Free Republic

PEARL, Miss. - Can an outside politician go to Iowa these days and not be seen as a presidential wannabe? Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said months ago that he won't run for president in 2008, but he might stir up talk of a possible candidacy by speaking in Des Moines on Aug. 16. Asked if he's eyeing a run for the White House, Barbour shook his head. "You can rest assured. I'm on hurricane duty," he told The Associated Press. He responded to questions on Friday during a visit to the new Mississippi Emergency Management Agency headquarters in the Jackson...

We knew that Trent Lott was getting cozy with John McCain, but after just listening to Haley Barbour speak is there another Mississippian ready to get on board the Straight Talk Express? Addressing a not-quite-full ballroom in the after-dinner slot, Barbour picked up the McCain banner of the weekend: all the straw polls in the world pale in comparison to the task ahead in '06. And later, in emotional remarks about the impact of Katrina upon his native state, the governor singled out McCain for praise, saying that the "deficit hawk" came to the aid of Mississipi as they sought...

JACKSON, Miss. - Republican Gov. Haley Barbour said Tuesday he will not run for president in 2008 because he is too busy with Hurricane Katrina's aftermath. Instead, Barbour, 58, said he intends to seek a second term as governor in 2007. "There's no way I could run for president and do what I've got to do as governor. And, obviously, being governor comes first," said the former GOP national chairman, responding to questions from The Associated Press. Barbour also dismissed the possibility of a run for vice president in 2008. "Why would a Republican pick a running mate for Mississippi?"...

Part OnePart Two Having previously examined a total of 10 candidates for president, we turn to some of the more Conservative candidates for president. One popular name has been Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Co.) who is ardent proponent of immigration reform. Tancredo has helped bring the issue of illegal immigration to the national forefront and for that he should be applauded. He's been talking about this since 1999 and its quickly becoming a front-burner issue. While I have no doubts about Tancredo's stance on immigration, I question his ability to appeal to the whole Republican party. Tancredo has been in the...

President Barbour? Just a few months ago, the notion of Mississippi's governor running for president would have seemed absurd. Haley Barbour, a Reagan White House aide turned lobbyist, was too much of a Washington insider to be a credible candidate, the reasoning went. With his rich accent -- described in various places as "honeyed" and "syrupy" -- and beefy features, he was also too Southern, too much of a good ol' boy. And given his troubles in Mississippi with cutting Medicaid and funding education, it wasn't assured he'd win re-election in 2007, much less be presidential material. Then Hurricane Katrina...

When President Bush heads to Mississippi tomorrow(today) to tout his Social Security initiative, some Republicans hope voters see two men of presidential caliber: Mr. Bush and the state's governor, Haley Barbour. A small but influential group of GOP insiders are urging the former national party chairman to seek the Republican nomination for president in 2008. "I would handicap the Haley thing seriously," a GOP lobbyist in Washington, Mark Isakowitz, said. "Republicans around the country like him. They just like him. He's been the face of our party for a long time. He's built up a lot of goodwill. Now that's...

JACKSON - Is he is, or is he ain't running for president? Gov. Haley Barbour and his staff appeared to put that speculation to rest on Thursday. "I do not intend to run for president," Barbour said outside a luncheon for an education group he spoke to Thursday. "It's always flattering for people to talk about you running for president, but we've got plenty to do here." Several national and local columnists and television personalities recently have speculated that Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman and Reagan administration adviser who's midway through his first gubernatorial term, might run for...

WASHINGTON - People here remember Haley Barbour as a slightly raffish Mississippi good ol’ boy with a low center of gravity and a syrupy drawl who became chairman of the Republican Party, made a bundle as a tobacco lobbyist and then went home to – of all things – become governor: A shrewd inside player, but not someone who automatically springs to mind as presidential material. It speaks volumes about the condition of the GOP that at least a few people around town are talking up Barbour as a Republican presidential contender in 2008 – and that at least a...

The surprise victory of a "dark horse" in an early presidential test is a reminder that the 2008 election is under way, already producing surprises. Yet, there's a logic to the latest surprise. According to the March 28 issue of U.S. News , the current "hottie" among Republican presidential hopefuls the Iowa caucuses, after all, are just 33 months away is Haley Barbour, the governor of Mississippi. And that was before Barbour won the "March Madness" online playoffs. Those playoffs, free to anyone with an e-mail account, were conducted by a Missouri-based research firm. A total of 64 names everyone...

Washington. A local boy who made it big on the Comedy Channel, Black knows that the city loves to laugh--just not at itself. So when he does his routine at the Radio & Television Correspondents' Association dinner on April 6, attended by the vice president and probably the president, he's going to skip the "F" word and be nice. He reasons that if questioners at President Bush 's Social Security town halls are being screened, "you have to tread very lightly because they are very thin skinned." Ditto for the other spring political galas, like the White House Correspondents' Association...