A couple of weeks ago, I opined that if Obama won, the campaign for the 2012 GOP nomination would begin on Nov. 5, and that the two front-runners would be Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin. So far, I’d say that’s looking pretty accurate.
What I find interesting is the narrative that Mitt Romney appears to be trying to set up, without actually saying very much. Rather, he’s letting his actions speak for him. In the last couple of days, we’ve learned (via a press release from his PAC) that he’s contributed generously to Norm Coleman’s recount in Minnesota, and also that he has publicly committed to helping Saxby Chambliss win the Georgia runoff “any way he can.” Romney, in other words, is actively working to help GOoPers hang on to their Senate seats. And he’s doing this while Sarah Palin is back home in Alaska, cooking moose chili and granting interviews to anyone who will talk to her — including, of course, Fox News.
This strikes me as a savvy move on Romney’s part. He knows that he cannot motivate the “base” the way Palin can through sheer force of personality. To put it bluntly, Palin, her numerous flaws notwithstanding, has some charisma and some personality; Romney is relatively lacking in both departments. But Romney does have management experience, and he does have a track record that, objectively, is far more impressive than Palin’s. What Romney is trying to do, it seems to me, is position himself immediately as a hands-on man of action who has better things to do than cook chili and talk to cable news — namely, help elect Republicans.
In the primaries, Romney’s “excite the base” strategy failed miserably when the base latched onto an authentic social conservative, namely, Mike Huckabee. And Romney was passed over for the VP slot in favor of another authentic social conservative. My guess: Romney now knows what should have been obvious long ago: the base will never turn out for him in sufficient numbers. He has got to have another arrow or two in his quiver, and maybe he sees this man-of-action, “I’m a doer, not a talker” meme as just the ticket. It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out over the coming weeks, months, and years.
but it seems like Gov. Bobby Jindal may be well-positioned for a run, especially if Washington corruption stories persist in the next 4 yrs.
Palin can claim to be fresh from 4 years of service to AK as governor. What will Romney be claiming? Is he even employed or responsible to any voting constituency? We see how far Edwards got being a semi-retired man of means. Maybe Romney is smarter at how he spends his time than Edwards was, but still people want politicians to have something to show for their time. Unless Romney can put more on his resume than “pulled strings behind the scenes” in 2012, I think Palin will have a solid leg up on him.
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p>Besides resume items, I think Romney needs to get his machine in gear to do a more thorough character assassination of Palin. Shouldn’t be too hard. She may have moxie, but she’s not smart and her family isn’t disciplined like Romney’s is. He needs to help “the rest of the story” about Palin get out, and he needs to have his ties to that operation be invisible.
i thought there would be a big balloon kaboom!
HMS Romeny colliding with HMS Palin.
Palin is still Gov of Alaska, and no doubt recharging after the campaign. What you think looks like some coasting is well earned. (Didn’t John Kerry vacation after his loss?) If talking is all she does for now, that’s understandable. Then it’s back to earning a salary being governor.
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p>What’s Mitt’s job? He’s totally free to start building his political base. He probably has money remaining from his campaign (or his own dough) to spend building the network.
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p>Mike Huckabee? Bobby Jindal? Not seeing much traction with my fellow travelers with these 2 evangelicals.
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p>In any case, 2012? David, please.
…but this is just too soon. The nominee will probably be someone who’s almost unknown in November 2008. I’d imagine you’d want someone fresh, not somebody identified with the train wreck that was GOP 2008.
You try to make a characterisation, yet you get it all wrong by calling him “evangelical.” No, by definition, “evangelicals” are Protestants. Nice try, though. Thanks for playing! đŸ˜€
and faith healings. he’s no standard issue roman catholic.
Every Catholic archdiocese in the country has it’s own exorcist. Seems pretty standard to me.
This stuff is standard? Seriously — I’m asking.
Under almost no circumstances are exorcisms to be performed without authority from wayy up the food chain, and 99.9% of the time not by lay people.
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p>I find that to be the most confusing aspect of Jindal.
Under almost no circumstances are exorcisms to be performed without authority from wayy up the food chain, and 99.9% of the time not by lay people.
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p>I find that to be the most confusing aspect of Jindal.
Oh come on, shep. You cannot possibly imagine that Mitt Romney didn’t start planning his 2012 run the day after he withdrew from the 2008 race. I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually voted for Obama, since with an Obama win he doesn’t have to run against a GOP incumbent.
Where’s the most dangerous place to be these days?
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p>Between Sarah Palin and a microphone.
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p>The bad news for Repubs: it’s going to be four years of Palintropes, Palinisms, Palinpropisms. Best and brightest. You betcha, doggonit.
Now THAT would motivate the base, you think? It is also a risky role to take on and requires ruthlessness [Romney has that], financial acumen [Romney has that], knowledge of the players including how to push their buttons and where their motivational skeletons are hidden [I believe Romney has that] and the ability to take a long view as to infrastructure and hardware over frills. THAT would be a strategy, you think?
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p>I was not impressed with many of the decisions Romney made here as governor, not the least of my disappointments was to find out that you all were right that Massachusetts was basically a resume building internship for Romney – but the other issue that disappointed me was an apparently lack of understanding of the value of investing in the social infrastructure – that one can pay for early education “now” or prison “then” pretty much.
is whether Romney will retool himself, once again, perhaps this time to reflect what he actually is (if such a thing exists). Here’s what I wrote about him during the primaries:
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p>Romney will never get anywhere unless he gets back to his cold-blooded, ruthless, Club for Growth roots, IMHO. I wonder whether this man-of-action thing is a step in that direction.