Posted on 12/02/2010 7:47:53 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Though Pence says he won’t decide on whether or not to run for president until next year, conservative leaders I spoke to were equally as bullish on Pence.
Chris Chocola, president of the powerful fiscally conservative Club for Growth tells me Pence may benefit from being less well known, and less of a lighting rod than Palin. He also notes that “[Pence's] conservative credentials are really unquestionable.”
“[Pence] appeals to every group that Palin appeals to — and probably a little more,” says Chocola.
“Pence is Palin with gravitas. Pence is Palin with experience,” adds Brent Bozell, chairman of For America.
Regarding experience, FreedomWorks Chairman Dick Armey says of Pence: “He’s been a rock solid fiscal conservative, showing up not only for the high profile TARP and ObamaCare battles, but also championing issues that are maybe less glamorous politically, but are critically important for our country, such as fundamental tax reform, specifically the flat tax.”
I’ve written about this a bit before. The guy who’s usually mentioned as the threat to Palin is Huckabee, of course, because they’d compete for social conservatives. But establishment Republicans dislike Huck almost as much as they do Sarahcuda, as he’s ever eager to remind us. So imagine for a moment that you’re Karl Rove, nervously weighing the possibility that one of those two will be the nominee. You can try to head them off by pushing Romney or Daniels or Thune, but then you run the risk of a pure “centrists vs. the base” primary — and because the base tends to be more motivated to turn out, they’d have the upper hand. The alternative is to try to coopt part of the base by backing a compromise candidate instead, someone who might be more fiscally and/or socially conservative than the establishment would prefer but who would peel off base voters from Huck and Palin and would stand a better chance of appealing to centrists against Obama. That’s Pence. He’s got 10 years of legislative experience, he’s deeply respected by fiscal cons and social cons, he gives a good speech, and he’s less ostentatious about “values” than Huckabee is so he runs a smaller risk of alienating moderates in the general election.
What he doesn’t have is name recognition, and he’ll need to catch up on that in a hurry to have a serious chance against Palin and/or Huck. Which makes me wonder if, in the next few months, we aren’t about to see a serious public pro-Pence push among people like Rove and other GOP chieftains. I’ve been assuming that we’d see that on Daniels’s behalf, but between his gaffes about calling a truce on social issues and the calculus I described above about needing base voters to win, maybe Beltway types will give up on him as a lost cause and back Pence, the other Hoosier, instead. The big question is whether he’s willing to run for president now or if, as rumored, he’s thinking of running for governor first with an eye to 2016. He’d be a formidable candidate then too, especially with some executive experience under his belt: None of the obvious contenders — Christie, Rubio, Jindal — are especially closely identified with social conservatism, so Pence could clean up. Still, that’s a tougher field than 2012 would be, so maybe GOP insiders could persuade him to go for the big prize now by promising to back him. Honestly wouldn’t surprise me. Exit question: Would it work?
Update: A commenter reminds me that Palin said she won’t run if no other satisfactorily conservative candidate steps up. Well, by virtually any measure, Pence would qualify as satisfactory. Is that reason enough for the establishment to try to push him into the race — to call Palin’s bluff on that promise?
....bonk!
:-)
I’d be proud to strongly support Mike Pence, or Sarah Palin, plus a few others.
They are both like a breath of fresh air, and social conservatives, and strongly conservative in every way.
Bonk!
LOL
Pence is a solid conservative. IMO, his tallest hurdle is that no sitting congressman has been elected president since Garfield in 1881.
There have been 17 presidents who were members of the House of Representatives, but most of them served as senators or governors after leaving the House and before becoming president. Garfield is the only one to go straight from the House to the White House. He was one of only three Congressmen to even run for president as sitting House members. the other two were Henry Clay and John Anderson, both of whom lost.
Lincoln was elected president after having served in the Congress, but that was 12 years after he left the House.
Madison was also elected president after having been a U.S. Congressman, but he served 8 years as Secretary of State between the House and the White House.
- JP
I need to hear Kate Gosselin’s opinion about this.
I need to hear Kate Gosselin’s opinion about this.
No. She’s not that either. She’s a finger in the wind populist.
TARP, $300 Million homeowners bailout, Title IX, blaming “predatory loans” for the economic collapse, LOST, Amnesty, Carbon Caps, global warming.
They are desperate for someone to emerge and give Palin a fight
ROTFLOLOLOLOL.
Experience in earmarks!
So there.
....bonk!
Am I worried that the Dems are going to cross over and vote for Sarah Palin in the 2012 primaries, because they think she’s easy to beat? Actually, I’m counting on it...the idiots.
I love Pence...
Palin/Pence is fine with me lol.
But, what is instructive here, is that the Establishment supporters are starting to figure out they can’t beat Palin. So, now they are trying to find somebody who is kinda like Palin.
It’s hilarious.
“He represented a “district”, not a State.”
You seem to think that the ‘State’ is vastly different than the ‘district’.
Sure, there are a lot of differences, but population is not one of them. He represents nearly as many people as live in Alaska.
“This candidatate is just like the one you like.”
“No. He isn’t.”
Rich, I meant that I’m worried the rats are going to vote in the GOP primaries for one of Sarah’s opponents in an attempt to deny her the nomination.
it would be unusual for 2 candidates from the same state to jump in. Indiana contributors and party establishment would be unwilling to support 2 campaigns.
So if Gov Daniels is a go, then I don’t think Pence will run. But somehow I think he will get a better response than Pawlenty in IA and NH. Is there any indication that T-Paw has been creating any kind of following in the early states? Seems like he’s caught on like a lead balloon.
It really has come to that point, hasn't it? I knew we'd all laugh about this one day - I just never expected it to come so soon.
....bonk!
Bonk or bong or would that make a person passive and happy?
BONK is more like it.
Stubborn and stupid...lol.
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