TW: So Romney, Huckabee and Palin have started 2012 PACs. No one knows what the environment in 2012 will be. One of the challenges for the opposing party is motivating their truly big hitters to take on an incumbent. Given the ridiculously long process these days, the political environment can change far after the primary candidates stake their turf. How did we end up with John Kerry and Howard Dean as the Dems in '04? Things did not look so promising for a Dem in late 2002 and early 2003 (same concept opened the door for an unknown Bill Clinton in 1991 post Gulf War when G.H. Bush seemed unassailable). Would a Gore or Hillary Clinton have won in 2004, who knows?
The Republicans barring catastrophe will likely feel the same way come late 2010 and early 2011. Therefore, re-treads like Romney/Palin may be the likely candidates, a circular problem for the opposition. Nevertheless it has been awhile since we bashed Ms. Palin but fret not.
From Economist:
"And what of Ms Palin's chances? I have seen her interact with voters. She has huge appeal among a segment of the Republican base. After a rally of hers, one man told me that she was like Ruth—as in, from the Old Testament—that she was the last hope to save America. More often, I heard about how she was "just like me" from seemingly dozens of conservative women. She will definitely rile some folks in western Iowa. But, unless she surrounds herself with better advisers who can force her to learn more about national issues—and unless she learns to speak about them with fluency rather than dismissive ignorance—she will be little more than a high-profile, polarising also-ran. So far, she has done neither"
http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/01/palin_begins.cfm
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