I think Palin will fizzle out and won’t be a serious contender in 2012. I am guessing Huckabee will be the candidate in 2012; he will run a good campaign but will lose comfortably. Or it could be Romney losing by a fairly big margin.
Really I can’t get past Petraeus. He has the same disciplined intellect that Obama does and my hunch is he is politically ambitious as well. He will work closely with Obama in the next few years, learning about politics from the new master as well as building his bipartisan credibility. He will watch the Republicans get pummeled the next 8 years and in 2016 the party will turn to him in desperation as the next Eisenhower.
I’ll say Gov. Sarah Palin. With another four or eight years of seasoning in office, extensive coaching, and sucking up to the GOP faithful on the Rubber Chicken Circuit, she just might do it.
Tim Robbins. I heard he had problems voting today. He’s taller than Obama. He’ll only be 58. And Susan Sarandon will be a hot first lady. And Barry Bostwick can be VP. There we go.
If it weren’t for the age issue, I’d say that Biden would be the natural guess. But my guess is that at 74, he’ll choose to retire, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that he won’t gain the office any other way.
But I do think that Obama will do well enough to keep the pendulum from swinging back just yet, so it’ll probably be a Democrat. Assuming that he doesn’t still have his border collie that can’t stand the smell of skunks, I’m going to guess Brian Schweitzer, my current governor.
Obama, looking through the lens of 2008, cannot conceivably lose enough popularity rating to be vulnerable by 2012. Throw Huckabee at that 2012 buzzsaw.
I’ll buy a generic prediction of “someone unlikely in today’s terms”, but not Palin. She’s a lot less popular than she may look from where you’re sitting. Her name is now political mud.
I thought Biden has already made it clear he’s not going to run for President in 2016 - and even if he hasn’t said that, I don’t believe he’ll run. His age would be a problem and even with an association with Obama, he’s not that compelling on his own and not a millionth as disciplined. I’m not a believer in Palin’s odds in the 2012 primaries and I think Hillary is telling the truth when she indicates she won’t make another run. I agree with Sam that it’s not one of those huge names… man, this is a shot in the dark.
What about Governor-elect Bev Perdue of North Carolina? If one woman doesn’t get a major party nomination by 2016 I think it’ll be shocking.
Too true. No ammount of political experience will over come that personality and whackjob far-right beliefs which were the big things that turned off most Moderates and Liberals this year. She turned off even some hardcore Reagan Republicans that I know. People feared her as VP, no way they decide she is safe to be President in four or even eight years.
The repub infighting will be horrendous. I expect them to settle on Palin for the blame in this election fiasco. They will descend on her like a pack of crazed dingos. Her national aspirations are hysterectomy.