I think Huckabee's doing a remarkable job of maintaining his position considering how much more exposure Romney, Palin, Gingrich and Pawlenty are getting. I haven't put a lot of thought into it at this point, but he's the one that scares me the most right now.

If Obama had more of a killer instinct I could see an 2012 campaign against Romney being over very quickly.  SO much to paint this guy with... and god would I love to see a commercial about his bad judgement such as tying the Family dog to the car carrier and driving.   You paint Romney as a flip flopper with bad judgment when he actually settles on a side.

What makes you so sure Obama doesn't have much of a killer instinct?

I could live with Mitt Romney as being president (god-forbid a republican even make it that far in 2012)

But the potential of Sarah Palin being the nominee in 2012 scares the hell out of me.  The fact that her idiot base has built such a showing in this small amount of time is frightening.

     When you look at it, it's just stunning.

     A one-term governor of a medium sized state. A half-term governor of a state with a population under 1 Million. A former governor of the smallest Southern state. A former House Speaker who last won an election 12 years ago. A Congressman from Texas. A two-term governor of a medium-sized state, who won his two races with 45.7% and 50.5% of the vote. A two-term Senator from a large state who got beat 59-41 running for a third term 4 years ago. A Congressman from Indiana. And the Governor of Mississippi, who will be 65 on Election Day, 2012. And there's very little difference between any of them on policy issues.

     This from a party that's won 7 of the last 11 Presidential elections. We've been saying for some time that the Republican Party is increasingly irrelevant as its older, White base dies off. This is proof of it.

Normally I'd think Romney but he's way too phony, and this health care stance isn't like to help in the primary.

Surely there must be some governors, not known nationally, who can emerge. 

Huckabee, I guess, is getting exposure on Fox News but the only time I watched more than a minute was when he played with Bernie Williams.  In 2008 he was not loyal enough for the primaries. Beck, for example, hated him more than anyone. 

worked for Romney's Presidential campaign in the past, right?  Yeah, I find his lack of conviction oddly compelling...

Republicans mostly run sitting Presidents (2004, 1992,1984, 1976, 1972, 1956, 1932, 1924) or Vice Presidents (1988, 1960) with a fall back of a former VP (Nixon, 1968).  They have had little success recycling candidates who failed to win the nomination in the past (McCain, Dole, Reagan).  The other option is someone already famous (Ike in 52) or the Governor of a very large state (W, Dewey).

Second chances, like many of the names on the list, have fared poorly.  McCain, Dole, and Dewey going down; Reagan winning with Nixon also a former VP.

I see McDonnell as a likely candidate unless someone emerges in 2010.  Christie is locally a disaster and he is very, very stupid. (I live in NJ).  Unlike Pawlenty and the bridge repairs he vetoed, McDonnell would have no record to defend.

Interesting point about state size.  Hoover was from Iowa (then 10 EV) and California (13 EV) but had no elected background.  Goldwater was from Arizona (then 5 EV) but was trounced.  Going beyond Pierce, Zachary Taylor was from Louisiana (then 6 EV) in 1848.

given the "straw-poll" for Ron Paul @ CPAC earlier this year... although the party is so indecisive on a leader for any given situation.. so maybe I shouldn't be so surprised.  

I'm interested in seeing a new poll in the aftermath of this Romney-Healthcare/Obamacare/Mass. Healthcare debacle.