2012 Republican Presidential Nominees: Who's Your Top Five?

Included in my list below are the Intrade odds for each: the ultimate devil's advocate, as these are people who make a living guessing this stuff- and in a business not kind to fools. The Intrade number represents what a share costs for a chance at a $100 payout... so it's roughly the assigned % chance for the candidate winning the Republican nomination in 2012 according to their oddsmakers.

+ Natural political talent, huge charisma, tough, principled conservative, a real fighter, building a lot of support with her winning touch in the primaries

- Too good-looking by half, slightly silly accent, establishment GOP/MSM/entire Left out to destroy the poor gal... and Levi Johnston needs to get a job on a rig in Siberia

Sum: Hard to hold this one down... just like the powerful grassroots movement she's so closely allied with
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+ Highly competent manager, economic expert, previous runner-up, looks and acts presidential

- Too good-looking by half, dull on the stump, hiding/laying low while waiting his turn, mostly absent from today's battle for the future of the nation... disappointing, where's some courage and sense of urgency here? The tipping-point is now, not two years too late...

Sum: apparent front-runner to this point, and the establishment's dream candidate. For the rest of us, the father of RomneyCare has got some 'splainin to do... and we haven't heard a peep yet. _________________________________________________

- Lacks charisma and national political base, has been tepid in support of TEA Party movement... 'Cuda left him in the dust

Sum: already running, basically
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+ Wiz-kid Reaganite with a resume/record of success that puts most others to shame, impressive manager in most ways, novel background

Sum: I really like Bobby Jindal... for 2016-2020, though.
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- Pugnacious nature, honest to a fault, lack of campaign experience, distaste for for inside-the-Beltway DC political games

Sum: Love the man... but I dunno if he's serious about recent hints, and came as quite a surprise to most.
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Runners-up: Barbour, Daniels, or maybe Newt- although he's a non-starter for me personally due to heavy, heavy baggage and a number of poor choices from working with race-hustler Al Sharpton to total loser moves in NY-23... Scozzafava really made fool of him.

Sure like Petraeus, would like to hear more from him on some key issues. But the good General seems fairly resolute about not entering politics anyway, and if the politically inexperienced Petraeus did go that way, perhaps a better fit as a VP alongside -say- a Sarah Palin...
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If you've got a minute today, please take our poll and tell us who's your five at Reaganite Republican

"If you’d been in MA when Romney was guv, you wouldn’t be looking to him to stop any fiscal bleeding."

Nor placing conservative judges.
Nor helping the GOP.

“The Massachusetts Republican Party died last Tuesday.
The cause of death: failed leadership.
The party is survived by a few leftover legislators
and a handful of county officials and grassroots activists
who have been ignored for years.
Services will be public and a mass exodus of taxpayers will follow.
In lieu of flowers, send messages to Republican voters
warning them about a certain presidential candidate named Romney.”
- Boston Herald, 11/12/2006

"In 2006, while Romney was chairman of the National Republican
Governors Association - a group dedicated to electing more
Republican governors - his own hand-picked Republican successor
as governor lost badly to the Democrat, despite the fact that Republicans
have held the governorship in Massachusetts since 1990. Romney largely
ignored the Massachusetts elections and spent most of the time
during the campaign out of state building his presidential campaign.
He came back and publicly campaigned for the Republican candidate
the day before the general election!
“Locally, this is a rebuke to Mitt Romney and checking out within six months
after being elected and having accomplished almost nothing,”
[Jim] Rappaport [former chairman of the state Republican Party]."
- Boston Globe, 11/8/2006

"Governor Mitt Romney, who touts his conservative credentials to out-of-state Republicans,
has passed over GOP lawyers for three-quarters of the 36 judicial vacancies he has faced,
instead tapping registered Democrats or independents -- including two gay lawyers who
have supported expanded same-sex rights, a Globe review of the nominations has found.
Of the 36 people Romney named to be judges or clerk magistrates, 23 are either registered Democrats
or unenrolled voters who have made multiple contributions to Democratic politicians
or who voted in Democratic primaries, state and local records show.
In all, he has nominated nine registered Republicans, 13 unenrolled voters,
and 14 registered Democrats."
- Boston Globe 7/25/2005

Romney Rewards one of the State's Leading Anti-Marriage Attorneys by Making him a Judge
Romney told the U.S. Senate on June 22, 2004, that the "real threat to the States is not the
constitutional amendment process, in which the states participate,
but activist judges who disregard the law and redefine marriage . . ."
Romney sounds tough but yet he had no qualms advancing the legal career of one
of the leading anti-marriage attorneys. He nominated Stephen Abany to a District Court.
Abany has been a key player in the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association which,
in its own words, is "dedicated to ensuring that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court decision
on marriage equality is upheld, and that any anti-gay amendment or legislation is defeated."
- U.S. Senate testimony by Gov. Mitt Romney, 6/22/2004 P>

"Romney announces he won't fill judicial vacancies before term ends
Despite his rhetoric about judicial activism, Romney announced that
he won't fill all the remaining vacancies during his term - but instead
leave them for his liberal Democrat successor!
Governor Mitt Romney pledged yesterday not to make a flurry of lame-duck
judicial appointments in the final days of his administration . . . David Yas,
editor of Lawyers Weekly, said Romney is "bucking tradition" by resisting the urge to
fill all remaining judgeships. "It is a tradition for governors to use that power to appoint judges
aggressively in the waning moments of their administration," Yas said.
He added that Romney has been criticized for failing to make judicial appointments.
"The legal community has consistently criticized him for not filling open seats quickly enough
and being a little too painstaking in the process and being dismissive of the input of the
Judicial Nominating Commission," Yas said.
- Boston Globe 11/2/2006

(DeMint speech to Heritage this morning)

# “washington has treated americans like they are stupid for too long.” demint #VVS2010 25 minutes ago via web

# “we’ve got some candidates we can be proud of.” — demint #VVS2010 26 minutes ago via web

# things get awkward in the remainder of this senate session: “even in alaska, the home of bacon, they threw out that senator” demint #VVS2010 26 minutes ago via web

# demint highlights a strong “a faith component” in the tea-party push for fiscal responsibility #VVS2010 27 minutes ago via web

# demint says “an unbridled liberal majority”in washington has so alarmed americans that it is uniting americans #VVS2010 29 minutes ago via web

# “ we dont want the govt to purge from our society the values and principles that are derived from religion” demint #VVS2010 30 minutes ago via web

# “none of us want the government to push our religion .... they’d just mess that up too” —demint #VVS2010 31 minutes ago via web

# “ when you have a big God you can have a responsible and capable people ... and a ...little government” — more jim demint #VVS2010 32 minutes ago via web

# freedom flourishes when people are free to live according to their religious beliefs (paraphrasing demint) #VVS2010 33 minutes ago via web

# “one of the largest fiscal costs ... are related to ... dependency on government” —demint #VVS2010 35 minutes ago via web

# “if we want to stand and speak for the american people ...” have to integrate fiscal and social issues. — demint #VVS2010 36 minutes ago via web

# “you cannot be a real fiscal conservatism if you dont understand the value of having a culture that is based on values” — jdemint #VVS2010 37 minutes ago via web

# demint sounds received as a presidential candidate. #VVS2010 40 minutes ago via web

# here comes jimdemint for president #VVS2010

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