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?
there are plenty in the DC crowd who are searching for somebody to stop MITTSTER in New Hampshire. Pawlenty ... Daniels ... these are their answers. The ones who oppose MITTSTER and also oppose Palin are doubly panicked.
Gun Rights?
Abortion?
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Constitutional principles?
Family Values?
I am not seeing a deviation from core Conservative principles, bird man.
How com your delightful pro-CINO Duncan Hunter site has been scrubbed? Getting it ready to back Mitt Romney this go round?
Glad I could help you to end your night on a happy note!
“I can’t vote for Mitch Daniels. He’s too short.”
LOL we are voting for commander in chief, not best basketball hopeful.
Yep...late now, so good night.
Leave smiling as always, Sharky!
Is that right? Well, the Mittster has his backers in the DC crowd, too. NH is an odd primary state regardless and often goes off the rails, so I don't know what they're worried about?
NH allows open primaries, so demonicrats vote in the GOP primary. Hopefully, those fools will cast votes for Sarah Palin...lol.
Me too!
She’s got the exact same amnesty position as McCain. That’s conservative.
She scolded conservatives for opposing TARP. That’s a Reaganite for ya.
She begged the Senate to pass LOST over the entire conservative community’s uproar, and she didn’t know jack-sheet about it to boot. That was a rock ribbed move.
She was pimping McCain’s $300 billion homeowners bailout idea. An idea so ridiculous even Obama was mocking it. That was surely conservative.
She played the class warfare card with her ignorant rantings about “predatory lenders”. Buckley would be proud.
She is a “federalist” when it comes to abortion. Yet she is a wanna-bee dictator with national carbon caps. Go figger.
She’s a Title IX feminist cheerleader. A regular Phyllis Schlafly.
She bought into the hype that global warming is “real, and we have to do something about it”. A regular genius, I’d say.
She left Wasilla in the red.
I could go on and on.
Pissant is to be ignored on this subject. He’s one load short of shooting his tv.
However, I’ve seen other PDS people say she isn’t conservative. They are never specific.
She’s pro-life (very important to me)
pro drilling
pro low taxes
pro less intrusive government
I don’t remember anything specific she’s said about immigration or amnesty. Maybe it’s something there. But ‘they’ never say.
Pissant is to be ignored on this subject. He’s one load short of shooting his tv.
However, I’ve seen other PDS people say she isn’t conservative. They are never specific.
She’s pro-life (very important to me)
pro drilling
pro low taxes
pro less intrusive government
I don’t remember anything specific she’s said about immigration or amnesty. Maybe it’s something there. But ‘they’ never say.
Now, I get it lol. Pretty good
Let Sarah hack OBummer to pieces
Odd, very odd considering your current twisted views ace.
Perhaps you went insane and don't realize it......Yet.
“Sarah has been vetted by many freepers. She ain’t a conservative.”
Hahahahaha. And the links to this are????????????
Well, it didn’t help because it was just you saying she was for amnesty with nothing specific to back it up and a bunch of other people arguing with you saying she isn’t.
I get that illegal immigration is the big issue for you.
I live in Texas. It’s a big issue for me also.
But that thread you sent me to was same old, same old.
That lasted about a month or so. Until she kept talking and I researched her record.
Actually, what he means to say is that PDSrs have been spouting the same half-truths, lies, misrepresentations etc..for over 2 years and it’s been refuted ad nauseum.
zzzzz
Just rember piss changes colors and odors based on what you eat.
Can you read direct quotes from Palin? That’s what they were.
Longer than that little Ace ;^)
Read up on LOST sometime for starters.
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