It’s terrific if people think Obama’s name is now some kind of advantage. Two years ago people thought his name alone might be enough to keep him from getting nominated or winning. “It rhymes with Iraq Osama!- AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT HIS MIDDLE NAME IS?” Some people even thought this was a semi-legit political issue instead of an excercise in total moronism.
You can have two people from the same state on the same ticket. The ticket would be ineligible for the electoral votes of that state. Anyway establishing residence is trivially easy. Ask Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton, Alan Keyes…
This was an issue in 2000 because Bush and Cheney both lived in Texas at the time the campaign began. Cheney also had a house in Wyoming, where he was a former Congressman. He changed his voting registration to Wyoming in July 2000, and sold his house in Dallas after the election. Cite here.
Would’ve been kinda funny if they hadn’t done anything about this, and Bush had won but Cheney had lost as a result. I’m no fan of Lieberman, but a sanctimonious and annoying veep during those years would have been a hell of an improvement over pure evil.
Yeah, the biggest problem for the GOP in 2012 is that they’ll have to field an actual candidate. Apparently Obama’s polling only so-so against “generic Republican” but none of the actual Republicans who are in the game are giving him a run for his money in the polls.
But I suspect that any dark-horse Republican capable of winning the GOP nomination will have just as much of a problem as the current crop of known commodities. The positions you have to take these days to win a contested GOP nomination really hurt you with people outside the GOP base.
I don’t think they talked about the oil spill on NickJr.
I think even if a lefty like Kucinch runs against him, Obama will not debate him or even acknowledge his candidacy.
I’m in central Texas as well, and his successes baffle me.
The man has fantastic hair.
I despise Perry and his ilk, but this item did not bother me. While I’m sure right-wing radio would be eating it up if it were a DEM (so there is a hypocrisy angle), it does not offend me that the state’s GOVERNOR is spending 10G a month on housing (for those not in the know, someone torched the governor’s mansion). The state’s chief executive should live in a mansion. Though it doesn’t keep him safe from coyotes apparently.
This has all been part of his teabag strategy. He torched KBH in the primaries by bashing Washington. He cannot be seen as any way affiliated with DC until after he beats Bill White (poor Bill White. Finally a viable Democratic candidate for governor and it is in a year that the GOP has an ungodly advantage!)
OK, pkbites, I’ll bite: What is it about this Ryan fellow that makes him a promising candidate? I hadn’t really heard anything about him before now, and House of Representatives straight to President is a pretty big jump.
Romney, Paul and Pawlenty are already running. Gingrich looks very probable to jump in. A few months ago I would have said that Palin was out, but she seems to be buying into her own personality cult and I think she will run as well. Huckabee’s chances died with those police officers out west so I think he will just stay on Fox. The others mentioned are long shots to jump in.
Unless you are very rich and famous you can’t just jump in whenever you feel like it in these things. The campaign really starts as soon as the last one ends.
I’ll make no bones about it. I think Pawlenty is going to win the nomination.
He can appeal to the tea party (he hates taxes, rejects compromise, praised Arizona’s immigrant law, trased HCR and refers to the “tyranny” of Obama), the Christian conservatives (he’s against abortion and gay rights, for the death penalty and was a huge supporter of the Iraq war) and the country club facets (he has strong ties to the business community and the party establishment) of the party. No one else will be able to cover all those bases so well. Romney has zero appeal to the tea baggers and the xtians. Paul is a perennial candidate who will be 77 years old in 2012. Gingrich is way past his day in the sun, plus he converted to Catholicism when he married wife number X. Palin is devise and widely hated within the party.
Pawlenty is going to win this thing. He has been working hard in the early primary states getting organized and established. He has set up a PAC that has drawn the support of numerous big dollar contributors and he has assembled a Republican all-star team around him.
Iowa kicks off the process where loads of corn farmers will be picking their choice. Pawlenty should make an impact there. I like his chances even better NH where Palin would fare badly. Then onto SC where a Yankee like T-Paw would traditionally get clobbered, but Pawlenty is a Baptist and will likely be the only one on the ballot. He should hang in there.
The biggest diss I hear about him is that he can’t beat Obama in his home state. Probably not, but will Romney beat him in MA? And Republicans will win in AK, GA and TX no matter who the candidate is. Pawlenty is not well known now, but I fully expect him to take the nomination.
Obama went from a community organizer to President in only a couple of jumps, so it’s not so far fetched for Ryan to do it.
Even if Ryan is not on the ticket As POTUS or VP in 2012, keep your eyes open for him. He’s young, attractive, conservative, and is emerging as the ideological leader of the Republican party.
As if the 2000 election wasn’t interesting enough!
Had the electoral college members from Texas been forced to vote for Joe Schmoe for Vice-President, that election would have gone to the new Senate (50-50) with the outgoing Vice-President (Al Gore) as the tie-breaker.
One would assume that Lieberman would have voted for himself. I wonder if any Democrats would have voted for Cheney out of some sort of sense of nobility or something.
Democrats: Barack Obama, Dennis Kucinich (Nominee: Barack Obama)
Republicans: Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Sarah Palin, Bobby Jindal, Mike Huckabee (Nominee: Mitt Romney)