32 GOP Presidential Choices? Nuts!

Posted on | January 16, 2014 | 146 Comments

by Smitty

Via the Examiner comes the news of 32 possibilities in a GOP.com straw poll.
(a) The next election is in 9 1/2 months, dudes. It’s both more important to focus on the next election, and to understand that how this November goes will inform what happens in 2016 in a major way.

(b) 32 names? Let’s bin them.

Yes:
– Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas
– Nikki Haley, South Carolina governor
– Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor
– Sarah Palin, former Alaska governor
– Mike Pence, Indiana governor
– Sen. Rand Paul, of Kentucky
– Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor
– Former Rep. Allen West, of Florida
– Rick Santorum, former Pennsylvania senator

Maybe:
– John Bolton, former ambassador to the United Nations
– Ben Carson, author and neurosurgeon
– Rick Perry, Texas governor
– Condoleezza Rice, former secretary of state
– Sen. Marco Rubio, of Florida
– Sen. Rob Portman, of Ohio
– Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina

No:
– Sen. Kelly Ayotte, of New Hampshire
– Haley Barbour, former Mississippi governor
– Chris Christie, New Jersey governor
– Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor
– Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor
– Susana Martinez, New Mexico governor
– John Kasich, Ohio governor
– Former Rep. Ron Paul, of Texas
– Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota governor
– Brian Sandoval, Nevada governor
– Sen. John Thune, of South Dakota

I will vote Libertarian:
– Jeb Bush, former Florida governor
– Rep. Peter King, of New York

Special mentions:
– Herman Cain, a radio host–Health concerns
– Newt Gingrich, former House speaker–Be an advisor, sir.
– Rep. Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin–You soiled yourself on the budget deal.

Category: GOP

Comments

146 Responses to “32 GOP Presidential Choices? Nuts!”

Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 4:12 pm

Fair enough. I do think Cruz doesn’t have enough credentials or experience, but I think a normal cabinet post would not be right. Maybe the head of a legislative affairs office either in the White House or one of the senior Cabinet departments if not VP.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 4:13 pm

The Vice-President is the President of the Senate and the Continuity of Government guy. He also allows the President to have a second person to go meet with important diplomatic personnel or attend funerals the President can’t or is unwilling to go to for whatever reason. While I agree it seems much more 5th wheel now, the role has a lot of clout and use if done right.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 4:15 pm

I can’t argue there. One reason I like him for SECDEF, too busy working to talk to the media.
Adjoran
January 16th, 2014 @ 4:26 pm

Sigh. Sometimes there is a clear frontrunner for the coming cycle, and often there is an incumbent. But more often than not, the nominee for an open seat will not be someone being prominently mentioned three years ahead of time. Here’s a partial list of years corresponding to 2013, three years before their election, and nominees that were not predicted three years out by conventional wisdom:

1949 – Eisenhower, Stevenson
1957 – Kennedy
1961 – Goldwater
1965 – Nixon, Humphrey
1969 – McGovern
1973 – Carter
1985 – Dukakis
1989 – Clinton
1997 – G.W. Bush (Jeb was more mentioned)
2005 – Obama

In addition, while Nixon was mentioned for 1960, and Reagan for 1980, and McCain for 2008 and Romney for 2012, none of these was a clear frontrunner three years out for the open nominations they won.

It’s always been an exercise in pure futility and speculation with the accuracy of a Krugman column. Of course, it’s great for the media because it gives them something to talk about besides the miserable failure of the incompetent Obama regime.
Shawny1
January 16th, 2014 @ 4:54 pm

I think she made the right choice for herself and for Alaska. But it left a hard perception to rally behind and this fight will be even tougher. The upside is she’s already been overly vetted by both sides. So there likely wouldn’t be any surprises and she continued to fight the good fight on the peoples side.
Ronald J. Ward
January 16th, 2014 @ 5:16 pm

Why not add a Orly Taitz/E.W. Jackson ticket?
I mean, considering seriousness is an aside anyways.
Art Deco
January 16th, 2014 @ 5:23 pm

Come again?

The Americans for Democratic Action attempted to recruit Eisenhower to challenge Truman at the 1948 Democratic convention. He was most certainly on short lists.

Kennedy was the runner up for the Vice Presidential nod at the 1956 Democratic convention. He was not that obscure to the politically attentive.

Goldwater was laying down some markers as early as 1960 with the publication of a political testament; as early as the spring of 1961, Pres. Kennedy supposedly looked at him during a meeting and said, “So, you want this f&@*ing job?”. Two of Goldwater’s four opponents (Nelson Rockefeller and Henry Cabot Lodge) were unremarkable for a that.

Humphrey was the sitting vice president in 1965 and a candidate in 1960. The reason his candidacy was ‘unanticipated’ is that Johnson would not have been term-limited in 1968.

Richard Nixon was practicing law in New York in 1965; if you consult an old Encyclopedia Year Book, you will see his was a name bruited about in 1963/64 as a possible candidate (along with George Romney).

George McGovern placed 3d at the Democratic national convention in 1968 as a parking spot for Robert Kennedy’s delegates. He managed also to alienate fewer people than Humphrey or McCarthy.

Obama was already being flogged in 2005, getting his insipid memoirs re-issued, &c.

—

Notable about the 1988 and 1992 Democratic contests is that only Jesse Jackson would have been anticipated to be a competitor and you would be hard put to find any political columnist wager on any of the prospects. Gary Hart’s observable support was considered shallow and ethereal (as it proved to be when the feces hit the wind-circulation device). If anyone was anticipated, it might have been Mario Cuomo, but Cuomo is an inner-directed man who finds God’s country in Queens and he wasn’t promising nuttin’.

—

The one person who came out of the blue and knocked-off a mess of anticipated candidates was Jimmy Carter.
Art Deco
January 16th, 2014 @ 5:43 pm

considering seriousness is an aside anyways.

Says the man whose ‘serious’ asides include such gems as ‘the Tea party is not a grass roots movement’.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 5:46 pm

Oh, Hellll no.

That comment does a disservice to both men.

Stockdale, a true American Hero, was thrust into a position he wasn’t trained for and had a horrible experience. Sadly, most people only know about his terrible debate and nothing else about the man.

West is as ready for Prime Time as any candidate in American history. He delivers barn-burner speeches, knows his history, and can debate extremely well.

His loss in Florida was not due to being a weak candidate. It was due to the GOP.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 5:56 pm

WTF does “I will vote Libertarian:” mean? You have Jeb Bush on that list. If he’s Libertarian, then the word has gone purely elastic.

Save some time and take off all of these names for wanting to make the Democrat party a permanent majority:
Rand Paul,
Scott Walker,
Marco Rubio,
Paul Ryan

Newt, Santorum, and Cain will not be running. They are done.

Tim Scott would be interesting, but has little name recognition and not enough time in office.

Ben Carson is a great man, but not a politician. If he works on that, and drops the Gun Control nonsense, then he’d have a chance. But the Gun Control thing kills his candidacy dead.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 5:58 pm

To whom? The man is extremely popular among the base, and he’s said very little that smacks of “gaffe”.
Old rod
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:05 pm

Right!
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:05 pm

Wow. I feel like this place has suddenly gone all “Hot Air” on me. I’m not even a conservative, but I can state that conservatives are not going to vote for any of the amnesty guys or anyone wanting to control guns.

Cruz is at the top of most conservatives minds right now, and would be a great candidate. West is a strong second or third, with Mike Pence, Mike Lee and Peter King often in the mix.

Everyone still holds out hope for a Palin candidacy, so she often comes in second in these unscientific online polls on conservative sites. I’m starting to doubt she’ll ever run again. But who knows?
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:07 pm

The “She Quitted” folks are Democrats. So who cares what they think?
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:09 pm

You like pointing this out, but you always forget that people do pay attention to the Hot Stove league of politics. It doesn’t make a candidacy, but it is a legitimate part of the process.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:10 pm

And that was because of his military background, and coming from a conservative state. Otherwise he wouldn’t have had a chance.

Good points, by the way.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:11 pm

Santorum isn’t so much “focused” on social issues, as he struggles to deflect the press from framing him as “the social issues guy”.

In other words, he’s fine until they set him up. Then he falls for it, every stinking time.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:13 pm

Not all. The host of the Internet Radio show I used to co-host loved her right up to that point. Even the Libertarian who was always iffy on her defended her on that. More than a few of her fans felt betrayed over her quitting.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:13 pm

Huck and Christie would be optimal. Especially if Hillary bows out.

But I think Smitty is wafting a list of Republican candidates here.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:16 pm

No, he is saying that if Jeb Bush is the nomine, he would vote for the Libertarians. A stance I strongly agree with btw.

I disagree with you on Walker, I think he could be great as President, though I would prefer he take over the Department of Labor first as I think he can be of more use to the country there.

And I agree with you on Carson. Secretary of Health and Human Services, not President. If anyone can unravel the Obamacare mess and give us something which both works and uses the free market price system to bring down costs, its him.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:18 pm

If you mean by “quit,” her choosing not to run in 2012, then you have a point. But only someone who is no ally of the Republican/Libertarian/Constitutionalist coalition ever bought the lie that she quit the Govenorship for any but the most correct of reasons.

“Sticking it out regardless” would have been a sign of pure, grade-A stupidity. Not to mention the damage she would have done to her family.

She did exactly the right thing by stepping down.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:21 pm

Oh, I am right there with you. The guy might have been the host of our radio show, but he was something of an idiot in a lot of ways and that was one of them. His reaction to her resignation from Governor of Alaska was ridiculous.

He was there in KC for the third Tea Party ever, and when he knew what he was talking about he was usually right on, but when he didn’t…

I always wanted to have a list of topics and research at hand, he would do it almost all on the fly with us looking up topics as we went. Guy spent more time during the week planning out the music for the breaks than actually paying attention to what is going on in the world.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:35 pm

Ahh, he was mailing it in, then.

Glenn Beck does that a lot. You can tell he’s unprepared by how much he just riffs on touchy-feely BS, instead of covering current events.

When he’s “on,” he’s very good. When he’s “off” he can be really bad.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:37 pm

Walker could indeed be a great President. Unfortunately his stance on illegal aliens means he’d also be the last Republican president.

Ever.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:46 pm

Remarkably successful at taking his Dad’s fortune and using that to help blow a lot of gas-baggery into scaring people over Global Warming.

He’s a con artist who never had to convince anyone with guile because leftists were primed by Bill and Hillary. Damned lucky is all he was.
rmnixondeceased
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:53 pm

Personally I’d be on board with a West/Carson ticket …
laura_PH
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:53 pm

I would vote Democrat before I’d vote Huckabee. (Not exaggerating. Not kidding. And I’ve only voted Dem one time in my life, and that was for Edwin Edwards.) I despise the Huckster with the heat of a thousand suns.
laura_PH
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:55 pm

It didn’t sail past them. They ignore it because it hurts the narrative.
M. Thompson
January 16th, 2014 @ 6:57 pm

Single elimination tournament, seeded, with more centrist members of the GOP against the more conservative ones.

It’s fights and the RNC can sell the TV rights to get the money.

Yes, I am joking here.
rmnixondeceased
January 16th, 2014 @ 7:13 pm

Nixon/Heston. Vote Dead Dick in 2916!
Ronald J. Ward
January 16th, 2014 @ 7:18 pm

The tea party isn’t a grass roots movement but rather one ochastrated by prominent right wing extremist, funded by corporate billionaires, and promoted with constant friendly free air time by Fox News at an opportune time to exploit the hatred of a black president in order to advance a Social Darwinism and Plutocratic agenda.

To think otherwise would be like thinking the likes of Palin or West or Bachman or such could actually win the White House without moving more to the center or without the help of those “establishment Republicans” and their big boy donors.

Sorry if reality sucks.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 8:08 pm

I still remember 2008, when he was on fire, and the Obamacare debate. Beck was really on then.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 8:09 pm

Then Secretary of Labor. Get this country 100% Right to Work, and get the economy roaring back. His experience as governor of Union Stronghold and his busting there would be useful.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 8:13 pm

As someone who helped launch the Tea Party here in KC, I can tell you there was no astroturfing involved. This was an idea whose time had come, and it was sparked by Rick Santelli’s rant.

Any chance you can give me the evidence for this idea you claim to be a justified true belief?
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 8:16 pm

Your right, he hasn’t. And most of his thinking out loud has been good stuff, he has a reliable self-edit button. And he is popular among the base as much for thinking out loud as for his speeches when he has the chance to groom them. But look at what Biden’s wandering mouth has done to Obama at times. As amusing as it has been to watch Carney have to spin his arguments, it can be a liability. Better safe than sorry.
K-Bob
January 16th, 2014 @ 8:27 pm

Heh.
Adjoran
January 16th, 2014 @ 8:29 pm

Gore’s money came from being given seats on the Boards of Google and several other tech companies after he lost in 2000. In those days, they paid most Directors in stock options because they didn’t have much cash. It turned out very well for Gore.
Adjoran
January 16th, 2014 @ 8:35 pm

Ike was recruited by both parties for 1948, but by 1949 he was President of Columbia and thought to be out of politics. Kennedy was a rising star for Democrats, but few thought he could win in 1960 back in ’57.

Goldwater and conservatives were not given any chance in most quarters in 1961. Rockefeller was the clear frontrunner for ’64 then. Nixon was thought to be completely out of politics, and only began traveling and raising money for GOP candidates again in ’66.

Ed Muskie was the overwhelming favorite and frontrunner for 1972 from the ’68 election, on until he melted down in New Hampshire in 1972.
Garym
January 16th, 2014 @ 9:11 pm

I love Walker, but he is a no-go over his stance on amnesty.
.
Garym
January 16th, 2014 @ 9:17 pm

That would definitely blow the gaskets on all the proggies minds.
Ronald J. Ward
January 16th, 2014 @ 9:42 pm

I’m unclear how you can possibly deny their funding. It really is a fact. And MediaMattter, like em or hate em, a Fox News critic, has archives of links and actual clips of Fox being favorable to the movement. Surely you don’t deny the these fundings are real or that Fox News hasn’t benefited the movement? And as one who helped launch the TP in your area, surely you’re aware of how Freedomworks and American For Prosperity played a huge role as well as where their funding came from?
This isn’t secret stuff.

But aside from my reasons of not fancying to the Tea Party, a TP candidate isn’t likely to take the WH because their views aren’t consistent with main stream or working Americans. And I’ll gladly argue my rationale but we’ve actually seen the decline of TP support from
polls as well as the 2012 elections.

Thanks for the polite and constructive rebuttal.
Ronald J. Ward
January 16th, 2014 @ 9:43 pm

Okay, now I know hyperlinks don’t work here.
Eric D. Mertz
January 16th, 2014 @ 10:19 pm

Of course the commentary personalities on FNC supported the Tea Party, they did so for the same reason the commentary personalities on MSNBC supported the Occupy Movement, it was a movement which aligned with their beliefs. FNC knows their audience is right of center, and when the rallies were occuring, it pumped their numbers up to do positive stories on the matter.

As to the presence of Americans for Prosperity and Freedomworks, their involvement came AFTER the start of the movement. With a new philosophical movement aligned with their beliefs, not supporting the movement would have been ridiculous. However, that does not prove the movement was astroturfed. The movement began as a number of unconnected protests scattered across the country spread by word of mouth, and began to grow together into a consolidated movement afterwards. It wasn’t until the movement was strong enough to avoid the “flash in the pan” derision that the real organization and funding flooded in. I still remember standing there with now State Rep. Grosserode at the first one in the area. It was my loud mouth and rabble rousing that kept people entertained.

None of us were paid to be there. I showed up because I was annoyed, and kept coming because I was having fun as a loud mouth getting people agitated. No one from the Koch Brothers or their advocacy groups were present. It wasn’t until the movement was firmly established that the organizations – other than Americans for Fair Taxation, but they show up EVERYWHERE – started really paying attention. It wasn’t until well after the blizzard march on Sen. McCaskill’s office that even the media started paying attention. Hell, the Nuns who had shown up to hand in an anti-Abortion petition had gotten more attention in the media than we did and we outnumbered them 7:1.
Art Deco
January 16th, 2014 @ 10:23 pm

Sorry you misplaced your thorazine.
The Daley Gator | So, how big WILL the GOP field be in 2016?
January 17th, 2014 @ 12:17 am

[…] Smitty comes up with 32 names, and groups them according to his level of interest/excitement. Me? I have to add my two cents here, but only for those candidates that evoke a real reaction. […]
Jason Lee
January 17th, 2014 @ 2:39 am

Yes: Cruz, Haley, Jindal, Pence.
Maybe: Walker, Paul, Perry
No: Palin, Ron Paul, Christie,
Would love to see in the debates: Tim Scott, Ben Carson (love him, but he’s politically naive), Allen West
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 2:41 am

It sure wasn’t business acumen that paid off.
K-Bob
January 17th, 2014 @ 2:42 am

West’s outspokenness is not a liability. It’s an asset.
Jason Lee
January 17th, 2014 @ 2:42 am

Whose turn is it? That’s who the GOP usually anoints. Christie? Daniels?
Oh, add Daniels to my “no” list.
Jason Lee
January 17th, 2014 @ 2:45 am

Is there anything we can do to make Walker seem less bland? I like him, but he seems like a dweeb. That matters to today’s electorate, unfortunately. I’m afraid that’s Jindal’s #1 problem too.