Free Republic

Tea Party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann is flirting with a run in 2012, but the GOP may not get a real shot at the White House until four years later. Mark McKinnon on why, dynasty issues aside, Bush will be a clear favorite. As the 112th Congress settles into its first week of work, political fireworks are already going off that could have a big impact on the presidential elections of 2012 and 2016. Michele Bachmann and Jeb Bush showed some leg this week and got many in the GOP steaming up. While the media fixates on a possible presidential...

You may recall Mark McKinnon as the Republican political strategist who worked to help John McCain win the 2008 GOP nomination, but then quit because he refused to campaign against Barack Obama. You may recall Mark McKinnon as the Republican political strategist who accused Rick Santorum of having “a lack of character.” You may recall Mark McKinnon as the Republican political strategist who in May 2009 told ABC News: “If the Republican party does not expand its tent, it’s going to turn into a circus, and it’s going to become a minority freak show that sort of features Rush Limbaugh...

I spent only a few hours with the former governor, helping to prepare her for the vice presidential debate in October 2008. And during that brief window, I saw Palin at one of her most vulnerable moments, when any result other than a complete train wreck seemed impossible. And yet I also saw a determined woman buckle down, recover her confidence and then storm the national stage where she more than held her own against a seven-term senator. Did she face some tough slogging to reach her remarkable perch? Sure, you betcha. I admire her tenacity, her verve, her moxie,...

There has been a not-so-subtle shift in the way the media regard Sarah Palin. The old conventional wisdom was that Palin was a washed out, brainless bimbo. The new conventional wisdom is that she is a potential President of the United States. Mark McKinnon, writing in the Daily Beast, thinks that Sarah Palin will run for President in 2012, but will likely be defeated. McKinnon states some very obvious reasons why Palin will run, from her fundraising acumen, to her creative use of media, both old and new, and the rise of the "Mama Grizzlies," a more picturesque way to...