The Republican nomination race

Republicans have a big problem with these presidential candidates.
Romney is a Morman and people will not vote for him. Two were defeated in Delaware. They are preseved to be against women and occultist. I am just saying what I have noticed that's it.

is that a Liz Phair reference I detect in the last sentence?
"it's nice to be liked but it's better by far to get paid ... you have got to have shitloads of M-O-N-E-Y"

@nschomer, "I heard a dark horse candidate the other day on NPR, Gary Johnson (former New Mexico Gov)."

NPR would say that.

"It's a shame, though, the republican party used to have plenty of these types of candidates."

The GOP still has Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, and Mark Kirk. And that's just the Senate. Who was the last socially liberal Republican presidential nominee though? Goldwater?

Mitch Daniels not running is a non-event. He is in the same league as Huntsman: The "play nice" league. Obama's team will call any criticism racist. This "play nice" mindset will avoid criticizing Obama just because of that. A gentleman carrying a dueling-pistol isn't going to win in a gang shoot out. We will be dealing with politics Chicago Style with a Chicago Community Organizer. Expect it to be down and dirty. Remember what Obama said: (his exact words) "if they bring a knift, we will bring a gun." These "play nice" folks did not comprehended what Obama means when he calls the Republicans (his exact words) "the enemy."

Right now, the team I prefer most is Cain+Bachmann with either one heading the ticket. If Romney commits to repealing Obama Healthcare Destruction Act in a forceful manner, I would like him better. (He did, but not as forceful as I like.)

Anyone of these will be very exciting for most Republicans, particularly the Tea Party wing:
Herman Cain + Bachmann (or reverse), Bachmann is not yet a candidate but expected.
Romney + Bachmann (or reverse).
Bachmann + Alan West (she can select a non-candidate as VP).
Romney + Alan West.
Bachmann + Trump.
(Cain, Romney, Bachmann, or Pawlenty) + Jindal (or reverse)
Jindal or Rick Perry (both not yet in) + (Cain, Romney, Bachmann, Alan West).

Very nice team shaping up. We will see how it shakes down in the months to come.

roryt:

Perhaps. But it still doesn't add up to hf howard's glowing description of achievement.

@rewt66

That looks like a dead Bin Laden better than two-term President George Bush

hf howard:

Obama may well win (the potential challengers seem very underwhelming). But "The BHO administration has amassed too great a track record of successes for anyone in the GOP to overcome"? Hardly. There's health care (not regarded as a positive by much of the country), and getting Bin Laden. And what else? Your average voter won't be able to name anything else.

I'm waiting for Michael Bloomberg to log in and tell all you mean commenters to shut-up about Daniel's alleged shortness!

Mitch Daniels made the right move. The BHO administration has amassed too great a track record of successes for anyone in the GOP to overcome. My offer still stands to take the money of anyone who wants to bet against BHO in the 2012 election. Noone has come forward yet.

Who had the best weekend in American Politics? That would be Barak Obama. With Daniels out, it looks like smooth sailing to a second term.

To beat the sitting president, the GOP nom would have to ride a wave of national dissatisfaction and desire for change. With unemployment, gas prices, etc. the GOP can count on the wave, but none of the current canidates have the balance of excitement/acceptability neccessary to catch it. Bachman, Santorum, Paul all have the wing nut bona fides to prove they are "authentic change agents" but would also cause a stampede of terrified independents to Obama. Then we have Romney and T-Paw, either of whom could very well win the nomination only to loose in a painfully bland contest a la John Kerry.

No matter how much money Mit raises, it won't be as much as the Obama machine. And no matter how casual he dresses, it won't change the fact that people simply don't like him. Bill Burton and other Dem opperatives can't wait (literally) to get at some of those Romney negatives (flip flopper, disingenuous, looks like that slimey boss you hate). As for T-Paw, he is obviously running a super safe, ofend no one campaign. And since he apparently goes to an Evangelical Mega Church, people might just realize who he is before election day. T-PAW could probably win the nomination simply by being a viable alternative to the terribly flawed Mr. Romney. But then what? You would have a loaf of wonder bread running against an extremely well-funded, incumbant President who, least we forget, is a not a bad politician and seems highly motivated by self preservation.

So capturing the Senate looks like an increasingly appealing plan B for the GOP.

I heard a dark horse candidate the other day on NPR, Gary Johnson (former New Mexico Gov). Iron man triathlete, impeccable anti-tax credentials, maybe a little too socially libertarian to pull much weight with today's republican party though. It's a shame, though, the republican party used to have plenty of these types of candidates.

Obama is gonna win again, no way any of these candidates wins the presidency. Daniels was the one possible candidate who seemed sane and smart. Mitt Romney will NEVER be POTUS!!! he's too white, too rich, too identified with hereditary politics and too Mormon (yes, unfortunately that is a problem for too many people. And quite frankly, I couldn't tell you a signle trully smart thing he's proposed.

I really hope some dark horse candidate comes up.

I will be eligible for the Presidency in 2020, assuming that a Florida birth makes one a "natural born citizen." We can finally face our height demons then, and elect an exceptionally short man to be President.

Would Americans have voted for a man of Daniels's height?

Had television been as prominent in 1932 as in 1972, would Americans have voted for a man who needed physical support to stand up?

Strange that these seem, intuitively, much bigger handicaps than a lack of intelligence.

I am with Bamps and TV in general. But to me it looks like Romney just really really wants to be president, a couple of the others don't really think they are going to win but there are benefits from running. But for a guy like Daniels it is more like he is an engineer watching a runaway train. He can run after it and make a death-defying leap onto the caboose and maybe, or maybe not, fight his way past the lunatics, the speed freaks, and the sizable group in his own party that think if God had meant us to ride trains he wouldn't have given angels wings and so the train wreck is necessary, to make it to the engine in time to fix and put on the breaks. Or he can just sit it out, blame the Democrats, and try, or not, to pick up the pieces in 2016.

Good move for Daniels, but bodes ill for the US.

Michael Dunne

No those aren't at all deal breakers - after "Didn't Inhale", "Haven't Committed Any Felonies, on US Soil, Recently," "Did a Little Blow Sometimes, When I Could Afford It", the illegal drug use problem has kind of faded, I think.

She came back and they have been married a long time now, so you'd have to be pretty nuts to find too much fault. At most Ms Daniels might have to find a Reverend Somebody to get up in front of the cameras and repent with.

And Reagan said deficits don't matter, except in Democratic administrations, so Daniels just has to promise to win and then the problem's solved...

So long as we keep the primary system, no sane Republican has a prayer.

We need a few regionally-diverse primaries in small states, where people can look the candidates in the eye, hear what they have to say, and get to ask them questions. I'm for relying on state and national conventions. Corrupt pols, left to themselves, will always act to benefit the goose laying golden eggs. The toll they charge is trivial compared to the benefits for most of us of their realism and practicality. The loonies who dominate primary elections only care about what makes them loony. The one-issue voter has done terrible damage to politics in America.

Tim Pawlenty may have cleared Garrison Keillor's "above average" threshold years ago, but now he's just average. He's a finger-in-the-wind politician who Minnesota barely elected governor -- and only by plurality -- twice. Witness his brief foray into global warming when those winds were blowing strong among the general electorate. Now he's Mr. anti-Obamacare. His only claim to GOP fame is "no new taxes." Surely Republicans can do better than Pawlenty, whose lack of inspirational leadership is matched only by his lack of proposing any compelling conservative public policy the last eight years. The biggest mystery is why big GOP donors are writing big checks to this -- in Nate Silver's dead-on word -- "unremarkable" candidate.

So... The budget is legislated through congress. The House passed a budget in April. The President gave a prime-time speech criticizing it. The Senate has done nothing all year with no budget plan of their own. And, the President has not yet saved this country from imminent implosion when the Treasury Secretary's debt-default doomsday scenario is realized on August 2nd, the new Rapture date.

@TV, I have a feeling Daniels is fudging. I think he's closer to 5'5".