The Republican Ticket: Update!
Ok, so about a month or two ago I did a rundown of all of the people that I thought would be likely to run for the Republican ticket. I did something of an odds count, but I don’t really think I can reasonably do that right now since the Republican Party is in a state of flux. So I wanted to scratch a few names off that list and add a few names on real quick. MmK?
Scratch Off:
-Dick Cheney – Dick is done. His time as a policy maker is over, and it doesn’t look like he even wants to run. You can’t blame him, he’s more popular now that he’s not in office than when he was. But he’s getting up there in years, he was where McCain was at this time in his last run, and just the other day he suffered his fifth heart attack. Not a chance.
-Bobby Jindal – Jindal would be a great name on the ticket in a few more years, but right now, he would look like a cynical response to Obama being a person of color (granted, the Republicans are fine with cynical responses). He also seems to want to stick with Louisiana and keep building it out of Katrina. And good for him.
-Jeb Bush – Where’s he been? He’d need to be more public now. And no one really wants another Bush. Well, some people might, but not many Republicans. They want a Reagan, not a Nixon.
-General David Petraeus – He’s so good with these wars that I don’t see him leaving Afghanistan. It would be a horrible political move (and, for the Army, a pretty unprofessional move) to run against ones own Commander in Chief.
Add On:
-Newt Gingrich – I didn’t mention him before, I don’t think, or if I did, I did peripherally, but if there’s a split in the Republican Party, I see him leading the Reagan conservatives away from Sarah Palin.
-Scott Brown – I actually like him for a pick. He seems fresh and is a bit of an outsider, and beat out the Democrats for one of the most entrenched Democrat seats in the Country. I mean, Teddy Kennedy’s seat? He’s impressive. Put him high on your list. He might be too inexperienced to try in 2012 though.
Still Likely:
-Mitt Romney – He’s still my number 1 pick. He’s lying low, he has the funding, and he’s an economic wizard. He’d be an easy pick for the economy if Obama’s policies don’t work like they should. He might not be able beat Obama, and he still has the Mormon thing working against him, but he has broad appeal.
-Mike Huckabee – I see him as running but getting overshadowed by Sarah Palin. Which is a shame, because she’s a moron, and while I disagree with a lot of what he says, I don’t think he’s a complete idiot. He could actually peel away votes from Palin. He’ll get the Religious Right, and she’ll get the populist Tea Party votes, and if the Tea Partiers can put together a coherent platform, I will literally poop from surprise.
-Sarah Palin – I went over her more thoroughly in a recent article. She’ll run. She doesn’t have a chance. But she’ll run. I’m not saying she doesn’t have a solid voting bloc, she could certainly do major damage to a viable Republican candidate, but a win? No chance in hell.
-Ron Paul – Yet another split! Paul has the ear of the libertarians still. He has no chance of winning, but he could have a Ross Perot effect.