 PM
Fredo said...

I understand your concerns with Palin. In the afterglow of her selection, I would have had her at #1 on my list for '12. When the rubber hit the road, and the actual campaigning began, there was clearly a gap between the hopes and the present reality of where Palin was in terms of rhetoric, knowledge, and presentation.

That said, 4 years is a long time, and I wouldn't write her off yet. She's clearly a woman of remarkable instinct who has developed a large fund raising base (see her legal defense fund) and rabid fan base in an impossibly short period of time. She went from handling local to state issues in a short period, and did it well. It's possible that '12 may not resemble '08 for Sarah Palin.

That said, since a bird in the hand beats two in the bush, I'll go with the proven commodities for the time being.

T-Paw, BTW, is an excellent retail politican with blue collar roots. He's managed to carry the most liberal state (MN) of the largest swing region in the country (upper Midwest). If his background can win back IA and IN, and get us WI and MN, we're a long way towards winning back the WH.

6/26/2009 1:43 PM
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