She's not running!
Posted on 02/01/2012 5:08:49 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
I will start this out by saying that I am usually wrong when I make political predictions (how did that Hillary Clinton-Rudy Giuliani face-off turn out in 2008?). But I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and in the off chance that I happen to be right, I just want it on the record. So here goes…
Mitt Romney will not be the Republican nominee for president in 2012. Neither will Newt Gingrich. And certainly not Ron Paul or Rick Santorum. No, the Republican candidate for president will be someone who isn’t even a candidate for president right now. It will be someone who will swoop in and snatch the nomination away, much to the delight of Republican voters who won’t much like the person who emerges with the most delegates from the primaries.
There are two ways this could go down -- one of the candidates, likely Romney, will have enough delegates to clinch the nomination by April or May. That’s plenty of time before the convention in late August for Republican leaders and their flock to determine that nobody really likes Romney and there is no possible way that he can beat President Obama. They will go looking for someone else.
Or that someone else, who is likely already working behind the scenes, will start talking publicly about Romney’s unelectability, whipping Republican voters into such a frenzy that reluctant party leaders will be forced to go along and ask delegates to change their allegiance.
Remember, candidates used to be picked at conventions. The current system of the convention being a coronation for an already-chosen candidate is a relatively new phenomenon. This would be a throwback to days gone by.
Who might that someone be? That’s the hard part. It has to be someone big. It can’t be Sen. Joe Nobody. It has to be someone known to voters, not someone who needs to introduce themselves to the nation for the first time. That doesn’t leave many options.
The logical choice is Sarah Palin. She might already be laying the groundwork for such an operation. After she announced in the fall that she was not running, she pretty much disappeared. But now Palin is slowly coming back, making television appearances and talking about the election. In a telling strategy, she has not endorsed anyone. She has expressed some support for Gingrich but has been critical of Romney. Expect that to continue as he piles up delegates.
I don’t think Palin could beat Obama, either, but she has a better chance than Romney. If anything she might excite and motivate Republicans to at least get and out vote and perhaps stop Democrats from taking back the House. Romney excites no one. Palin still has plenty of devoted followers, and she is just the type to go against the GOP establishment and attempt to pull this off.
Giuliani is another possibility. He is obviously known to everyone and is reasonably well-liked. Unfortunately, his big issue is terrorism and national security, and with Osama bin Laden dead and al-Qaeda severely weakened, Giuliani has lost his biggest selling point.
Jeb Bush? He might be a stronger candidate than Romney but I don’t think anyone is clamoring for a third Bush in the White House.
With the economy still in shambles, New York City Mayor and mega-billionaire Michael Bloomberg is another possibility. But would Republicans trust a pro-choice, pro-gay marriage, virulently anti-gun New Yorker who changes parties as often as he buys a new Bentley (he is now an independent after spending his life as a Democrat but switching to Republican for his three runs for mayor)?
There are other options out there that might emerge in the coming months, but whoever ends up being the Republican nominee, it will not be someone who is running right now. You heard it here first. Unless I am wrong, which is a definite possibility.
as long as we are all prognosticating?
Do I dare mention no election this coming November 6th.
Hey, peeps have muttered about it for several presidents back, so maybe this will be the one where their worst fears come true.
I am not counting on it, but wouldn’t be surprised, the way things are going.
She's not running!
We’re of like minds. that’s what made me think of him.
THEY allowed themselves to be put in “the thunderdome.” and Romney set the tone. One would think that a grown man running for POTUS would have enough dignity not to cry to the American people that he didn’t get a call from his opponent to congratulate him. After the slanderous filthy ad campaign in Florida used by Romney against Gingrich, he didn’t deserve a call. But then again this is how liberals operate.
Nope.
I would settle for Ryan.
Not gonna happen... the estabs have a plan to not get the indies too wound up against them so they have a chance to hold onto the House and maybe eke out a majority in the Senate.
They`ve written off victory in the Presidential “race,” thus Romney.
Anyone who thinks a liberal New Yawka is going to swoop in and delight conservatives for the nomination has lost their ever loving mind.
Sarah Palin might be able to pull it off, but that would be assuming that Santorum or Paul could grab enough delegates and Newt win enough states to deny Romney the delegates needed to win outright.
That is a very big ‘IF’.
I don’t think it’s going to happen.
from my reading in some states the delegates are not forced to vote for the candidate they ‘belong to’, actually some delegates will be chosen at a later date at state conventions! A few states anyway.
And after the first ballot they can do anything
Here is my fantasy: Sarah gets picked for the vp slot. By some miracle, obama loses the election. The GOP president for whatever reason immediately resigns and Sarah becomes president and saves us all.
I would vote for Newt or Palim & wouldn’t hold my nose again like I did for Dole & McCain & vote for Romney or Christie. It seems the National Republic Party never learns that we want a conservative & not a moderate Democrat. I’m tired of them, the media & the Democrat Party telling us who we need to have in the finals.
If this writer is correct he is a hero. For now he is a kook.
I don’t think so. Its going to be one of the four running now.
I agree...which means a strong 3rd party ....because let's face it all it will take is only one party that is smart enough to run a strong pro-life, pro-2nd amendment anti-tax candidate to become a real power in American political life if the Republicans candidate is a blue dog dem.
Stupid party loses power stupidly by choice. A pure choice made by the Republican elite knowing full well it could destroy the party and cede power to the dems for a long time.
The Republican elites are about to create a real 3rd party that used to be what the Republicans stood for now that they have made the choice to become the old dems while the dems have become the communist party.
We are probably about to watch a real shift in the American political system thanks to country-club Republicans. There are too many of us out here that can not vote for Romney period whether due to morals, the constitution or taxes....Romney is a line some of us will refuse to cross for the party...and in my case a party I voted for since I could first vote...since Reagan.
“”Sheer fantasy.””
Yep!
Another Northerner with many problems that once conservatives find out about would not win the flyover country showing the stupidity of this article even if I did like the fantasy about Palin.
For once it would be nice if pundits actually took the time to look at the Republican base and see what wins historically...it is not a northern liberal Republican.
This election there is going to be a smart 3rd party that is tired of sitting on the sidelines dreaming of being in the big leagues...one that does look at our history and is smart enough to give the base what it wants if people do not get a clue quick.
No. If the convention is deadlocked it will be Jeb Bush who gets th nod.
Bellflower, you’re right and ultimately that “someone” must be the American people. Three years into Obama, almost half of them demonstrate only complacency and ignorance. We could have the greatest president in the world who wants to accomplish what you describe, but if Congress is not getting their butts royally kicked from their constituents (which takes them getting really fired up), then it doesn’t matter who is president. He can’t undo Obamacare, debt, executive orders, violations of the Constitution, Arab Spring, etc, without rigorous and united support. How could Obama even get elected? A nobody. Because people are stupid, and my fear is they shall remain so.
I am sick to death of people trashing Rudy. I live in NYC. What he did in NYC after Dinkins is nothing short pf a miracle and Bloomberg carried forward what Rudy did.
Rudy would have been a far better potus than McCain or GWB
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