Posted on 12/02/2006 9:47:29 AM PST by FloridianBushFan
Former Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating, in a recent lunch with veteran Republican political consultant Ed Rollins, explored the prospects of his making a run for president. Rollins replied that he should run only if he could raise a sufficient war chest.
Snip...
The rationale for Keating's presidential ambitions is the absence of a clear and viable right-of-center presidential candidate now that Sen. George Allen has been eliminated by his defeat for re-election in Virginia. Keating is a conservative and a prominent Catholic layman who at one time was a prospect to be George W. Bush's running mate in 2000.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
Each election cycle brings about new coalitions. There is nothing that says that the coalition built in 2000 and 2004 would be valid in 2008. Winning elections is about putting together winning coalitions.
Most electoral historians contend that Nixon actually won the election in 1960, by winning Illinois and Texas. Massive fraud in those states gave the election to JFK. Nixon figured it was better not to contest it, sit it out, and try another year.
Didn't we already have a Catholic pro-life President? ...elected 46 years ago! I wasn't aware that JFK was pro-abortion.
The better question is: Is the country ready for a REPUBLICAN Catholic pro-life President? Unfortunately, he'd have a hard time in today's climate. By today's Democrat standards, Kennedy is a right wing radical.
I hardly think Mr. Compassionate with other people's money guy is the best judge. His chance to prove himself is nearly over. It's time for someone new.
This RINO is a big fan of Coburn. Life is complex.
LOL. I've never read much about Gov. Keating, but the name does bring Keating Five to mind everytime I read it.
However, I will always think of McCain among the crooked group so don't count me as one of the morons.
Actually, Nixon was the moderate in the race. 1962 was initially to have been a showdown between former Gov. Goodie Knight, a liberal (and Nixon hater); Nixon from the middle; and Assemblyman Joe Shell (who had been gerrymandered out of his Assembly seat by the 'Rats) from the Conservative/Goldwaterite side. Knight dropped out due to poor health, leaving his equally liberal fmr. Lt Gov., Butch Powers to try to pick up the mantle, but he dropped out, too.
Shell ended up with 1/3rd of the primary vote, but the primary had been so divisive, Nixon was never able to patch the party together and Pat Brown, whom had been plagued by low approval ratings, managed to rally and win, by 52-47% (300k more votes). One of the biggest problems that Nixon faced with the voters was that most believed he was merely using the office to run for President in '64 rather than fully committing to the job.
I don't know if Shell is still alive, he'd be 87 if he was.
Here's an interesting (and long) article on the '62 race:
http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9797/9797.ch11.pdf
His mouth! Couldn't keep his mouth shut!
Certainly not! By "morons", I mean those "man on the street" people that Hannity and Leno interview who can't name the Vice President of the United States - - but vote anyway. Regular freepers (and people with a clue in general) are, unfortunately, a tiny minority compared to the massive, sound-bite-influenced voting rabble.
My worry about Bush is that he may end up giving tacit endorsement to McCain, and there is no way in hell I will vote for that nut, either in the primary or general. He'd inflict more damage to the party as President than any Democrat. The only thing positive thing I can say about Giuliani is on his active campaigning for our candidates (so at least he isn't a RINO in that regard, which Romney is after his screwing and stiffing of the MA GOP), although he's doing it to collect markers. But I still remember those days after the '94 election, sitting on a train leaving NYC staring at the commuters newspaper headlines musing whether Rudy was going to switch parties. Policy-wise, it's impossible to distinguish him on too many issues, and that would prove equally devastating to the party's fortunes for the short, and perhaps long, run.
The name of Dr. Coburn was brought up, but Coburn is probably too honest a person to be able to win. He's more than willing to tell the public what they DON'T want to hear, and the public, sadly, can't handle that.
I remember that primary. I am that old.
That's a dozen years before I was born (my half-sister was born that year, though).
I am from Oklahoma and about as conservative as you can get as well as Republican.
I would vote for Bill Clinton before I'd vote for Frank Keating. He is nothing but a politician and when the mandatory term limit on the Oklahoma Governorship hit he ran his wife for US Representative from the Tulsa district.
I wasn't too crazy over him before his wife ran for US Rep from the Tulsa District and after she was defeated the comments made me have no respect for him whatsoever.
All he was looking for was a ticket back to Washington.
The apparent heir to Bush is Rudy. Bush and Cheney will give indirect support to Rudy. Interestingly, GOP voters, who approve of Bush, like Rudy. Bloody RINOs, for some reason, like McCain, despite his pro-life record.
For me, I am undecided now. All the Rudy for President threads are pointless. He hasn't given any foreign and domestic polciies yet. I will sit and listen to the contenders.
I haven't found any dirt on Mike Johanns, the Secretary of Agriculture and a popular former Governor of Nebraska. He also meets all biographical criteria that history suggests we need to win:
* able to carry home state (Bush carried every county in Nebraska in 2004, and Johanns trounced his Democrat opponent 69-27 in 2002)
* first election as a statewide official or to Congress fewer than fifteen years ago [since 1993] (the mayor of Lincoln first ascended to the governorship in 1999);
* either a governor or a member of the President's Cabinet (Johanns qualifies under both; the former gives him important experience in running the massive structure of government, the latter in such federal issues as foreign policy)
* NOT A SENATOR (although redundant with the next preceding criterion, Senators almost always lose because they sound particularly boring and long-winded but lack charisma or convictions; President Bush will tell you that filibustering and flip-flopping skills only impede you in making many critical decisions quickly as commander-in-chief)
Johanns also possesses some critical advantages in preparing for the presidency: as Secretary, he has developed a network of foreign contacts and an understanding of global affairs without coming under withering media fire or getting intricately involved in the Iraq battle theater. He also can take credit for anything good for farmers in farm states, and rural media around the country probably possess a passing familiarity with him and regard him favorably.
Amen, Keating = carpetbagger, prime example being how quickly he latched onto a DC job after leaving the governorship.
Also, if your sig-line means you are a cop, check the blue line locker room scuttlebutt on Keating son Chip's short stint as an OHP trooper.
BTW, B.S. 12/77 OSU here.
Johanns is an interesting choice, but the record for Cabinet Secretaries ascending to the WH is few (only 2, both Republicans, since 1856: Herbert Hoover-Commerce; William Howard Taft-War, and both were considered failures as President), and he may be too obscure a dark horse for the position. Johanns' successor, Dave Heineman could be just as good a candidate. He was considered little more than a seat warmer for Congressman Tom Osborne, but with Osborne's implosion (and his running mate's (Kate Witek) insanity of switching to the 'Rats after she lost), he ended up a giant-killer (at least by Nebraska standards).
A couple notes:
Several secretaries of state ascended to the Presidency--notably James Madison, James Monroe, and John Quincy Adams.
Sitting vice-presidents who won the presidency through election include John Adams and Thomas Jefferson before the Twelfth Amendment and Martin van Buren and George Herbert Walker Bush Sr. after the amendment. Richard Milhous Nixon won the presidency eight years after leaving office as vice-president under Dwight David Eisenhower.
We need a serious Republican in the 2008 race who can win both the primary and the general election. McCain (a Senator) and Romney (from Massachusetts, cannot win his home state) simply cannot win. Giuliani has major issues: questionable popularity in New York, various marital problems, a socially liberal reputation, and a big-city image that might not appeal in the farm states.
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