Downsizing the GOP's slate of 2012 contenders

Thune, Daniels and Barbour, oh my!
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John Thune made it official yesterday: he's not running for president in 2012:

"... I feel that I am best positioned to fight for America’s future here in the trenches of the United States Senate."

Mitch Daniels did not issue such a statement, but he made it clear yesterday that he's not a serious contender for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination. Dan Spencer summed it up succinctly via Twitter:

"I've said it before ... I've had it with Mitch Daniels from abortion to VAT to defense cuts and now right-to-work."

Jim Geraghty is also disappointed in Daniels:

I had been open-minded about Daniels’ “truce” talk — no matter how much a Republican presidential candidate talks about the importance of social issues, 75 to 90 percent of the president’s time from January 2013 to 2017 will be spent on economic and fiscal crises and managing a dangerous and rapidly changing world. But a concession to Democrats on major reforms like these will spur a lot of talk about Daniels’ toughness, or whether he’s too conciliatory to an opposition that has gone completely off the rails, or more accurately, out of the state….

Add Mike Flynn to the list of those who had viewed Daniels favorably, but are now backing away from supporting him:

Leaders seize a moment, not let a moment seize them.

Which goes to the foundational flaw of any Daniels for President campaign. Herman Melville’s ‘Bartleby the Scrivener’ famously said-at every point of decision-”I would prefer not to.” Daniels was just given an unprecedented opportunity to promote liberty and leverage a public zeitgeist to make a profound change to public policy. Rather than seize the moment, as all great leaders do, he shrugged and said, “I would prefer not to.”

I forever apologize for anything I did to promote a “Daniels for President” meme. From now on, “I would prefer not to.”

We never had any such illusions about Indiana's governor. We recognized early on that he's not a movement conservative. Perhaps it was the eagerness of the GOP establishment to embrace Daniels that first made us suspicious of him. We don't remember exactly because it was so long ago that we decided that he was more Vichy Republican than Reagan Republican.

We will admit that we once had a favorable view of Haley Barbour, even with the knowledge that his time as a lobbyist was a considerable load of baggage for the Mississippi governor to haul around. He was outstanding in his state in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and he had done solid work at the RNC and the RGA. But further investigation into his lobbying activities revealed that he's lobbied on behalf of the Mexican government for amnesty, and in a recent interview, Barbour spoke out in favor of federal intrusion into markets via farm subsidies. No wonder that despite his reputation as a conservative, the establishment lies him so much.

Scratch Thune, Daniels and Barbour from the list of serious contenders for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination.

- JP

RedState's Final Four: Picking a 2012 Champion

Vote for Sarah Palin
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RedState.com is conducting a straw poll of its readers to pick a conservative Champion for 2012. A rather large field has been reduced to "the final four" through previous voting in a series of bracket eliminations.

The final two brackets pit Gov. Palin against Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, and businessman/talk show host Herman Cain opposite Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN).

You can cast your two votes here.

- JP

Miss. State Prof Suggests Palin-Barbour Ticket

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Mississippi State University political science professor Marty Wiseman proposed a presidential ticket of Sarah Palin and Haley Barbour Monday, according to a Starkville Daily News report . Speaking before the Starkville Rotary Club, Wiseman, who is also director of MSU's John C. Stennis Institute of Government, says that Barbour would bring "gravitas" to a Palin presidential bid as her running mate.

The professor explained why teaming up with Sarah Palin would be a smart move for Barbour. Although Mississippi's two-term governor is held in "by far the highest standing among Republican governors," it might in the best interests of his political career to seek higher office in 2012:

As Mississippi’s seated governor, Barbour is grappling with a budget shortfall Wiseman says officials project will reach upwards of $1 billion over the next 12 to 24 months.

[...]

"The state of Mississippi is in dire straits," Wiseman told the audience. "There are things that are very ominous about the situation."

Barbour has been widely acclaimed for the way he handled the devastation Hurricane Katrina wreaked on his state, and he has a record of success in working with a state legislature dominated by Democrats. He was also an effective chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997. In 1994, on his watch as RNC chair, the GOP captured both houses of the United States Congress, taking the House of Representatives for the first time in forty years. Barbour took over the chairmanship of the Republican Governors Association in July of 2009.

On the minus side, the Mississippi governor's career as a lobbyist for clients including the tobacco industry would be an inviting avenue of attack for the Democrats, who would also attempt to paint Barbour as a racist, if for no other reason than he's white and from Mississippi. Practicing the politics of personal destruction is what Democrats do best.

Since this is all idle speculation anyway, let's look at a possible Palin-Barbour ticket. It would certainly have geographical balance. Although neither Palin nor Barbour has served as a legislator, they both have experience working with legislatures. Barbour is a lawyer, while Palin is not. As governors, neither has extensive foreign policy experience, but that was not a hindrance for George W. Bush or Ronald Reagan. Barbour's greatest asset for Sarah Palin, in addition to the "gravitas" factor, may be his connections to the Republican Party establishment. Although he's not considered to be a part of the GOP's Beltway Brass, Barbour's four-year stint as RNC chairman makes his voice one that Republican insiders respect. Barbour is classified as a "moderate conservative" according to OnTheIssues.com. The same organization scores Sarah Palin as a "populist-leaning" conservative, although she does have considerable support among libertarian Republicans.

In the final analysis, we don't think that a Palin-Barbour ticket is likely, but politics is one realm where stranger things can and often do happen. Although there's not a lot of warmth between Sarah Palin and Haley Barbour, such a political marriage of convenience would be no more unthinkable than JFK and LBJ or, for that matter, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

- JP

Haley Barbour comments on Sarah Palin: "I like her... I think she's got something to offer"

Haley Barbour was a guest on Sunday's "Meet The Press" on NBC, where the following exchange between the Mississippi Governor and host David Shuster took place:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Shuster: Sarah Palin got involved in that [NY-23] race. She endorsed the independent conservative. What role does she play right now in the Republican Party?

Barbour: Well she doesn't play any official role in the Republican Party, but a lot of people care about her, a lot of people are fond of her, and she's like a lot of other politicians who are very well regarded in our party.

Shuster: What do you think of her?

Barbour: I like her. I don't allways agree with her, but you know, my wife doesn't always agree with me either.

Shuster: But is she an important Republican leader in your book?

Barbour: I think she is. I think she's got something to offer. One of the great things about when a party's out of power is that you don't have 'a' spokesman. You have a lot of... I don't wanr to say that you have a thousand flowers bloom... but you have a lot of different people, and that's healthy for your party. The Democrats do that when they're out.

Shuster: But do you think she speaks for the party?

Barbour: I think she speaks for herself, just like I speak for myself.

Shuster: Do you think she could be president?

Barbour: Look, it's a long way away from there. Every time people ask me about president, I remind them, David, that any Republican that cares about the future of our country needs to be focused on the elections of 2010. Those are the elctions that matter. We'll worry about president after 2010.

Shuster: What about you? Would you like to run for president in 2012?

Barbour: I would like for us to win in 2010...

Shuster: ... and then you'll consider it.

Barbour: I don't have any plans to, but I wouldn't consider it until the elections of 2010 are over.

h/t: Freedom's Lighthouse

- JP

Sticking with Sarah

Corrie MacLaggan, on Postcards, the American-Stateman blog, reports on an interview Gov. Rick Perry sat down for at Austin FM station KVET. Our guv talked about his RGA colleague Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, who was due in Texas today to endorse Perry in his re-election bid. But wait, there's more:

"And when Perry was asked whether he’d rather have Sarah Palin or Dick Cheney endorsing him (Cheney is supporting his GOP primary opponent Kay Bailey Hutchison; Palin’s backing Perry), the governor responded: 'I think I’d stick with Sarah.'"

We're sticking with Sarah too, Governor. 

Update: According to Wayne Slater, posting on the Trailblazers blog at the Dallas Morning News, Governor Perry has endorsed Doug Hoffman in NY-23. We can just picture Sarah Palin quoting him the old Bruce Willis "Die Hard" line: "Welcome to the party, pal."

h/t: C4P

- JP

Barbour praises Palin as "a bonafide energy expert"

Mississippi governor Haley Barbour says the GOP should use its time time that it is out of power to rebuild and reposition itself to win back the White House in 2012. Barbour was interviewed by FOX News at the summer National Governor's Association meeting, and said that after eight years of hearing from the Bush administration, it was time for people to hear some new Republican voices:

"There are a lot of people in the Republican Party who have a chance to be heard now, and we want to hear from them. When you're the out party you don't have one spokesman."

Barbour, himself a possible 2012 presidential contender, is Chairman of the Republican Governors' Association. He described two of his fellow GOP governors, Louisiana's Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, as stars of the party. Barbour also had words of praise for Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, whom he said was still "very popular" with Republicans:

"I just think she's a great person, and she's also a bona fide energy expert," Barbour said, citing her recent op-ed against the Cap and Trade issue. Palin, surprising many, decided to end her term early as governor.

The Mississippi governor declined to say whether he was interested in campaigning for the presidency. He said that the first thing Republicans must do to recapture the White House is to win back gubernatorial seats in the 2010 midterm elections.

- JP