Posted on 01/21/2011 5:13:35 PM PST by pissant
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This Politico story about the group drafting Indiania Congressman Mike Pence to run for the GOP presidential nomination is full of interesting tidbits about Republicans' dissatisfaction with the rest of the field:
An Indiana congressman with just five terms in public office, Pence is currently the subject of a draft movement—but he may well pick a gubernatorial run over a White House bid. . . . .
The pro-Pence crowd consists of a group of traditional conservatives who, while sympathizing with her, don’t view Sarah Palin as a serious presidential candidate. They doubt Mike Huckabee will run again or can broaden his appeal. And they believe the rest of the field features has-beens or candidates insufficiently pure on cultural issues.
While Huckabee doesn't fall into the "insufficiently pure on cultural issues" camp, the conservative dissatisfaction with him has dogged him since his 2008 run, and indeed dates back to his tenure as governor of Arkansas. Pence has the support of the Club for Growth, the hardline anti-tax, free market-worshipping group which contributed to the conservative freezing out of Huckabee in 2008. I wrote a piece in 2007 that broke down that discontent:
The fanatically anti-tax Club for Growth -- which Huckabee has disparaged as "the Club for Greed" -- has gotten a lot of mileage out of its portrayal of Huckabee's tenure in Arkansas as that of a "habitual tax-hiker." Huckabee has fired back, saying that the Club for Growth's figures are wrong, and besides, the Club doesn't understand what it takes to run a state government. He argues that his policies of taxing gasoline sales to pay for road construction and using state revenue to pay for poor children's health insurance did not ravage the pocketbooks of Arkansans, but provided desperately needed services to his state.
It wasn't just the Club for Growth, though; I talked to several Arkansas Republicans who had soured on Huckabee as governor, and took their complaints to the highest echelons of the conservative movement's elite. They succeeding in sinking him, and even though Huckabee's more recent rhetoric echoes the tea party mantras, that won't matter for these elephants who won't forget his Arkansas days of sympathy for immigrants and poor people.
Possibly more interesting than what these political elites are doing to draft Pence is how Huckabee diehards will react to this intentional recruitment of a competitor to Huckabee. As I reported last year, many Huckabee volunteer activists gripe their guy is slighted by the Tea Party movement, by Fox News, and by the very conservative elites Huckabee was so critical of in 2008.
The Politico piece makes clear that the conservatives behind the draft Pence movement value his unwavering Christian conservatism, but that they find his Club for Growth/Dick Armey-endorsed fiscal positions to be a crucial factor for winning over more of the conservative base than the evangelicals drawn by Huckabee's aw-shucks preachiness. If both Huckabee and Pence end up running, they'll be competing not only to out-Jesus the other, but to prove which one is more of the anti-tax, budget-slashing purist.
In 2008, Huckabee's supporters loved his anti-elitist, anti-Wall Street talk, and movement elites' snubbing of him both baffled and angered his grassroots supporters. One might think Huckabee would be some sort of conservative populist favorite for 2012, given the state of the economy. But if Huckabee does decide to run in 2012, it looks like he's in for a repeat of 2008 from his party's fiscal zealots -- and it will be fascinating to watch the reaction of his grassroots supporters who contend he's the real conservative but that the conservative movement is out to undermine him.
Events are going to give Pence and other congressmen a chance to make their mark. Either they use their control of the budget to confront this president and turn this ship around, or they will find themselves coopted by him.
This is his chance to show us who he is.
Sarah Palin is more of an anti-Huckabee than Pence, it seems.
Actually one of the reasons Huck surged in 2008 was he drew alot of fiscal groups on his side, notably the FairTax people while Fred Thompson was endlessly sitting on the sidelines "thinking about" whether to run. If Huck had drawn only some hardcore "Evangelical" Christians and zero fiscal groups, his campaign would have been a repeat of Gary Bauer in 2000.
I also fear Sarah Palin may be too damaged by the mainstream media slime, but we could do a lot worse than her. Better her than a Romney type.
I'm on the fence til I see who runs.
DeMint, Pence, Bachmann and Cain. I’ll be happy if a couple of those run. If no conservatives run, I’ll just tune it out.
They will try again to get the Huckster to spoil it for a conservative.
They will try again to get the Huckster to spoil it for a conservative.
They will try again to get the Huckster to spoil it for a conservative.
Palin’s the only one who will fight, take hits, keep fighting, and keep taking hits while knocking out her opponents.
Bachmann was in my state today meeting with grass roots Republicans and Tea Party members.
Many think she is secretly organiziing for Governor Palin.
This ‘primary season’ could be over very early.
I know there is a school of thought that goes that way but after today, I think I hope they're wrong...LOL.
RealClearPolitics: Bachmann's Tardiness Irks Iowa Republicans
I believe the Fair Tax is the main reason a lot of people supported or voted for Huck. I know Sarah has said she favors tax reform, and has mentioned the flat tax and the fair tax. That topic hasn’t been in the headlines lately, but I think it would help her to tout them in her campaign.
I remember, during the 2010 campaign, it seemed like she was frequently running late for meetings. Sarah is unfailingly punctual. FWIW
You can, and perhaps will, substantiate this?
Just a possibility being bandied about on some Palin blogs.
Michele is a good friend of Governor Palin’s and Sarah endorsed her and raised a lot of money for her last year, but it is really just speculation.
She can’t really be doing it ‘secretly’ if people know about it.
:-)
Plus, even though they have thrown everything at her, none of it can be substantiated. Every other potential candidate has things that can be proved against them [except maybe Pence]. I think Sarah can overcome the ‘winnables’ with her campaign, run the way she sees fit not the way McCains people saw fit.
Folks,
I have been reading this for 2years now. We still are not able to make up our mind. We need an outsider who can define himself before the media screws it up. For me, this feels like a repeat of 2008. We are going to allow the media to select the candidate and find ourselves not working for the candidate.
Thanks for the link.
Apparently the one "irked" Iowa Republican they found was unnamed.
From the article:
NO HUCKLEBERRY!!!!!
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