Posted on 09/23/2014 9:29:36 AM PDT by Ooh-Ah
He Helped Found the Tea-Party Caucus in Congress, and Now Leads a State With Booming Economy
With Washington's reputation lurking in used-car-salesmen territory, there will be a wide lane in the 2016 presidential campaign for governors with records built outside the national capital.
On the Republican side, the list of potential contenders already includes New Jersey's Chris Christie, Wisconsin's Scott Walker, Louisiana's Bobby Jindal, Texas' Rick Perry and a prominent former governor, Florida's Jeb Bush.
Now, grass-roots conservatives are seeking to add another governor's name to that list of 2016 possibilities: Indiana's Mike Pence.
The Hoosier chief executive isn't as well known nationally, and some will question whether his record is too far right to be a plausible general-election candidate. But he's generating a small groundswell, particularly among social-policy activists, some of whom think Mr. Pence hits the sweet spot for 2016.
He is reliably conservative on fiscal and social policies, and rose to a position of power in Washington, where he led the conservative Republican Study Group in the House of Representatives and helped found the tea-party caucus. Yet he deployed a more soothing style and wasn't as polarizing as some House conservatives. He once hosted his own radio talk show and referred to himself as "Rush Limbaugh on decaf."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
From Wikipedia:
His Committee assignments in the U.S. House included: Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Middle East and South Asia (Vice Chair), Judiciary, Subcommittee on the Constitution (Vice Chair), and Subcommittee on Intellectual Property, Competition, and the Internet. While in Congress he belonged to the Congressional Internet Caucus, International Conservation Caucus, Sportsmen's Caucus, and the Tea Party Caucus.
Pence would be a great candidate. Wonder if he can attract the money?
Mike Pence happens to be the candidate we should have had in 2012 but he didn’t run.
He’s insufficiently moderate for the GOP establishment which is why he won’t get the presidential nod.
He’s a great conservative candidate which, of course, means the “GOP establishment” will fight him tooth and nail.
Gov. Mike Pence Draws GOP Presidential Attention:
Local democrat hack prosecutor commencing investigation of Mike Pence for signing a bill into law in 3, 2, 1. Oh, and if it isn’t some local hack, count on Eric Holder stepping in to fill the shoes.
When Pence left Congress to run for Governor I remember thinking that he is really just starting his run for the Presidency. We haven’t seen much of Mike Pence lately but at the time I was crossing my fingers and hoping that he might just make a run for it in 2016 or 2020.
It would nice to get a FreeperView of how he doing as the Governor of Indiana. Is he still as conservative as he was in congress? Should he be our guy to go up against the GOPe in 2016?
MIKE PENCE 2016!!!
There are several out there I would be happy to support. He is definitely one of them.
I have been for him in the past, and I will support him again.
Pence is Governor here in Indiana. I like MIke, but he is not the forceful Governor as Mitch Daniels was. Daniels came in a beat the dems out of the gate. Pence is rather quiet. He also wasn’t great on immigration.
Pence got rid of Common Core, but it was replaced by something equally as bad. Another thing he has done is in increase people on government healthcare.
I am not sure Pence has any involvement, but there is a push for prekindergarten here too.
Pence worries me.
My understanding is he’s done great for Indiana with the exception of some issue with common core. Something like he took it out, but then had a committee that instituted the same basic thing without input from anyone else. I’d be ok with him though.
That’s the right question to ask, and we know the GOP elite controls the money and influences which candidates receive it. So in other words, I expect Pence will be no more than one of the guys standing on the state in the primary debates if he chooses to run.
I like him but doesn’t he have some amnesty stands he took in the past?
Pence is riding the wave of Mitch Daniels. Mitch is the candidate we want.
If he’s in, I’m in.
I would vote for him before any of the retread RINO’s being bantered about, but a Cruz or Palin type would get my vote first.
Jeff Sessions seems to be the proven constitutional conservative, who's stood firm in DC. Steve Forbes would be great for the economy. The US just might be ready for a little-bit-nerdy, qualified, proven, and determined team.
Pence was a great congressman and is extremely well spoken. Daniels was a good governor, but he’s a short bald guy with no charisma. Also, he squishes out too easily in hard ball politics. I like the guy, but he’s showed on several occasions, he is not viable national candidate.
Pence hasn’t been governor long enough to give him a definitive grade. He’s done more good than not. I am comfortable with him nationally because he’s been good at national politics for years. I was always hoping he’d end up Speaker, but he clearly went the route of gaining executive experience for a reason.
Mitch is a great executive. Smart and organized and well educated. He probably would have been a good President. The opposite of Obama.
He had exec experience prior to being Governor. He is at Purdue now. Libs up there give him a hard time. But he doesn’t flinch. He won’t run because his family doesn’t want it.
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