I don’t believe Cain, West, Bachmann or DeMint has a prayer of being the nominee or the president. All good conservatives, but a first-term congressman, third-term congressman, a former pizza executive and a Southern white male senator are all poor picks for the GOP nomination. (A Southern white male senator who is a Democrat would be well positioned, to the contrary.)
Absolutely none of them have a whit of experience as an executive in government, which voters fairly look to as the best background for a president. Two of them have only run in a single (local) election, with one of them not even having made it out of the primary at that.
Cain is a good man whom I believe will flame out for his inability or unwillingness to address too many issues, other than saying he’d hire and listen to experts. West and DeMint likely won’t run.
None of them has been vetted in a national campaign before.
Bachmann has been supported and egged on by an Establishment looking to stop Palin, and for that doesn’t deserve an ounce of our support.
In another four years we would have lots of strong, seasoned, competitive GOP governors to consider. Right now Palin is IMO our only genuine, viable conservative choice. If she doesn’t run or do well, our best hope out of the mushy middle is Pawlenty.
That IMO is the hard reality of the 2012 race.
I agree with most of this. However, if Sarah Palin doesn't run, but backs any one of these other candidates instead, they instantly become electable. Having been a FredHead who was burned before, I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket again.