The problem is that if you sit down with 100 Republican-leaning individuals in the heartland...and put out the group of Romney, Palin, and Huckabee....there’s not a majority for any of the three. Each has a branch of the public who supports them for special reasons...but beyond that...not much else.
Romney can’t win in the south because folks want to bring up religion. Huckabee doesn’t exactly have the best debate skills in the world and it’s obvious. Palin is this wildcard that a fair number of folks can’t vision as President (at least not yet).
Then somewhere in the shadows...you’ve got Jeb Bush and Chris Christie of New Jersey. Either could probably pick up a quick twenty percent of the polls if they indicated an interest in running.
NO MORE BUSHES!!! This isn’t a banana republic, we shouldn’t have dynasties.