Think about it. Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour; all politically smart cookies. They knew better than to get engaged in the 2012 presidential race. Oh…well, of course there’s Sarah Palin and Donald Trump. Not so smart but they knew enough to stay out of the race, too. Maybe not so dumb after all.
Palin gets credit for being the world’s longest back seat tease. She’s milked this prom night thing for all the free publicity that money could ever buy. Hell, I couldn’t get this much airtime even if I paid for it. But then Palin has always been the girl who skated by on her looks. Five colleges, talking head sportscaster, talking head sometimes politician. She’s ridden the pageant queen thing for years. As she enters the cougar/MILF years, I can only hope this was her swan song. For a woman who has quit almost every undertaking in her life, I never really understood how she was taken seriously except that she looked like Miss Alaska. And who doesn’t want that association on their resume?
Trump? Not really all that successful of a real estate agent but better than your local Century 21 lady. Not to mention, he spun this campaign fast enough to get NBC to renew a really bad reality show featuring Gary Busey. I couldn’t have done that (assuming that I wanted to in the first place).
And I can’t leave out Ron Paul, the rich man’s Ralph Nader. Let’s just say I admire Paul for running on principle and not the helium these other cats are breathing.
Oh, I almost forgot. Rudy Giuliani is still not running. Not that anyone cares. I’m not running either.
Point being that most sane individuals have read the tea leaves correctly and decided that running against President Obama in 2012 would be a waste of time, money, and political capital. In fact, I suspect that the absence of some of these candidates is the only reason we have seen some of our current crop get in the race; hey Governor Perry.
Mitt Romney could well pose a real threat to President Obama but first he has to survive the nomination sensation. Romney is in an unenviable position because he basically hasn’t done anything since being Governor of Massachusetts except run for President. He’s been doing that for five years now. Does that make him a good candidate? Well he did lose to John McCain in 2008 who in turn lost to Barack Obama. Does it make him a good President? I defer to my previous question. There’s a reason Mitt Romney has never broken through his 23% approval ceiling. It’s because he’s about 23% of the President you’d want: no more, no less.
The Republican party knows, save the shenanigans they’re doing right now at the state level, that the next national chance they’ll get is in 2016. Everybody else; back in the car.
Related articles
- Did Palin make the right call on 2012? (politico.com)
- Republican Presidential Nominee Field Takes Shape (538refugees.wordpress.com)
- GOP isn’t sold on Romney, seeking other options (sfgate.com)
- Haley Barbour: Cain Would ‘Sweep The South’ Against Obama (huffingtonpost.com)
538 Refugees 
while i agree most stayed out due to Obama being a strong candidate i dont see his position as strong as you say it is, i think the GOP will rally mostly around Romney if he gets the nod, it will be uphill against Obama and i hope he gets another 4 years, but i think Romney does have a fighting chance still.
@Joe
You may be right. Romney is doing just fine by keeping his mouth shut and letting the others duke it out. And there’s still time for Obama to do something dumb or the economy to get worse. I’m not ready to call the race just yet but my gut tells me not to worry. This incumbency will be hard to topple.