Yet.
I’m a social conservative. I’m looking for the candidate who can win, and I’m not convinced that Bachmann is that candidate.
I am convinced she is our worst candidate (other than Romney and the soon to be departed Gingrich), there are better ones that have declared already, and I would be surprised if neither Perry nor Palin jump in.
That said, if she were the nominee, I would vote for her.
I totally agree. I just hope it doesn't come to that.
I think the article is explaining why so many so cons are holding back, they are waiting for a better alternative than Bachmann. She has been great as a congresscritter, but congresscritters simply are bad candidates for a number of reasons.
The last member of the House to win the presidency was James Garfield, a long, long time ago, and, iirc, he won because of his Civil War veteran status.
I’m sure there are reasons why House members do poorly, but I’d suspect it has to do with the relatively small size of House districts and the inability of House members to gather a significant human or financial base. I’d also guess that they will be viewed as having relatively little broad experience and near zero executive experience.
Those might be unfair evaluations, but that wouldn’t stop an opponent from using such an argument.
I would happily vote for Bachmann, knowing that I’ll be entertained as we go to a crashing defeat. I vote based on how good a President I think they’d be and she’s still my 3rd choice on that basis. I’m taking a 2nd look at Santorum.
Downsides
Bachmann - has gay issues that would hurt
Santorum - has gay issues that could hurt. Picked Specter over Toomey.
Palin - picked McCain over Hayworth. picked Perry over his opponents
One bad pick dooms Santorum? Palin made 2 (at least). Who cares, doesn’t really matter.
Santorum does deserve a 2nd look. He has a MBA and a JD.
(A lot of em do, actually) Solid, state great, but not elite schools. If 100% Socon, in the case of Bachmann, can be tea party, so can Santorum.
If an awful globalist like Perry can pretend to be tea party, so can Santorum, Pawlenty, Johnson and a whole bunch of em. Maybe even Gingrich, but that might be too much.
Gingrich can say, though, very sincerely, and accurately, that the Contract with America was the 1994 version of the 2010 tea party.