...for the Daily Beast. His column today is about my favorite spectator sport--presidential politics. McKinnon weighs in on a number of potential nominees for the Republican Party in 2012. Good stuff, but I have my own opinions. Surprised?
(1) Mitt Romney. For a handsome guy with an equally handsome wife and family; the son of a popular Republican governor and presidential candidate; a Harvard-educated, self-made millionaire; a co-founder of Bain Capital; a former Republican governor of the bluest of the blue states; a successful architect of health care reform at the state level; (puff, puff) Romney ran one of the most inept campaigns imaginable in 2008 in a wide-open field. Unless he re-emerges as a completely different candidate, he'll go down in history as 2012's John Connally or Phil Gramm. Who? Translation: forget about him.
(2) Sarah Palin. Train wreck. If the economy goes south and/or unemployment rises to Great Depression Era levels (25%), Palin could get the nomination and become our next president. God help us! Otherwise, she could still get the nomination and pull a Barry Goldwater--win a handful of southern and western states and about 40% or so of the popular vote. This might actually be a good thing for the Republican Party and the nation. The GOP could then get back to the business of being a serious party again.
(3) Tim Pawlenty. Hopelessly charisma-challenged, TPaw makes even Romney seem exciting in comparison. His best course would be to lay the groundwork for 2016 by being someone else's running mate.
(4) John Thune. Even though David Brooks touted him in a recent column, I can't help remembering what Morton Kondracke called him years ago: an empty suit.
(5) Mike Huckabee. Don't count him out and don't underestimate him. I saw him address the Maurice Clemmons issue on Jon Stewart recently and he handled it really well. He's a great talker and will do even better than last time if he decides to run in 2012.
(6) Joe Scarborough. Every liberal's favorite Republican. I agree with McKinnon, however. He seems too content in his new life to run for president any time soon.
(7) Haley Barbour. Boss Hogg? Are you kidding?
(8) Newt Gingrich. My dark horse. The former Speaker is the most intelligent Republican on the scene today and could give Obama a run for his money.
(9) Mitch Daniels. Who?
(10) Rick Perry. Nut job. The Republicans have enough of those already. See Sarah Palin, above.
On McKinnon's watch list are Rick Santorum (too far right for even the Vatican), Mike Pence (again, who?), Ron Paul (too old, but could attract even more attention next time given the current climate), Eric Cantor (seems more interested in being Speaker some day), Jeb Bush (only if he changes his last name), and Jim DeMint (again, God help us).
Who do I think will be the next Republican nominee? Who cares! Obama will win in a walk, a la Ronald Reagan in 1984.
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