Posted on 05/19/2011 5:18:29 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Which GOP presidential candidate will benefit the most from Mike Huckabee’s decision not to run in 2012? Democrats (103 votes)
Tim Pawlenty: 26% Mitt Romney: 18% Michele Bachmann: 13% Mitch Daniels: 12% Rick Santorum: 7%
Also receiving votes: Newt Gingrich, 6%; “to be determined,” 4%; Jon Huntsman, 3%; Sarah Palin, 3%; “no one,” 3%; Ron Paul, 2%; Terry Branstad, 1%; “everyone,” 1%; Bachmann and Palin, 1%; Bachmann and Santorum, 1%.
Pawlenty
“The field of social conservatives with a realistic chance to get nominated is getting pretty small.”
“Huckabee’s withdrawal opens up Iowa for next-door neighbor Pawlenty. The only route to the nomination for Pawlenty is through Iowa.”
“I’ve long thought that Pawlenty is the blank slate—like Obama was in 2008, albeit without the charisma—upon which Republican primary voters can sketch the image of their nominee. Pawlenty is already moving to give Huckabee Christian right voters that opportunity.”
“He’s beginning to look like the legendary tortoise.”
Romney
“GOP may put ad on Craigslist for presidential candidates.”
“When Mitt Romney’s blinding $10 million day is leading headlines—$40 million this quarter? Not sure how anything else matters right now.”
“There aren’t that many options left for a GOP primary voter looking for a candidate who isn’t a complete nut job.”
Bachmann
“The Christian conservative coalition in Iowa would rally around her, the same way they did for Huckabee in 2008.”
“She’s the only other one who believes Fred Flintstone actually did have a pet dinosaur.”
Daniels
“It’s beginning to look like a draft movement, and that is always a good way to enter a race.”
“Romney’s Mormonism probably prevents him from winning much, if any, of the evangelical support.”
Santorum
“God told Mike Huckabee not to run. God will tell a lot of his supporters to vote for Rick.”
Which GOP presidential candidate will benefit the most from Mike Huckabee’s decision not to run in 2012? Republicans (104 votes)
Tim Pawlenty: 37% Mitt Romney: 15% Michele Bachmann: 13% Mitch Daniels: 8% Rick Santorum: 8%
Also receiving votes: Newt Gingrich, 5%; “to be determined,” 3%; Herman Cain, 2%; Ron Paul, 2%; “no one,” 2%; Huckabee, 1%; Jon Huntsman, 1%; Roy Moore, 1%; “all of them,” 1%; Daniels and Huntsman, 1%; Romney and Daniels, 1%; Romney, Pawlenty, and Bachmann, 1%.
Pawlenty
“He becomes the alternative to Romney.”
“Will benefit the most since he fills the faith niche most readily; Bachmann could also benefit, but Pawlenty will move quickly.”
“Takes away the biggest challenge in Iowa, [where] he must do well.”
“He really doesn’t have any political skills to speak of, but he’s the closest thing to a plausible candidate with social-conservative credentials.”
“The boring quotient of the current field just went up; Huck battling Mitt would’ve been highly entertaining.”
Romney
“The evangelical vote that was ‘stuck on Huck’ will now split among Bachmann, Pawlenty, and Santorum: Advantage Romney.”
“Getting rid of a high-profile rival only helps the front-runner.”
“He now has a chance to win Iowa, and Pawlenty’s hopes end if he loses there.”
Bachmann
“She is the real Sarah Palin and, with Huck out, the odds-on favorite to win Iowa. The GOP establishment will go into N.H. in full retreat.”
“Bachmann has the best chance to the space Mike Huckabee carved out: Populist economic rhetoric with a heavy dose of ‘I’m just like you.’ ”
Daniels
“Daniels seems only interested if his odds of winning the nomination are over 50 percent, and Huckebee being out probably puts him over that threshold.”
Santorum
“He will receive some votes, but his inability to raise money will not allow him to capitalize on it fully.”
How do you feel about Donald Trump’s decision not to seek the presidency in 2012? Democrats (101 votes)
Surprised: 0% Relieved: 4% Disappointed: 21% Never thought he would run to begin with: 73%
Also receiving votes: “disappointed but never thought he’d run,” 1%; “who cares,” 1%.
Relieved
“With the side show over, we can get down to discussing Republican budget attacks on seniors, children, and the infirm.”
Disappointed
“Was hankering for a Post headline: ‘Iowa to Trump: You’re Fired!’ ”
“Trump’s decision reduces the wacky-candidate factor by one, but the wacky-candidate decibel level by a hundred.”
“We have lost the reality-show version of presidential elections.”
Never thought he would run
“Always thought it was for May sweepstakes—it worked.”
“He wanted PR, not the responsibility of governing. To paraphrase what Marion Barry once said of a political rival, ‘The Donald don’t want to run nothin’ but his mouth.’ ”
“The guy’s a fraud, and any political reporter who actually ever believed he was going to run should request a reassignment to entertainment news.”
“Sooner or later, reality had to ‘trump’ reality TV.”
“Trump’s ‘run’ for the White House was a P.T. Barnum ‘There’s-a-sucker-born-every-minute’ moment for the national press corps.”
“Trump got a dose of hardball at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner and showed he is uniquely unqualified to be a public official.”
“Says something about the state of the Republican field and of media coverage that he was taken so seriously to begin with.”
“He would never put up with the scrutiny.”
How do you feel about Donald Trump’s decision not to seek the presidency in 2012? Republicans (103 votes)
Surprised: 3% Relieved: 14% Disappointed: 3% Never thought he would run to begin with: 81%
Surprised
“Though it’s always about him, it looked like all the signs were there.”
Relieved
“He detracted from the serious debate.”
“One less clown should make it seem less of a circus.”
Disappointed
“Now we only have Gingrich for entertainment value.”
Never thought he would run
“Every journalist and editor who produced stories treating him as a serious candidate for president should be ashamed.”
“This was always a publicity stunt by a master at self-promotion. That it dominated the media for a fortnight said more about the press’s celebrity obsession than anything else. It was also perhaps a commentary on how weak the Republican field seems to be right now.”
“This has never been anything but a ratings game for Trump.”
“He does this every four years. This year he caught lightning in a bottle because of the birther issue.”
“The only things missing from Trump’s whole act were the big red nose and the floppy shoes.”
“It was real, as he reached out to top operatives. But the financial disclosure would have exposed his shaky finances.”
“The guy is a businessman, and he can do math: Bottom line, he was completely unelectable.”
__________________________
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Lord knows I like her and think she will be an asset to the ticket at either spot. It takes Money, Time and More importantly people to set up HQ in the states she need to win in the Primary.
I think you’re grossly underestimating Sarah Palin’s support!
I wonder how the power players are going to feel when she is their leader! Poor Peggy Noonan.
I predict that if she does declare, the campaign will be made up of volunteers like myself, so there will be little need for office space and all the conventional trappings of a campaign like a Bob Dole, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney would have. I have a computer and a phone, that’s all I need to raise that $2 million dollars. Just imagine if 10-20 million 2ndDivisionVets spring up, as if by magic. It’ll make the Obama or Ron Paul zealots look like Astroturf!!
Time will tell my FRiend.
Try some Bactine.
They admitted that they removed Palin because she was getting most of the votes.
What a joke!
FReepmail!
At first I thought the story was about "...not one GOPer mentions Palin..." But then I see "Democrats (103 votes)."
Who is this piece about: Palin and the GOP; or Palin vs the GOP and Democrat political insiders?
People all over the country are praying for her, and she's good with it.
She's just not sure if the shield will protect her family if she throws her hat in the ring.
Cheers!
The next leader of America will be sought, supported and elected only because America is absolutely and completely ticked off of the anti-christian standpoints of the Obama regime.
Who even has a fraction of true christian values that is in the GOP pool? Of course Michelle Bachmann comes to mind but to many her mettle has not been tested so to speak such as which has occurred to Sarah Palin.
Traditionalists never bet on the long shots at the horse races, they know a real race horse and the will make the bets accordingly.
I predicted this very thing several times, I said they are/would push Michelle Bachmann ahead of Sarah Palin. Sure they have Pawlenty ahead, but this outfit just missed the memo, it`s MB they are mostly pushing....
This was what I had said on another thread, It`s coming true
....However we are going to see I believe a real push for Michelle Bachmann by the NYTIMES/MSM/FOX/POLLSTERS over the next few months prior to Sarah entering the race.
I believe this will start very soon if it has not started already. The goal of all the MSM I mentioned is to try and push MB above Palin in popularity. This is their main goal in life I believe.
I just hope people do not buy into it, because MB is not up to the task, and quite frankly she is annoying me.
So the MB push has begun,mostly pushed by the MSM. I think that MB loses her credibility just by the fact that she thinks she could run against Sarah Palin and win, the idea that she would even consider running against Sarah at all, shows me she is made of the wrong stuff.
Yes she has the right to win, no question about it, just as the Muslims have a right to build a mosque at ground zero...HEAVY SARCASM
However we are going to see I believe a real push for Michelle Bachmann by the NYTIMES/MSM/FOX/POLLSTERS over the next few months prior to Sarah entering the race.
I believe this will start very soon if it has not started already. The goal of all the MSM I mentioned is to try and push MB above Palin in popularity. This is their main goal in life I believe.
I just hope people do not buy into it, because MB is not up to the task, and quite frankly she is annoying me.
So the MB push has begun,mostly pushed by the MSM. I think that MB loses her credibility just by the fact that she thinks she could run against Sarah Palin and win, the idea that she would even consider running against Sarah at all, shows me she is made of the wrong stuff.
Yes she has the right to run, no question about it, just as the Muslims have a right to build a mosque at ground zero...HEAVY SARCASM
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