I really can’t see Romeny winning, though he’s obviously going to try (indeed he’s pretty much the only person listed who 100% certainly will run in the primaries). The Mormon thing is surmountable, but his administration in Mass. being the origin of the Obamacare legislation isn’t. The GOP has gone all in on demonizing the ACA, there’s not really any way for Romney to plausibly distance himself enough from it to survive a GOP primary.
Quite possibly, though I think the big-money boys haven’t settled on anyone yet.
I remember how, in early 1999 when the papers no longer had Lewinsky and impeachment to cover so they could turn their attention to the 2000 race, George W. Bush had already raised a pile of money and had all the tailwinds on the GOP side. But at this point, nobody even has an exploratory committee to be the recipient of the sort of early giving Bush received 12 years ago. Wonder when (or if) the big money will settle on a particular candidate this time.
Hell, they might just decide the best play is to let Obama remain President, hamstrung by a GOP Congress, but still responsible (in voters’ minds, at least) for how things are turning out, which would give people a reason to keep on voting Republican. Then win big in 2016, including the White House, and relive the Bush years, only with bigger Congressional majorities.
Well, there is the argument that government health care is OK for a state to implement but not OK for the federal government, and I’m sure that’s the argument that Romney will make (plus probably something about abortion, despite the fact that the affordable care act was the biggest anti-abortion legislation Congress has ever passed). But it will certainly be amusing to watch him defending his position.
That’s certainly Romney’s argument, but I don’t think he’ll get far. Putting aside whether the constitutional argument has merit or not, I think its pretty clear that the vast bulk of Conservative animosity for the bill is not based on the Constitutionality of the mandate. In the unlikely event the SCOTUS makes the gov’t throw out the mandate and replace it with something else, or in the much more likely case that they decide that it is in fact Constitutional before the 2012 primaries, I doubt it will abate much of the GOP’s anger against the ACA
Paul/Paul 2012!
That’s R. Paul on the top, & R. Paul in the 2nd slot. It’s poifect!
Which one is Ru?
Whatever happened to Jindal? Wasn’t he the rising star not so long ago?
I don’t think I’ve heard him seriously mentioned since he had a poor performance doing the Republican Response at the SOTU a year or two ago.
Exactly what I thought! “Who do they want to whack in the knee?”
Or a worse handicap: “Who do we force to put Sarah Palin on their ticket?” 
On top. :p:p
WMUR/UNH poll: Romney’s the NH primary frontrunner, by a mile.
I saw this early Tuesday and I really don’t know what to think of it. I grew up in Texas and was reared in the Southern Baptist church. It was a common thing to hear people talk about how Mormans are “lost” and members of a cult. In the last 40 years I have been in attendance at numerous church services where the guest speaker was there to talk about “the cult of Mormanism” and to instruct those in attendance about how to witness to their Morman friends and lead them to Christ. I don’t know if people who live outside the South realize how much influence the Southern Baptists exert there. If Romney is the nominee the degree of cognitive dissonance that will ensue throughout the Bible Belt will be staggering. I’m not saying these folks will vote Obama if Romney is the nominee; I’m saying their heads will explode if they have no choice but to put a Morman in the White House over a socialist Kenyan Muslim.
As for the rest of the field:[ul]
[li]Palin has no interest in governing. Her only interest is enriching herself. If she thinks running for a while serves that purpose she will. Otherwise, nope.[/li][li]Huckabee, Paul, Giuliani, Barbour or Gingrich; I can’t imagine a scenario where any of them come even close to the prize.[/li][li]Trump. This just makes me laugh.[/li][li]And Pawlenty or the wall of hair called Paul Ryan? Please.[/ul] [/li]
Maybe someone like Mitch Daniels will catch the fancy of the public, but I don’t really know enough about the guy to even guess. Frankly, at this point my money would be on somebody who isn’t even on the radar yet or Romney.
We are about a year away from the first primary and at least 18 months away from the nominating conventions. At this point anything could happen.
Kolak: It’s Mormon, not Morman. Plus, the idea of idiots’ heads exploding just might be a very good reason to vote for the man!
Question here for everyone: Why is the religion an issue for Romney but not for Huntsman?
Because nobody thinks Huntsman will get anywhere close to the nomination irregardless of his religion.
In context (referencing speakers who described Mormonism as a “cult”), it might be a swipe at the speakers’ ignorance. It’s also possible that they publish literature with the religion’s name deliberately misspelled (a la the Republican habit of referring to the “Democrat” Party).
As someone who’s all too familiar with the role of Southern Baptists in the deep South, I think they’ll get over it pretty easily.
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Remember when they all thought the Pope was the Antichrist? Now conservative Catholics (including the five conservative SCOTUS Justices) are their allies on all sorts of issues. You notice that this bothers them hardly at all anymore.
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The ultimate enemy, for them, is still the Democrats and liberals and leftists and academics and bureaucrats and whatnot. If Romney’s the GOP nominee, then just like Oceania no longer being at war with Eurasia, the Southern Baptists will no longer be at war with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Or they’ll just overlook Romney’s association with the LDS. Or something.
These are people who are convinced that drinking alcohol is wrong, wrong, wrong, despite their belief in Biblical inerrancy, and the Bible being full of verses that have very positive things to say about wine. If they’re told their heads aren’t supposed to explode over supporting Romney against Obama, their heads won’t explode.
Speaking of fundraising Gingrich has apparently built a money raising machine down there.
There is only one, the repubs will nominate another spoiled rich kid, Romney. The rest have no chance. They have rapid followers that will bite anybody that tells them the truth about their heroes, but they get traction in small sectors only.
Sheriff Joe is getting attention for high office in Arizona. Does that mean the rest of the country should take him seriously? Hell. Angle is trying to get back in. There must be 10 or 12 people who think she is a good choice.
On the national stage, there is Romney. The Repubs might turn on him. It should be fun.
I acknowledge given the choice between Romney and Obama they will undoubtedly vote for Romney. I wonder though about during the primaries. I have already had family members express concern over this issue. They have stated to me how uncomfortable they would be electing someone President who they don’t consider to be a Christian. When I was visiting over Thanksgiving this was a topic of conversation I overheard at their church. (I told my cousin if that was a real concern for him he might as well go ahead and vote for the Muslim.:D)
Monty and any other posters who are LDS - my bad in misspelling Mormon. When you pointed it out I realized I knew better and completely missed it. Sorry about that.
Joe always makes noise about running for higher office. He’s a publicity whore. It will never, ever happen. He spends all his time dodging scandals as Sheriff. If he ran for national office, they’d catch up to him. Plus the old windbag will be 80 by the time of the election. It’s a miracle he keeps getting elected Sheriff (by a lower margin each time); he’s less serious about giving that up than Sarah Palin is about running for President.